Hello 3d printing community! I’m a complete newb and I am planning on doing a lot of 3d printing in the coming months.
I wanted to get into 3d printing with the intention of designing a lot of models and printing them for use around the house. So, I wanted to ask what people typically use for designing their own models to print?
Ideally the software would support both Windows and Mac as that’s what I typically use these days. Let me know, thanks!
Update
First of all, thank you everyone for weighing in here!
Set aside some time last night and played with both Fusion 360 and FreeCAD since those two software kept popping up in the answers. My initial impressions of Fusion 360 was not great. I’m not sure if it’s just the Mac version but the software was a bit laggy and at the end of my session it froze. Otherwise it worked fine and I was able to make a prototype with it and I would have finished it if the program didn’t freeze.
Next I tried FreeCAD. I think the UX is definitely worse than Fusion 360, however I will say it was fast and I did not notice any lag. I admit that my initial impression of it was not good. The second I opened a fresh install of FreeCAD it was already erroring. I watched some tutorials. It definitely suffered from the issue some issues pointed out in the comments where the program has a ton of tutorials but none are really for the latest version so you kind of have to figure out the “modern way” to achieve what the tutorial is telling you to do. It also seems to have some weird bugs. I ran into one where sometimes I had to repeat an action for it to work. No idea why. Otherwise I was able to design a decently complicated prototype in it. I could see myself using it long term for sure.
I saw some programs mentioned where you would basically create models by writing code. If I have time, I will try some of those next. I’m not that into programming though /s.
I’m going to toss out Microsoft 3D builder, strictly to dip your toe in the water. It’s bare bones and basically MS Paint but when I was getting started I used it for very simple stuff. I still use it if I’m making dead simple modifications/combinations of existing .STL files.
Microsoft actually had some cool ideas in the early/mid 2010s. Still had all the proprietary bullshit but there was at least nifty stuff going on.
Didn’t Microsoft drop 3D Builder? I’ve been running Kinonite or some Fedora spin for several years now.
Maybe? It was/is on an old win10 I keep around (and came with it).
There’s a million better options, but I was glad it was there. Good way to get some kid fooling around early the way paint did. You used to be able to scan things with your surface and import them into builder (this was a good while back).
Copied this from a similar question I responded to a while back: I have been using Sketchup 2017 (whatever the last free version was they released) for years to make 3D models for all kinds of purposes, incl 3D printing. For my brain it has proven to be the most intuitive tool to learn, it’s been a really long time so maybe I have forgotten but I feel like the barrier to entry was pretty small. There is a lot of content out there from people giving tips and tutorials. There are plug-ins still flooding around that have really good functionality. I use it with a Connexion 3D Space Navigator mouse that’s prob 10+ years old. That’s been a godsend and adds so much efficiency and flow to the tool.
I don’t know if you can still download it from Trimble but there are sources for it elsewhere.
Have fun, whatever you choose.
Funny enough I actually used SketchUp a bunch in the past for interior decoration. I would create realistic renders of rooms in our house in Sweet Home 3D and I used SketchUp to create all of the funiture, etc. I heard it wasn’t that great for 3d printing which is why I am inquiring if there is something better but if I don’t find anything I like maybe I’ll just stick with SketchUp lol.
Oh that is funny. I’ve had no issues with it, that said, I was content to use a website to convert my .skp files into .stl so I could print but that was less annoying than the learning curve of new software. I tried all the free/OS ones people tend to mention and maybe I’m just an old grump now, but they frustrated me more than just being able to make the thing I’m trying to make and spend no more than 1-2 minutes getting the file uploaded, converted and saved ready to go.
Keen to hear if you find a good solution given we have the same foundation tool. I’d be willing to try a recommendation from someone in the same boat.
Same! I find sketchup so incredibly intuitive compared to the other apps mentioned here, it just vanishes into the background of what I’m creating. Granted, it’s got a few quirks running under Linux, and getting an STL file out if it requires a few hoops, but I can do things I can’t do otherwise - not that the other apps can’t make the shapes, but the parametric paradigm inhibits my creative flow.
I tend to open TinkerCAD to make simple things quickly. It’s web based so works on Mac/PC and free.
Not to be a stereotypically insufferable Stallman style neckbeard about it, but the only two objectively correct answers to this question are FreeCAD for mechanical parametric things, and Blender for organic shapes or decorative models. (You can also bully Blender into doing parametric CAD work with plugins. And I guess OpenSCAD also counts, if you would rather program your models rather than model your models.)
All of the other available commercial options are some combination of:
- Proprietary vendor lock-in bullshit
- Subscription model “software as a service” perpetual money sinks
- Always online cloud services that either steal your models/make them available to anyone/probably also report you to the Feds
- Loaded with quasi-legal licensing restrictions that prevent you from distributing or selling your own creations made with it
Or for extra bonus points, all of the above!
FreeCAD isn’t exactly slick and it has a rather precipitous learning curve, but it’s also basically the only viable truly free option that won’t spy on you, steal your stuff, or turn you upside down and shake you for money on a monthly basis.
I agree with everything except relegating Blender to organics and decorative designs. Blender is absolutely viable for hard surface /mechanical modeling. Even without the parametric addons. The Boolean modifiers are much more reliable than they used to be and all the tools for manipulating objects makes the whole design process very fast. Everything I make these days is almost entirely non-destructive, which means edits are painless as well.
There are of course limitations such as compound fillets being very difficult to execute cleanly if not downright imposible in some cases.
Have you tried the parametric addons? I can’t imagine they work all that well but I haven’t looked into them in the past 5 or so years.
Hey, OpenSCAD is the best! Also Shapelab seems like it might be interesting (sculpt in VR), though I haven’t yet tried it.
