Hi Alex,
I’ve been working in 2D / 3D CAD for 20+ years and have used all the big names as well as the free software for weekend projects etc.
The answer to your question really comes from asking a question. That question is “What do you want to model?”
If the answer is Geometric, engineering type parts e.g. brackets, enclosures etc then I’d go for the Pro-E (or is it Creo now), Solidworks, Inventor, 123D Design, TinkerCAD style software as they are easy to start using and the models are driven by dimensions. Meaning the editing is as simple as changing a dimension size.
If the answer is Organic, natural type parts e.g. fractal driven parts etc then I’d go for the 3D MAX, Rhino, Blender style software as they are far better at direct face manipulation.
But what does that mean?
Ok, so lets say yo want a 100mm x 50mm x 25mm box. Any software can do that, nice and easy.
So now you want to wrap the box in text so the letters are “gaps” in the box. Again easy for any software.
Now you think "hmm i want to ‘dent’ the box lid a little or add some cool curves to the box.
Using the “Engineering” type software you’ll have to edit your box initial shape and then work on any errors that get thrown up by the text cut operations etc.
Using the “Organic” software you simply hit the correct tool and drag the faces how ever you want them. You’ll see the faces distort and have better control over the distortion BUT you’ll distort the text too.
What I am really trying to get across here is that the software you use greatly depends on how you want to model and WHAT you want to model.
Try sticking with 123D Design for “Engineering” parts and give Blender a go for “Organic” parts. Both are free and have a good info base on Youtube.
Finally, I also want to mention something called “Design Intention”. This is the thing you need in the back of your mind while modeling. Usually it makes you aware of how you model, “do I INTEND this hole to be 10mm in from the left side or 50mm in from the right side” This makes a difference when editing the part and is usually the biggest cause of the well know “Why has the model changed shape in THAT way?”
To make things a little more interesting, Design Intention also drives your design with respect to the manufacturing process you INTEND to use. You “Intend” to 3D print the part so you model something that can actually be 3D printed, thinking about overhangs, print bed orientation, support material etc etc etc.
Best example I can think of is “I want to 3D model a car”, cool sounding project and the result will be photo real images. But TOTALLY different to “I want to 3D model a car for 3D printing” where the result will be a real object.
In conclusion, there are a whole ton of things to think about when 3D modeling and even more to think about when 3D printing. The software you use to model isn’t really the biggest driving factor. The first thing I’d recommend to anyone is to go with 1 package, what ever it is, create some parts and after a few weeks decide if it’s what you want.
hope this helps
Steve
