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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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  • Hi Spanner,

     

    I don't use any 3D modelling software currently, so I'm curious too to find out what gets used with 3D-printers.

    (I don't own one yet).

    I'm a heavy user of graphics programs (Paint shop, Inkscape etc), so all my 3D renderings are not to scale : )

    and so I cannot do camera movements around the object etc, since they are all flat 2D with no modelling data.

    At school we learned manual drafting from someone who did this once for a living, so I like isometric views and

    orthographic projections!

    I use PowerPoint to get most of it composed, create shadow and shadings, etc - not the best tool since it isn't designed

    for it, but I'm a power-user of it now! I also like pencil renderings!

    To get a rough idea of proportionality, I make use of the 'size' settings for objects in powerpoint, and

    a calculator. Sometimes even placing a ruler on the screen : ) It's not so bad, it works.

     

    Here's an example, drawn up in PowerPoint, so these are just graphical lines, no 3D objects at all.

    Final result:

  • in reply to shabaz

    Wow, never thought of using PowerPoint in that way -- looks great! I know it probably doesn't help with 3D modelling, but it's a top tip for schematic diagrams! Cheers man!

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