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3D Modelling Software Recommendations

spannerspencer

Morning all!

 

has been posting some superb tweets that follow the progress of his Pi IoT design challenge, which include some great 3D models that (I assume) he then sends to the 3D printer. Is that right, Enrico?

 

And often makes great use of some 3D diagrams for exploded views of his amazing projects, like the HAL-CAM 9001 – Building a New Security Camera he just posted.

 

I've not much experience with 3D modelling software, which is my real obstacle to entry when it comes to playing with... er, I mean making use of, a 3D printer. It's not the hardware that's stopping me -- it's the software. Years about I used to dabble with Lightwave, but I was wondering what software you guys use to build your 3D models for printing (or for any other maker tasks, for that matter), and if you had any recommendations for beginners.

 

Maybe if you guys could sound out the popular platforms, we could then run a poll to see which ones people prefer? That being said, if you're already familiar with all the popular options, do feel free to put a poll up and we can get opinions that way, too.

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  • in reply to balearicdynamics

    I started out with text-based CAD with Autodesk v1 (or perhaps ver 2) which ran on MS-DOS. Data was input via text commands either as absolute or relative values and either as polar or Cartesian co-ordinates.

     

    If I recall correctly, on my dual head system stdaux was mapped to a text monitor for the command console and stdout to a Hercules graphics monitor for the visual CAD model.

     

    It probably seems strange now with the reliance on computer mice and '3D navigators' as input devices however at the time I recall it being absolutely fantastic, and it greatly speeded up prototyping as a modification no longer meant redrawing by hand from scratch.

     

    With 3D I'm finding that there is a bit of irony in the technique as it is perhaps more like subtractive sculpting whereas often the goal is additive manufacture. I still find myself reverting back to drawing a 2D plan first then extruding it into a 3D model section by section whereas the professionals appear to more often start off straight in 3D using solids.

     

    My latest challenge is to get used to using a space mouse for control.

    3Dconnexion : SpaceNavigator

    So six degrees of freedom on the mouse in the left hand and three degrees of freedom on the scroll mouse in the right hand. "Mr Spock, you have the conn"