3D modelling accessories, what software?

[bigcanoe]

I used to play with 3DS Max when I was younger, I enjoyed building models and rendering them. I want to dust off my mediocre skills and try my hand at building some accessories and addons for RCs. I am looking for some recommendations for some affordable or free software that exports models that print nicely on a 3D printer. I am playing with Tinkercad but I am not a fan of browser based tools in general. What software are you using? Any good tutorial sites?

 

[mikemcE]

Best I’ve found free is Fusion360.

Web based though, Look up Harleys Sunday night STL on You tube


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[bigcanoe]

I will check that out, thank you! Tinkercad is very simple and has lots of tutorials which is nice. I used to play with Rhino and Blender but they are way over my head.

 

[mikemcE]

Look up Lars Christiansen on YouTube, his 3 beginners videos helped me immensely.


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[bigcanoe]

Downloading now, will check out those videos, thanks again!

 

[QuesoDelDiablo]

I prefer OnShape over Fusion360 but those are basically the 2 main parametric modelling tools that you can you use for free. They're both cloud based.

 

[bigcanoe]

Just curious, why you prefer OnShape? Just like it more, its faster, easier, better tutorials?

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Just curious, why you prefer OnShape? Just like it more, its faster, easier, better tutorials?

I’d also like to know why they prefer OnShape. I’ve never tried it, but I’m not the biggest fan of Fusion. I just don’t like the methodology of Fusion. There’s nothing wrong with it. Just personal preference. So I’m open to trying OnShape.

 

[mikemcE]

Workflow..... a magical word, BUT it really is true .
When I learned both Photoshop and Fusion, I learned your approach is the key, example in fusion, use constraints before any actual measurements are added, it really makes a huge difference.


Hang up and Drive

 

[JatoTheRipper]

Workflow..... a magical word, BUT it really is true .
When I learned both Photoshop and Fusion, I learned your approach is the key, example in fusion, use constraints before any actual measurements are added, it really makes a huge difference.


Hang up and Drive

Yeah and in SolidWorks you just do things differently. I'm so used to SolidWorks that I can't get used to liking the flow in Fusion.

 

[nightcrawler48]

My Prusa i3 MK3S is suppose to ship in 3-4 weeks so I've been testing the free 3D software. So far I've tried Tinkercad and FreeCAD. I found both a little frustrating and I've been reading/watching the Onshape tutorials and I'm liking what I see so will be trying that next. I have experience with AutoCADD and I know some of my frustration is based on not grasping the differences between the 2D and 3D processes. I checked out Fusion360 and would be glad to test it as well but haven't figured out, as a hobbyist, how to get the free version.

 

[bigcanoe]

I find tinkercad frustrating because I cannot enter measurements directly, like in Unity3D for example. I have to keep fiddling with the mouse to get the size I want. I will try OnShape and Fusion360 next.

 

[svt923]

I’d also like to know why they prefer OnShape. I’ve never tried it, but I’m not the biggest fan of Fusion. I just don’t like the methodology of Fusion. There’s nothing wrong with it. Just personal preference. So I’m open to trying OnShape.

The thing that makes Onshape so much better than Fusion for me is how easy and intuitive it is to move objects around. To me, being able to turn, move, and set up your view faster speeds up the design significantly over Fusion.

If you are used to Solidworks, apparently Onshape is nearly identical in use because it was started by a bunch of former Solidworks employees.

 

[bigcanoe]

Can you recommend some good Onshape tutorials, for comparison.

 

[svt923]

Can you recommend some good Onshape tutorials, for comparison.

Onshape has a ton of tutorial videos and some interactive training modules, the Introduction to CAD covers a lot of basics.

https://learn.onshape.com/catalog?labels=%5B%22Learning%20Pathways%22%5D&values=%5B%22CAD%20Basics%22%5D

 

[JatoTheRipper]

My Prusa i3 MK3S is suppose to ship in 3-4 weeks so I've been testing the free 3D software. So far I've tried Tinkercad and FreeCAD. I found both a little frustrating and I've been reading/watching the Onshape tutorials and I'm liking what I see so will be trying that next. I have experience with AutoCADD and I know some of my frustration is based on not grasping the differences between the 2D and 3D processes. I checked out Fusion360 and would be glad to test it as well but haven't figured out, as a hobbyist, how to get the free version.

Congrats! You'll love the Prusa. I love mine.

TinkerCAD is named perfectly. It's great to tinker with and make small items, but it's not great for more complicated designs IMO.

Learning solid modeling takes time. As was said, YouTube has tons of free tutorials for pretty much any software you choose. Good luck.

