TLDR = what’s a good next step after kid-friendly 3d creation tools?
Solved = Fusion360 is voted as winner, we even got a nice tutorial playlist.
Hi all - I’m still very much a new user. Highly skilled in IT but just getting my feet wet in 3D printing, since a month or so. I love the possibilities! I can physically create anything I can image, it’s amazing.
So far, I’ve used mostly TinkerCad and done lots with it. The learning curve is practically non-existent, and it has sufficient features to do a lot.
But of course it’s not perfect. Obvious example: can’t do fillets, except in roundabout ways using negative blocks.
I’ve tried OnShape, OpenScad, Fusion 360, but found them quite a steep hill to climb.
Are these good choices, or is there something in-between that would make it easier for me to advance?
Okay we sound similar so I want to make sure you found this playlist about fusion 360.
I recently had the time to sit down and spend time learning fusion after a delete failed attempts previously and the biggest lightbulb moment I had was really getting in the mindset of how parametric cad works. I guess I had assumed it was a buzzword coming from IT but no, it’s like the difference between building infrastructure manually and building infrastructure with something like Terraform.
The other thing that was a big lightbulb for me is learning how to use the history in fusion, the first time I went back in the timeline and changed a dimension and it recalculated everything I about fell out of my chair.
Anyway, I hope that is helpful, I can try to answer questions but I am certainly no expert in fusion hah. that playlist above is what I used to get going, definitely haven’t watched all of it but the first few were really helpful.
Oh also, on shape and others are also parametric style cad so that is probably why they all seemed similarly frustrating.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Oh thank you so much!! So Fusion is indeed the next logical step for me - thank you for that. Knowing that, I can invest time in learning it without wondering whether it’s even the right choice. And the piped link makes it so nice to deal with <3
Yeah! Once I learned a few basics and how to think in parametric it didn’t take long until I could make things that were in my mind which felt like a huge accomplishment. It still blows my min every time I think of something and then am holding it in my hand an hour later, it’s definitely worth the time.
I ended up just paying for the basic fusion license because I quickly had more than 10 ideas I wanted to work on hah. I know it’s expensive but compared to the other options it is by far the most reasonable, especially if you ever want to sell anything you design. I also felt like I would spend that much on a physical tool to do a project if I needed it so :shrug: but the free version is definitely workable.
The other thing that frustrated me was manipulating the view and to solve that I finally broke down and bought a space mouse which is an absolute game changer, I shouldn’t have waited so long and I will never go back haha. I found a deal on one on eBay but there are also a few DIY printable projects like this one which look awesome and I might build anyway.
ETA: The space mouse works in many applications, it even works in Bambu/Orca slicer!
An hour later?? Either you have a really fast printer, or you build really small things 😅 My MINI+ needs longer than that for a matchbox. But yes, 3D printing is as mind-blowing as color TV, or the first time I used a scanner in the early 90’s.
manipulating the view - yes, I agree with you on that, too. The mouse-scroll-to-zoom works the wrong way round (compared to every other tool I’ve tried, or even compared to friggin’ Google Maps) and it irks me that there’s no setting for something as fundamental as that. Also turning my viewpoint needs **Shift+**middle-mouse-button, which is immensely annoying. I might fire up some custom-made AutoHotkey scripts to tune that.
That mouse is awesome … if you’re literally a rocket scientist. For home use, it’s way out of my league.
All parametric modeling or CAD software is going to have a pretty steep learning curve, I think. For all the things I design I exclusively use FreeCAD. I just can’t get behind being locked in to proprietary and non-free software with predatory licensing schemes for this sort of thing, so I never touch anything from AutoDesk or Adobe… even if it is “free.”
All parametric modeling or CAD software is going to have a pretty steep learning curve
I disagree a little bit. I feel like I learnt maybe 10% of fusion 360 several years back and it’s been enough for me to design everything I’ve needed, whilst learning about other features gradually as necessary.
Op should just bite the bullet and get onto some parametric cad software.
Having spent a little time with Fusion now, I agree with you and I am now also trying to wrap my head around FreeCad. I find that parametric modeling is hard compared to TinkerCad’s stacking toddler blocks together 🙃
Fusion 360 is the middle ground. Beyond that you’re looking at solidworks.
It is just a steep learning curve. Keep grinding. The thing about steep learning curves is that it’s more rewarding when you make progress.
Fusion360 is great.
The two things I dislike about it though is the lack of linux support and the fact that you have to store your projects in their cloud. Personally I would prefer local only projects which I can easily include in a git repository without having to manually export my model every time I make a change to it.
So far FreeCad seems like the best option for me in regards to those points but it is definitely less intuitive than Fusion360
I only use freecad and it sucks. But it’s not infested with corporate bullshit like cloud saves, so it’s automatically better than fusion 360.
doesn’t have Linux support, but Solid Edge community let’s you save locally.
in the cloud
From what I read, the free tier only allows to save 10 models, total, ever, then I’d need a paid version. Is that accurate?
No you can only have 10 read/write models at the same time but as far as I found you can store as many read-only models as you want and you can toggle them back and forth. Also, you also can store the files locally, or at least export them to a local fusion file.
FreeCAD might fit your bill. You can do many things but it’s definitely not a fully blown professional CAD yet. On the downside, it’s not always super well documented.
I think it depends on how you want to make your models. TinkerCAD looks to be more like making models with Clay, drag, drop pre-made shapes to make your models. If you are looking for more of that then perhaps you are looking for Blender or Maya. Both of these softwares can make the models that are 3D Printable.
Most of the advise you will get from those who 3D Print are machines, who want their designs to be mm perfect. Exact lengths and exact shapes dictated by measurements. Which is something that most CAD software like you’ve listed do very well.
For beginners who want to learn this kind of CAD, from my experience Google Sketchup and Fusion 360 are great starting points due to the treasure trove of online resources. But from my personal usage, FreeCAD fits my design style perfectly, allowing me to make everything I could in Fusion with a lot more precision.
TL:DR You might be looking for software like Blender or Maya, vs CAD software like Fusion or Google Sketchup. All these software will do what you are looking for, but I think it depends on how you want to make models.
I exclusively use OpenSCAD. (I’ve been known even to write Go code that outputs OpenSCAD code on occasion.) And it does require a good amount of just raw-dogging the trigonometry. You can do most things, but it definitely has its limitations.
You’ve already accepted Fusion 360 as the answer, but I thought I’d provide my experience, too.
I picked up Fusion 360 pretty quickly because I’d dealt with 3d modelling programs in the past, such as Blender.
Openscad calls to me pretty strongly, but it’s kind of a weird mindset and almost more like a puzzle game than a productivity product. Freecad just has too many problems still, especially when dealing with the timeline.
And so I still use Fusion 360 any time I need to bash out something for around the house. For basic usage, I find it really easy to use. I’m sure I’ll get into more complex things later, but the ease with which Clough42 on youtube uses it to design nice things makes me think that it won’t be that hard to get more into it.
