Designing iphone cases, how to get accurate?

I am designing and printing a range of custom iPhone cases for iphone 5 and 6 models. I am using 123D Design by Autodesk and i am unsure as to how to make sure the design will fit the iphones. I am unsure how to make the design and be sure it will fit snugly. Particularly with the curvature of the iphone 6 is making it difficult. Is there a particular method professional designers use? or a program that would be better suited to such designs, any help would be appreciated, thanks.

So you can download 3D models of the iphone from lots of sources. You can get specs from Apples site for making cases. You'll want to add a little clearance depending on material. Browse through other case designs to see what others have done.

A good place to start, as already suggested, is Apple's own CAD resource: Case Design Guidelines


Steven

A good place to go to get accurate iPhone models is GrabCAD. From there you can build your case design around the model. Or you can use case designs that have already been made like these to use as temples for developing your designs.

There are two main types of 3D modeling software. Solid based modeling software and polygonal based modeling software. Solid based modeling software uses mathematical descriptions to define shapes while polygonal modeling based software uses XYZ coordinates to define shapes in the form of triangles. Examples of polygonal based software are 3DS Max, Maya, Zbrush or Modo, while examples of solid based modeling software would be SolidWorks, Inventor, SpaceClaim or Solid Edge. Solid based modeling software is refereed to as CAD software (computer Aided Design) yet polygonal based modeling software is also CAD software. When you see the acronym CAD it's mostly referring to solid based modeling software, but just know that polygonal based modeling software can also be refereed to as CAD.

For designing mobile phone cases you want solid based modeling software. You can do it with polygonal based software but solid based modeling software is MUCH MORE adept at doing these kinds of things. If you're going to design a jet aircraft you would definitely use solid based modeling software, while if you were designing a 3D model that was going to be used in a video game or a motion picture you would do best by using polygonal modeling software. Both can be used to make models for 3D printing.

Now, there are two main types of solid modeling based software. Feature based and direct based. Feature based is the most widely used right now, SolidWorks for example, but direct based is the latest thing and is MUCH MUCH easier to learn and use. The best of the direct based is SpaceClaim, however, it costs around $4700, unless you're a student, then it's only $100 per year. If you're neither a student nor wealthy you can get Autodesk's Fusion 360 that you can use for free for personal use. It's also a direct based software package, but it's by far not as good as SpaceClaim.