Hey guys, just bought a cacoon 3d printer fom Aldi(!)
Does anyone have a preference for good free 3d printing CAD style software?
good free 3d printing software?
Moderator: Moderators for English X Forum
-
philip_hughes
- Posts: 7757
- Joined: Tue, 29. Aug 06, 16:06
good free 3d printing software?
Split now give me death? Nah. Just give me your ship.
Blender, while it is not a cad program, it is a 3d software package that is popular with 3d printers.
Blender for 3D printing.
Blender for 3D printing.
Florida Man Makes Announcement.
We live in a crazy world where winter heating has become a luxury item.
We live in a crazy world where winter heating has become a luxury item.
-
linolafett
- EGOSOFT
- Posts: 3363
- Joined: Mon, 26. Mar 12, 14:57
I also use blender to create my things to print.
Its a very difficult tool to get into sadly, so you might be completely frustrated, if you do not have anyone to talk to about issues you might encounter.
You might want to look at autodesk fusion for a real CAD tool.
Easier to learn and has all the advantages when constructing real things in a cad workflow compared to polygon modeling.
I think its "free" to use in a non commercial usage, check the terms of use if you have to sell your kidney and firstborn though.
Its a very difficult tool to get into sadly, so you might be completely frustrated, if you do not have anyone to talk to about issues you might encounter.
You might want to look at autodesk fusion for a real CAD tool.
Easier to learn and has all the advantages when constructing real things in a cad workflow compared to polygon modeling.
I think its "free" to use in a non commercial usage, check the terms of use if you have to sell your kidney and firstborn though.
01001100 01101001 01101110 01100101 01110011 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01101001 01101101 01100101 01110011 00101110 00101110 00101110
My art stuff
My art stuff
You'll want this: http://www.meshlab.net
It's not for creating 3D files, it's for manipulating them, fixing them, checking them, etc. It's also good for converting files, too. There are plenty of utility functions that are handy to have.
Edit add: AFAIK, most printers will come with their own software for checking models, importing, making sure they are "water-tight," which only means that the entire surface is "closed" and is contiguous. (no holes) The common format that printers use is going to be .stl, but the software will sometimes support other formats, like .obj. In general, if it can export in .stl, then whatever creation program you use to create the models will be fine. Wavefront (.obj) files are the most standard 3D objects, so many programs will import/export those. Your software may also be able to use that format.
In any event, the absolute necessity for 3D printing is a water-tight object. It must be a "closed" mesh. Meshlab will check for that, easily, as well as do quite a bit more in helping you fine-tune meshes for printing. But, you can not manually manipulate a mesh with it. For that, you need a 3D modeling app. (IIRC, meshlab does have options for automatically making a mesh water-tight, but if it does, those sorts of automated processes aren't usually reliable.)
Lastly - There are plenty of free 3D objects in file formats like .stl appropriate for printing, offered on sites specific to that use. Most manufacturers of 3D printers will have a website where you can download such things.
(I enjoy 3D modeling, but don't have a 3D printer. I've been looking at the subject for awhile. I'm thinking about getting a good 3D printer for funsies, maybe making some custom models for friends as presents and such and for goofing around with printing models, in general.)
It's not for creating 3D files, it's for manipulating them, fixing them, checking them, etc. It's also good for converting files, too. There are plenty of utility functions that are handy to have.
Edit add: AFAIK, most printers will come with their own software for checking models, importing, making sure they are "water-tight," which only means that the entire surface is "closed" and is contiguous. (no holes) The common format that printers use is going to be .stl, but the software will sometimes support other formats, like .obj. In general, if it can export in .stl, then whatever creation program you use to create the models will be fine. Wavefront (.obj) files are the most standard 3D objects, so many programs will import/export those. Your software may also be able to use that format.
In any event, the absolute necessity for 3D printing is a water-tight object. It must be a "closed" mesh. Meshlab will check for that, easily, as well as do quite a bit more in helping you fine-tune meshes for printing. But, you can not manually manipulate a mesh with it. For that, you need a 3D modeling app. (IIRC, meshlab does have options for automatically making a mesh water-tight, but if it does, those sorts of automated processes aren't usually reliable.)
Lastly - There are plenty of free 3D objects in file formats like .stl appropriate for printing, offered on sites specific to that use. Most manufacturers of 3D printers will have a website where you can download such things.
(I enjoy 3D modeling, but don't have a 3D printer. I've been looking at the subject for awhile. I'm thinking about getting a good 3D printer for funsies, maybe making some custom models for friends as presents and such and for goofing around with printing models, in general.)