Which CAD program?

Discussion in 'Newcomers Lounge' started by 1259803_deleted, Jul 28, 2016.

  1. Hello,

    I'm a software engineer here in Minneapolis. I also like to play with designing, building, and programming my own embedded computer systems, one of my many hobbies. I've been looking for a way to create custom cases for my projects rather than cutting and drilling stock enclosures, which is labor intensive and not always that pretty. I started to look at buying a 3d printer and ran across shapeways.

    So I've been looking at the various recommended 3d modeling packages, I've been using librecad, but that doesn't do 3d. All seem to have their good and bad points. At the risk of starting a religious war, I'd like to know what you would recommend for a CAD system, especially if you've tried others. What do you like about it, what don't you like.
     
  2. fortysevenco
    fortysevenco Member
    Hey! I swear by SolidWorks because that's what I am trained on but you should give Fusion360 a shot!
    It's free for hobbyists ands small companies and it is extremely powerful!
     
  3. Youknowwho4eva
    Youknowwho4eva Well-Known Member
    I'll back what Tomer said, Fusion is a decent software. You can probably export dwg/dxf from your software and import that into Fusion to make it 3D. You can also do this with Blender, which is open source and has many powers. There are many more out there, those are just 2 that I often use that can do what you're after.
     
  4. MikeyBugs95
    MikeyBugs95 Well-Known Member
    I also concur with Fusion. I use it all the time to do all of my modeling. It's a great package for what it costs (free for startups making less than $100k, hobbyists and enthusiasts and, of course, students. $40 per month (I believe) for the paid/business license).
     
  5. MadBikeSkills
    MadBikeSkills Well-Known Member
    The industry leader is SolidWorks, but they have no free version (either time nor feature limited). Fusion 360 works in a similar fashion to SolidWorks and will import SolidWorks files directly, it won't export in that format. If your designs are much less complicated something like 123dDesign, also free from Autodesk, may be easier to learn.

    I tend to look at where I am and where these products came from to see what might be a better fit. If you are highly procedural in your thinking and have strong mathematics skills then something like OpenSCAD might be more appropriate. If you have any formal CAD (2D or 3D) training then Fusion 360 might be a better fit. If you tend to think more like an animator with a strong Graphics Arts background then maybe Blender might be an easier transition. I would look at several and perhaps build the same model in them to determine which one feels more intuitive to the way your mind processes your vision. It is the best way to pick the best, for you, CAD program.
     
    Vortical likes this.