Been searching forever. What program to use?

I work with both Autodesk Inventor and AutoCAD..... Very skilled with both programs, and I was hoping to find a program that is similar, or that can convert objects from those programs. I have been searching for quite some time to find out what printer to get, and finally decided to get a Replicator II that came in the mail 3 days ago. I haven't printed anything yet, but have basically been searching since then to find out what to do. I appreciate any help, and hope to get into many many makes and partsand toys and jewelry and nicnacs and absolutely anything else I can think up.... In return, I hope to be as helpful as I can be, as soon as I get some things figured out.

Two things you could try:

Netfabb - Free version
Blender - Hard to use, but can probably open everything and convert it.

Also, you could try TinkerCad (online builder), it might be able to open your program and just convert.
It's owned by Autodesk IIRC?

I would recommend SolidWorks,

You can also save your files to STL with it.
And is very easy to use.

The Netfabb Cloud can convert most file formats to STL.

Thanks for all of the suggestions. I will try to research more on each one.

If you are used to working with Autocad etc and are efficient in creating drawings in those programs, then I suggest that you keep with them for the design work, but download a freeware program just to convert the output of the program you know how to use into *.stl files for printing.

Old Man Emu

Start printing some of the demo prints from the SD Card. We always start people out with the 20mm cube!

I have found that both autocad and inventor can save files to .stl ...but while attempting this at work, and trying to reopen the file, I am prompted with a box that says (title): Invalid Public Key Security Object File, then inside the box: This file is invalid for use as the following: Certificate Trust List. Thanks for the support so far. I will attempt a test print this weekend (I work a little ways from home, so I usually stay out of town.)

Don't worry about that. It just means that your computer is making a mistake identifying the file code *.stl

Have a look at this: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...9214536AAfI1Dl

Old Man Emu

Thanks again for all of the help. I am doing what I can to try to figure things out. I just now opened up a structural steel (drawn in autocad in 3d) that I had saved as a .stl in inventor. It is shown as a typical .iam inventor 3d part. I hope this means that I can go to town on some parts and ideas! By the way, if it is recommended to print out the 20mm cube, should I do any measuring with calipers to make sure things are within spec, or will that show me what to adjust to get the most precise parts?

As a student of both AutoCAD and SolidWorks, I think you will find SolidWorks to be your best bet and if you a student you can get a copy of it for free! All you need is a student email address and you can get it from the main Solidworks site.

I feel held back when i use AutoCAD after using SolidWorks to be honest...AutoCAD is very clean and the only advantage is the command line functionality..but other then that...SolidWorks is by far better..IMO. Let us know what you end up going with and how it works for you, thanks!

Yes, you should measure the cube! It should be 20mm by 20mm and 10mm high.

the cube printed with an extra base, that was about 1.3mm high, and about 30 x30mm..... then printed the cube, which measured 20.1 roughly x 19.7 roughly. height, 11.3 roughly, because of the base. I also printed the chain, and was very impressed. my girlfriend said she couldn't understand why I wanted to spend the money or why I was so excited, until she finally got to see what it could do , and we watched a few more youtube videos of nerdgasm(?) printing. I tried to place a file from work into makerware, but the part was scaled from the start due to metric and inch conversions, but also rotated on its side. I rotated it, and "placed" it onto the surface, but when it printed, it made a crescent shape base (half of the object), then started trying to print... which just threw random strands out, since there wasn't a surface. I am excited to say that the software that I know can be used to save as a stl, and just opened in makerware! any other tips are appreciated.

By default the Replicator will print a "skirt" around the object, is this what you are referring to? This is done to make sure the nozzle is primed and the filament has a chance to stick to the build surface.

yes. the chain printed without it. impossible for me to break the cube away from this 'skirt'. it did it automatically for a fragile work part, that I wanted to use as a test to see how accurate it could be.

Kenny, Inventor can export .stl just fine, Just go to inventor > Export > Cad format > choose .stl as file type and save it. Thats in fact the only program i use to handle models for 3d printing, except for netfabb to fix broken stl's from thingiverse.

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Originally Posted by Mysli

Kenny, Inventor can export .stl just fine, Just go to inventor > Export > Cad format > choose .stl as file type and save it. Thats in fact the only program i use to handle models for 3d printing, except for netfabb to fix broken stl's from thingiverse.

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I haven't had any other problems, but I printed a part for myself, and had to use the 'scaffolding' command. I am still printing with PLA, and it is VERY brittle/hard to break the scaffolding. I may have lost some details, or may have to sand my part to get it how I want it.... I will try to post some pictures eventually.

so, for my cube(with the scaffolding cut away)....I re-measured it again, to be about 20.08 x 19.75 x 10.14. what can I do to get this to be more accurate? do I keep adjusting the table? is this as accurate as I can expect the prints to be? I noticed some bulging in my round car part that I made... https://www.facebook.com/kenny.coulter.7 here is my facebook, if anyone wants to add me or check out my pictures.
right now, I am trying to 'correct' a friend's creation drawn in skethup to print.....still having some issues getting a watertight part.

Another CAD program to consider is Rhino. It has an academic version at low cost as well, but it doesn't cut you off after a year like Solidworks does. (Note, I'm a long time SW user and love it, but it was out of my price range and I had already used my academic version up). Rhino is not a parametric modeler like SW or inventor, but it gets the job done and gives you a little more flexibility with organic shapes. Just something else to consider...

thanks for the suggestions. i was supposed to create a thread for this but I got all the answers here. especially the convert advice, its a prefect workaround. :-)

Sketchup will also export to stl if you get the stl plugin.