A number of classes I give to young learners involve free design tools like TinkerCAD, which operates entirely in the browser and has an easy interface for exporting 3D model designs. You can do much more work with meshes designs in Blender, which is another free package usually used for animation work, or using simple tools like the 123D Suite by Autodesk who also makes the MeshMixer product for combining multiple 3D models before printing them. Nate's link is one of the best places to start - take a look at NetFabb for fixing holes, etc. The basics you can get from TinkerCAD without any cost or software installation.
A number of classes I give to young learners involve free design tools like TinkerCAD, which operates entirely in the browser and has an easy interface for exporting 3D model designs. You can do much more work with meshes designs in Blender, which is another free package usually used for animation work, or using simple tools like the 123D Suite by Autodesk who also makes the MeshMixer product for combining multiple 3D models before printing them. Nate's link is one of the best places to start - take a look at NetFabb for fixing holes, etc. The basics you can get from TinkerCAD without any cost or software installation.
I would like to see what happens with TinkerCAD with the recent purchase by Autodesk. LIke you said, it is a very easy tool to use. I also liked it ran in the browser.
