this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2025
47 points (98.0% liked)

3DPrinting

17697 readers
185 users here now

3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.

The r/functionalprint community is now located at: or !functionalprint@fedia.io

There are CAD communities available at: !cad@lemmy.world or !freecad@lemmy.ml

Rules

If you need an easy way to host pictures, https://catbox.moe/ may be an option. Be ethical about what you post and donate if you are able or use this a lot. It is just an individual hosting content, not a company. The image embedding syntax for Lemmy is ![](URL)

Moderation policy: Light, mostly invisible

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
j4k3@lemmy.world
andypiper@lemmy.world
henry_rowengartner@lemmy.world
GrayBackgroundMusic@lemm.ee
47
Stepping up from Tinkercad but to what? (lemmy.world)
submitted 1 week ago by cosmicrookie@lemmy.world to c/3dprinting@lemmy.world
39 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I visited a friend who is a professional medical engineer, and watched him work on a 3D design on some software paid for my the university they worked at. The options and features looked very practical!

Although I am not even close to working on so complicated projects, I did love the funtionalities. So now i have decided to put in the effort and learn a decent program, instead of using Tinkercad. I have been very happy with Tinkercad, but some things are only doable with workarounds or very creative methods.

The question is, what software should i start learning?

-FreeCAD
-Fusion 360
-AutoCAD
-Sketchup
-Blender
-LibreCAD
-Something else entirely?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 15 points 6 days ago (1 children)

Okay so let's strike a couple out of that list:

  • LibreCAD is a 2D-only DXF editor. I think it's a fork of an old version of QCAD, which is also a 2D-only DXF editor. Not very helpful for 3D printing.
  • Sketchup is kinda useful for going "what would my room look like if I laid out the furniture like this?" It produces horrible 3D models. When I used to work at the job shop, I could tell the model had been designed in Sketchup because it had holes and reversed normals and other shit that wouldn't print.
  • Blender. Blender is a 3D sculpting and animation program; Be your own little Pixar, just add talent. It can be used to make models for 3D printing but it isn't very good as an engineering CAD package.

I would also rule out AutoCAD because isn't it like, architectural software? And like, OLD? AutoDesk's engineering CAD was Inventor for the longest time, and they've been working on replacing Inventor with Fusion360. I'm personally done with AutoDesk, they've chafed my taint a few too many times so I wouldn't piss on them if they were on fire.

OnShape is actually cool tech, but it's drawbackware. In the words of Lando Calrissian, this deal's getting worse all the time.

I personally use FreeCAD, it could be better in a lot of ways but it's not commercial. It's made by the kind of people who are very good at programming computers, but they get full body diaper rash from cornhole to corneas if they try to think about software usability. It's why every concept is replicated 2-4 times in various forms of incompatibility. May the dread god Nyalathotep smite thee should thou chooseth to make a Clone instead of a Link. It's also developed in English by mostly non-English speakers. So you go to their forums and ask "If I need to make two mirror images of a part, what is the correct way to model the left one and then mirror it to get the right one" and they can't get past the grammatical puzzle you just spun for them to answer the technical question.

In conclusion, learn to use a pencil.

[–] PlutoniumAcid@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

This was entertaining. Thank you.