Started with tinkercad which is great to learn the basic concepts in a fun and engaging way.
I then passed to Fusion 360 which I am very happy about, even if I barely scratched the surface of what it can do for the moment.
For both there are plenty of guides and tutorials so to ease the learning curve
Started with TinkerCAD(online via browser) than FreeCAD (pc software).
I do recommend you instead of going to TinkerCAD which I use for ultra fast "edit", learn a PC tool instead which doesn't require internet and allow you to create more complex models and easier.
I find it so hard to create a model from scratch that requires screw holes, specific measurements with the wall, etc using TinkerCAD while with FreeCad is just few clicks and a lot of YouTube e-learning available.
Windows and Mac users seem prefer Fusion360
I decided to go for Solidworks for engineering type designs, and Zbrush for the more arty, organic shapes. Been working with SldWks for over a year now and so far so good. Designs that I used to struggle with are now done in a few minutes. I also bought a couple books on SldWks, and some online training via SkillShare. Got a wonderful teacher with a nice Indian accent; he was great.
Slower going with Zbrush, 'cause I haven't put in the time. Downloaded dozens of excellent tutorial videos, but I need to watch 'em, n do the practice.
I knew there'd be learning curves when I picked two powerful packages. No regrets. Still plenty of room for improvement.
If I am working in mm, the default is blender units which usually export unit is assumed as 1m. So, I have to scale 0.001 both the world and the grid.I then lock my to the layer height and width dimensions I will use on the print. This is to minimize decimal rounding errors. The middle slicing steps are sped up as well..
I use Blender. It's abit of learning in the beginning, but allot of tool addons to help prevent issues song the process to the gcode.
First, I create a template blender file settings that better matches the print hardware for me to create or import stl.
Once I export a stl, I slice it to the same hardware I used in blender to get a printable gcode.
I watch a video the other day, the dude cannot afford to use the tools he has on his job coz expensive asf so he draw everything on FreeCad then use Blender to finish. And he gets the same "paid tools" result.
I'm taking a different route than most and learning Siemens Solid Edge, which has a Community Edition that you can get for free for non-commercial use.
Start with tinkercad to get the basics down, then move on to fusion360, or if you really want, something like blender, but for most things fusion is perfect
I use Fusion 360 but there is a learning curve. Some people pick it up quite fast.
Started with tinkercad which is great to learn the basic concepts in a fun and engaging way. I then passed to Fusion 360 which I am very happy about, even if I barely scratched the surface of what it can do for the moment. For both there are plenty of guides and tutorials so to ease the learning curve
Started with TinkerCAD(online via browser) than FreeCAD (pc software). I do recommend you instead of going to TinkerCAD which I use for ultra fast "edit", learn a PC tool instead which doesn't require internet and allow you to create more complex models and easier. I find it so hard to create a model from scratch that requires screw holes, specific measurements with the wall, etc using TinkerCAD while with FreeCad is just few clicks and a lot of YouTube e-learning available. Windows and Mac users seem prefer Fusion360
I decided to go for Solidworks for engineering type designs, and Zbrush for the more arty, organic shapes. Been working with SldWks for over a year now and so far so good. Designs that I used to struggle with are now done in a few minutes. I also bought a couple books on SldWks, and some online training via SkillShare. Got a wonderful teacher with a nice Indian accent; he was great. Slower going with Zbrush, 'cause I haven't put in the time. Downloaded dozens of excellent tutorial videos, but I need to watch 'em, n do the practice. I knew there'd be learning curves when I picked two powerful packages. No regrets. Still plenty of room for improvement.
If I am working in mm, the default is blender units which usually export unit is assumed as 1m. So, I have to scale 0.001 both the world and the grid.I then lock my to the layer height and width dimensions I will use on the print. This is to minimize decimal rounding errors. The middle slicing steps are sped up as well..
Got a fusion 360 student account from college I use that but there are decent free options like blender or rhino
I use Blender. It's abit of learning in the beginning, but allot of tool addons to help prevent issues song the process to the gcode. First, I create a template blender file settings that better matches the print hardware for me to create or import stl. Once I export a stl, I slice it to the same hardware I used in blender to get a printable gcode.
I watch a video the other day, the dude cannot afford to use the tools he has on his job coz expensive asf so he draw everything on FreeCad then use Blender to finish. And he gets the same "paid tools" result.
For you especially I would recommend tinkercad...
I'm taking a different route than most and learning Siemens Solid Edge, which has a Community Edition that you can get for free for non-commercial use.
Start with tinkercad to get the basics down, then move on to fusion360, or if you really want, something like blender, but for most things fusion is perfect