{"id":28027,"date":"2017-01-06T11:00:27","date_gmt":"2017-01-06T16:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/?p=28027"},"modified":"2017-04-17T12:18:43","modified_gmt":"2017-04-17T16:18:43","slug":"d-school-or-self-taught-how-did-you-learn-to-3d-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/d-school-or-self-taught-how-did-you-learn-to-3d-design","title":{"rendered":"D-School or Self-Taught: How did you learn to 3D design?"},"content":{"rendered":"

One question we get all the time is: What’s the best way to learn how to 3D design? Did you learn the tools and processes in an academic setting like school? Did you teach yourself though experimenting? Did you watch tutorials or take online classes?<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Experiments

Experiments with MagicaVoxel software<\/p><\/div>\n

We posed these questions to our community on the Shapeways forums and got some amazing responses. Here are some of these learnings that could serve as a great guide for others interested in starting their journey in digital manufacturing.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I have always loved to draw with pencil and paper as a hobby. But I am a Mechanical Engineer and I started my professional career as a CATIA application engineer at IBM in 1992, and did that for more than 15 years. I had taken several CATIA training classes and spent many hours studying by myself. ” – Shapeways Shop owner Glehn<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the forums, our community has a range of backgrounds, from fine arts to science to engineering. Most reported learning the design software themselves from online tutorials and YouTube. They were creative prior to learning 3D design, and had begun their journey earlier with other hobbies like drawing and model building.<\/p>\n

Many started learning before academic classes in 3D design were available. Personal digital manufacturing is still in its infancy and the educational infrastructure around it is still forming. Those who taught themselves are leading the charge to start educating the next generation of designers.<\/p>\n

Most importantly, community members have learned to come to design with a creative, can-do mentality. By working on specific problems, like wanting to create a necklace or a robot, they’ve experimented with the tools at hand \u2014 and found solutions. Design always requires a combination of patience, problem-solving, and elbow grease. They’ve learned to value hard work, and that making something yourself pays off.<\/p>\n

“My parents instilled in me the belief that it’s better if possible to craft something on your own than to buy it pre-built. 3d printing just gives me better construction tools” – Shapeways shop owner Stony Smith<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How did you learn to 3D design? Did you learn in school or pick it up yourself? Let us know in the comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One question we get all the time is: What’s the best way to learn how to 3D design? Did you…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":28785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[489,478],"tags":[1216,1635,1642,583,559,727,554],"class_list":["post-28027","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-products-and-design","category-community","tag-3d-tools-2","tag-2-community","tag-30-design","tag-education","tag-inspiration","tag-learning","tag-manufacturing"],"thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.shapeways.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/Screenshot-2017-01-05-18.05.58.png","yoast_head":"\nD-School or Self-Taught: How did you learn to 3D design? - Shapeways Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One question we get all the time is: What's the best way to learn how to 3D design? 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