To get Fusion, go to this link and at the bottom click "GET STARTED". You may have to do the actual registration though the Fusion software once it's installed. I forget.

https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/personal

The thing that makes Onshape so much better than Fusion for me is how easy and intuitive it is to move objects around. To me, being able to turn, move, and set up your view faster speeds up the design significantly over Fusion.

If you are used to Solidworks, apparently Onshape is nearly identical in use because it was started by a bunch of former Solidworks employees.

Excellent! Thank you for that information! "thumbsup" I'll definitely give Onshape a try now that you said it's supposed to be similar to SolidWorks.

That's my complaint with Fusion. It's just not intuitive to me. It doesn't flow like ProE or SolidWorks. AutoCAD has always done things differently so it's no surprise to me that Fusion is slightly different than the other software I mentioned previously.

 

[QuesoDelDiablo]

Just curious, why you prefer OnShape? Just like it more, its faster, easier, better tutorials?

I’d also like to know why they prefer OnShape. I’ve never tried it, but I’m not the biggest fan of Fusion. I just don’t like the methodology of Fusion. There’s nothing wrong with it. Just personal preference. So I’m open to trying OnShape.

Yeah and in SolidWorks you just do things differently. I'm so used to SolidWorks that I can't get used to liking the flow in Fusion.

The thing that makes Onshape so much better than Fusion for me is how easy and intuitive it is to move objects around. To me, being able to turn, move, and set up your view faster speeds up the design significantly over Fusion.

If you are used to Solidworks, apparently Onshape is nearly identical in use because it was started by a bunch of former Solidworks employees.

The biggest advantage to me personally is that OnShape has a UI and functionality very similar to Solidworks (which I've been using at work for about 6+ years). For me, it's a much easier platform to use when editing parts too, I find Fusion is really annoying about how they allow you make edits to previous extrudes/revolves etc. Constraints are also better in OnShape than in Fusion, I find Fusion is a bit vague in the features to define to lock in a constraint. It also handles larger assemblies better than Fusion but that's not much of an issue since there's really not a lot of times where a person needs to create 100+ part assemblies.

Much of what I see as advantages is personal opinion and I might be biased because I'm a heavy SW user. I really strongly dislike Fusion but it does offer some advantages - the built in CAM is nice but again, I find it counter-intuitive after years of using GibbsCAM.

 

[gsgraber92]

Just curious, why you prefer OnShape? Just like it more, its faster, easier, better tutorials?

I am an avid Onshape user. I’ve tried Fusion but I always fall back to Onshape. It was easy to get started and I was up and running quickly. The learning curve didn’t seem as great as Fusion. I feel like Onshape’s interface is clean yet robust. The only drawback is the free version requires your models be public. Which isn’t a big deal breaker for me. I like the part studio and assembly feature. At first I built entire assemblies in one part studio. Now I’ve learned I can build all my parts in context to one another and then easily insert them into an assembly. They recently add a exploded view feature. Part versions is also nice. You can make versions of a part and make changes, modifications and always roll back if you want. The Onshape tutorials are easy to follow and you can run it on any machine with a web browser. I just like it!!!


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[Gula]

Learned solidworks for a semester and i've found solidworks to be out of date. This is only a pain for subtractive manufacturing, but if you need run toolpaths and setups you have to transfer to fusion360 anyway. Fusion360, Autocad is great, and so is onshape. You can do everything, including generative design with organic shapes, etc on fusion. Dont try to learn all three at the same time. I've only used fusion and onshape to design parts and then printed them. Both work great for that.

 

[JatoTheRipper]

The biggest advantage to me personally is that OnShape has a UI and functionality very similar to Solidworks (which I've been using at work for about 6+ years). For me, it's a much easier platform to use when editing parts too, I find Fusion is really annoying about how they allow you make edits to previous extrudes/revolves etc. Constraints are also better in OnShape than in Fusion, I find Fusion is a bit vague in the features to define to lock in a constraint. It also handles larger assemblies better than Fusion but that's not much of an issue since there's really not a lot of times where a person needs to create 100+ part assemblies.

Much of what I see as advantages is personal opinion and I might be biased because I'm a heavy SW user. I really strongly dislike Fusion but it does offer some advantages - the built in CAM is nice but again, I find it counter-intuitive after years of using GibbsCAM.

I definitely have to give Onshape a try then. Seems like I'm not the only one that hates the Fusion interface and workflow.

Learned solidworks for a semester and i've found solidworks to be out of date. This is only a pain for subtractive manufacturing, but if you need run toolpaths and setups you have to transfer to fusion360 anyway. Fusion360, Autocad is great, and so is onshape. You can do everything, including generative design with organic shapes, etc on fusion. Dont try to learn all three at the same time. I've only used fusion and onshape to design parts and then printed them. Both work great for that.

At every company I've worked for, they have separate programs to generate gcode and there's usually good reason for that.