Wings3d is worth a look at as a modeller as well. I really liked that. Not as colossal as blender. Nice, focused features.
Lots of people use fusion360. It has a free license for hobbyists. Although it is a cloud-first software. There is always the risk of them canceling that free license.
But I have yet to find a good enough replacement…
Onshape is one that I recently learned about.
I normally use SolidWorks but its annoying just because I need to switch over to my windows install any time I want to use it.
Onshape is similar to SolidWorks and is intuitive. Browser based and much more powerful than TinkerCAD. Also has a free license. The only stipulation is that anything you create there is considered open source.
I have to throw a vote in for Blender. It’s certainly not the best tool for precise CAD work, but for those who are already familiar with using Blender, you can create excellent models for 3D printing, even without plugins. I also love the fact that you can animate, shade, and render your models for presentations or documentation all in the same program. Yeah sure, some of the other programs have a similar capability when you install their add-ons and such, but Blender is free and doesn’t force you into any eco system. And seriously, it’s honestly crazy that Blender is free for how good it is.
Start with tinkercad. Upgrade to fusion 360. For sculpting , blender.
To use blender you need a high end PC. Like a gaming PC.
Fusion and blender are both incredibly complex softwares that do a lot of things and take a lot of invested time to learn but there are tons of tutorial videos and online communities for both.
You don’t need a powerful computer for blender unless you’re doing rendering or sculping or working with really high poly models. Especially when compared to proper CAD packages. I do a lot of design work in blender and my computer is so unstressed by it I can hear the CPU chirping when I rotate the viewport.
It’s worth learning the basics of a parametric CAD but blender will do virtually everything faster and give you greater freedom and control over the exact geometry it outputs.
Sculpting. Yeah that requires a high end PC.
I have a 12g GPU. 64gb ram. Ddr5. Ryzen 7 CPU.
And it still struggles some times, mostly when using the bolean modifer (the one that combines parts or makes cutouts). Which is something you will use a lot for 3d printing model design.
If you aren’t sculpting, but just cad stuff. You should use a different program.
Blender can do some of that but why not use a software designed for cad. ?
Blender isn’t a cad program.
Also I posted a recent 3d project a month ago. (My lastest post). Most of the was made in blender.
I ended up with 3 blender files. 7gb each. For various parts.
Because of the complexity of the model and making it fit mechanical parts there was multiple versions of each part.
All high resolution.
I had to keep making new files cause after the files get around 8gb , then everything is a slog to do in the software. So I had a head file. A body file. And a inside parts file.
No one could make that cat clock on a PC with out high specs. Impossible.
For a step between Tinkercad and Fusion 360, you can check out MatterControl.
It is like Tinkercad but way more options and runs locally. Works great for more artistic shapes that are hard in CAD software.
Hadn’t heard of this. I’ll check it out. Fusion has been a bit intimidating. Ive made a few things in it but found it confusing and not intuitive like tinkercad.
I think Ive spent all my energy on learning Blender and not much left to dedicate to a better CAD program.
solid edge has a free community edition. completly offline.
If you’re on Windows Fusion360 is what I’ve used for years and it’s been good. There’s plenty of tutorials on YouTube for learning how to do things. I’m trying to learn FreeCad so I can get off windows and not be subject to the inevitable enshittification of Fusion360 but it has been rough going and I haven’t gotten far with it. I’m having to look up things that just worked in Fusion even though the interface appears to be similar. If you’re just starting out you may not have those issues but as it stands, if I needed to make something immediately I’d go with Fusion360.
Was in your boat some time ago, only now do I feel lile I can truly recommend FreeCAD, and given how slowly more restricted fusion has become.
If you aren’t already, the dev branch has sketch projection just like fusion now, complete gamechanger.
@idunnololz Freecad forever imho but take a look to onshape(.com) powerful webapp.
Freecad is pretty good, but unfortunately there’s no foss cad software that’s better. If you don’t care about foss, I would recommend onshape if you’re fine with the “public by default” thing, else fusion360.
For art, blender is great. Plasticity seems neat too, it’s a more traditional software licensing model (pay per version I think, not cheap not insanely expensive)
Doesn’t seem popular here, but I like TinkerCAD quite a bit. It’s really intuitive if you are good with shapes and you can make detailed and fairly precise models with it without much issue. I’ve made around 20 models in it at this point, some of which I’ve made public. If you want to just learn one program that will carry you into the deep end, I’d probably point you to freeCAD just because autodesk can be dickheads and aren’t above pulling the rug out from under you.
Pretty busy at the moment but I have seen TinkerCAD mentioned a bunch so I will give it a shot when I have some free time.
Another consideration… If you are a programmer type then OpenSCAD is a language-based program. I’ve been using it heavily for the past week designing a dual-filament extruder for my Ender 3, and last year I designed and built a utility trailer. As with anything it has its quirks, but I’m much more comfortable writing code and I always found the other GUI-oriented programs to be unintuitive.
I’m never escaping programming am I? :D
Nope, programming is like a black hole – once you’ve entered the event horizon it’s too late and you’ll never escape.
build123d is vastly superior code-cad imo. Faster, more expressive, more aligned with how traditional cad designers work
What do you mean by “traditional cad designers” and why is that important? I’m not really sure why that is something that should matter to me?
Also Build123d, which does BREP instead of only meshes. https://build123d.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html
Aww man, I knew it was only a matter of time before someone was going to “force” me to learn python. Thanks for the link, I’ll take a look at this after dinner.
Solid works, a premium software package, has a cheap license for vets. Its the same as a student license.
Only drawback is the files will contaminate a professional love cense database. The meta data will copy the student license onto any assembly made with the student part even if the full professional license has been paid.
Not something in have to worry about
