What is your designer/CAD of choice?

STL Files
#1

Good evening everyone, Looking to put together a list of the CAD programs you all use to create or modify STL files

Personally, I use Fusion 360, Google Sketchup (older standalone version) and Meshmixer.

What do you all use? Going to put together a list for everyone and pin it, See if I can include download links and the like for everyone to use.

#2

i use mainly onshape, as well as having a bit of experience on Fusion 360

#3

Here is an ongoing list of CAD/Design software for anyone to use as a ref, Will update as others are added.

  1. Blender - https://www.blender.org/

  2. BricsCAD Shape - BricsCAD Shape | Free 3D design & modeling software

  3. DesignSpark Mechanical - https://www.rs-online.com/designspark/mechanical-software

  4. FreeCAD - https://www.freecadweb.org/

  5. Fusion 360 - Fusion 360 | 3D CAD, CAM, CAE, & PCB Cloud-Based Software | Autodesk

  6. Meshmixer - https://www.meshmixer.com/

  7. Onshape Free - Onshape | Product Development Platform

  8. SelfCAD - https://www.selfcad.com/

  9. SketchUp Free - https://www.sketchup.com/plans-and-pricing#for-personal

  10. Tinkercad - https://www.tinkercad.com/

  11. Solidworks - https://my.solidworks.com/

  12. Plasticity - Releases · nkallen/plasticity · GitHub
    Plasticity -- Brand New 3D Modelling App - YouTube

  13. OpenSCAD - https://openscad.org/

  14. Rhino - https://www.rhino3d.com/

  15. Grasshopper - Rhino - Grasshopper - New in Rhino 6

  16. Matter Control - MatterControl - 3D Printing Software | MatterHackers

  17. AutoCad - https://web.autocad.com/login

  18. Catia - Shape the world we live in | CATIA – Dassault Systèmes

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#4

I use F360. Partly because it’s popular with the Astromech Builders Club so there’s lots of things available in .f3d format, but it also was an interface I could actually understand. I’ve tried various “modeling” programs in the past, and they never really made sense to me, but F360 does.

Maker’s Muse having a lot of videos on it helped too - I was already watching his videos so the cognitive cost of seeking out and trying to understand a tutorial was a lot lower. Searching YouTube for a tutorial isn’t as straightforward as it sounds; there’s an effort and cost involved in figuring out how to understand what the video is telling you.

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#5

@VagabondElf - I agree, Fusion really does make sense. It is definitely my preferred CAD program. I enjoy using it enough that I finally bought a license for it even though I still only use it for hobby purposes.

I have also started getting into Rhino a bit with the intention of learning Grasshopper. For work I use Cadwork but a few people in the office use Rhino for certain projects.

Blender is also on my list to learn in the hopefully near future.
So much to learn, so little time.

#6

I use FreeCAD for all my current modelling. I have used OpenSCAD in the past, and occasionally for some small projects.
Maybe one day I’ll learn F360.

#7

for fusion I worked through almost all of Lars videos online, He is an absolute master with fusion, I think training is his day job

#8

Fusion and matter control for me.

#9

FreeCAD and OpenSCAD for design.
Meshmixer for modification

#10

I use Autocad 2022 because I have it. It’s a lot more powerful than needed but I find it works well for me and I’m used to building 3D shapes with it.
Russ

#11

Hey Rusty, thanks for the response, cannot belive I missed that one…

Glad you found our corner of the internet, Pull up a chair and grab a drink, Hope to see you often

I added your suggestion to the list above, If I am missing any others, Keep posting I will keep adding.

#12

If someone’s got a few extra dollars in there pocket - aerospace programs like NASA and SpaceX use programs like Catia

#13

I use CATIA. I use it for my job so it is very familiar. It has all the features to create a 3D model. And convert it to .still.

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#14

Sorry .stl