3D printing question

[Psychographic]

For those of you who are able to create files for printing, could you recommend an affordable program that is not too difficult to learn?

[Foxer]

I use an un-affordable 3D Max, but I've heard many good things about the free Google Sketchup and would recommend trying that one. Most 3D programs will all do what you need and it's the UI that makes the difference. There are a number of Shetchup users here who I'm sure will chime in.

[Impalow]

I use a program called formZ.... its probably not the best, but I've used it daily for a little under 20 years now so I'm extremely comfortable.  They have recently released a free version of the software, its missing some tools.. but its free, and allows import and export of 3d files for printing... so its probably worth a look

http://www.formz.com/products/formzfree.html

Recently at work we purchased a fusion360 software package. I'm really impressed with it so far, but i haven't had much time to try and totally learn it.  so it also maybe worth a look.

http://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/overview

 

 

Edited December 22, 2016 by Impalow

[my66s55]

I.m.o, and many others, one of the best best programs is Blender. It's free open source software and created by users.The down side is the learning curve. I've also heard that Google Sketchup is a good place to start. 

[The Creative Explorer]

Why is Blender difficult to learn?

[talon63]

As someone who is about to add a 3D printer to the bench, this link, https://all3dp.com/best-3d-printing-software-tools/ was useful.  One caveat, 3DTin is no longer available. Also, if you don't already have the printer, check the compatibility for the hardware you thinking of acquiring. You may need two pieces of software, one to create 3D models in, and another to be the slicer and print host.  

[my66s55]

Why is Blender difficult to learn?

It's not difficult to learn if you have the right sources for answering questions and doing how to do plus the time to do it. I've been using it for 3+ years and am still learning new things to improve my files and check them for 3d print ability. Thankfully, all this is easy to find.  

[The Creative Explorer]

Thanks, I am also looking into 3D drawing and maybe later printing. I will start with autocad 2D and go later with Inventor 3D. I will follow a education for that, which will teach me for 8 hours per day, one day per week for 2 months. So it should give me a decent place to start.

[TFchronos]

Why is Blender difficult to learn?

Blender's learning curve is a bit different from other 3D Software due it's design. It is in most cases it's considered  backwards from others like Maya and 3D Max for example. It's heavily reliant on the keyboard and it's layout is very different from the previously mentioned. So it can be difficult for people who have extensive knowledge of other 3D programs to transition over, so many say at least. But there's a learning curve to anything in life and I think it's more of or less folks just wanting play the 'cool kids' part because their program cost money and Blender is Freeware. To which I say if you've already got that then why move over to Blender?

I've been using Blender for 8 years now, I know it like the back of my hand and for me it's control setup and interface are brilliant in design. I had the chance to try out Maya and Softimage last year for a couple of months and even after getting a good feel of their interfaces neither seemed as efficient as Blender's was. Now I realize that was largely due 7 years vs 12 weeks but still I think Blender gets dissed more than it should, it's come a very long way in the 8 years I've been using it. 

Back then aside from maybe a dozen random tutorials I've had to self teach myself everything I know about it.

Today there's hundreds of "Zero to Hero"  tutorials on Youtube alone. You can easily learn in months what took me years.

If you don't have access to any of the "big name" programs then I highly recommend checking out Blender and giving it a try. Among many things I've done I've done over the years I've made quite a few models to print on Shapeways.  

Edited December 23, 2016 by TFchronos

[Aaronw]

If you go to the Shapeways site they have links to a bunch of 3d programs that are compatible with Shapeways, free, cheap and pay programs.

http://www.shapeways.com/creator/tools

 

I've been fooling around with Google Sketchup for a couple of years. There are a lot of good videos on youtube and I found it is fairly user friendly. Unfortunately I'm also finding it has limitations when it comes to 3d printing. It was originally designed for 3d modeling online, not really intended for 3d printing. They also keep some of the most useful features out of the free part. They do offer an inexpensive student version if you are able to get your teenager to remember to bring home his student ID (3 years running mine has been unable to manage this feat).

I am in the process of trying some of the other programs, but none are what I'd consider intuitive.