Looking for a recommendation for further design software.

[dklassen]

I'd stay away from Cubify Design. You're locked into their file format when saving except for outputting STL files or dwg. I find either DesignSpark or ViaCad Pro the two best options for either free or low cost CAD software.

[Sebastian Finke]

I'd stay away from Cubify Design. You're locked into their file format when saving except for outputting STL files or dwg. I find either DesignSpark or ViaCad Pro the two best options for either free or low cost CAD software.

But that goes for most software as export modules need to be licensed. And while it can only save as native and export stl it import step, iges and sat (and solidworks files, if I'm not mistaken).

Plus it is fully parametric... for $50. That alone puts it heads and shoulders above the 'free brigade'.

[iDig3Dprinting]

There is BRL-CAD which is used by the US military so one assumes it has some depth to it. We haven't tried to use it ourselves so we can't comment on usability or functionality but it is free.

[Sebastian Finke]

There is BRL-CAD which is used by the US military so one assumes it has some depth to it. We haven't tried to use it ourselves so we can't comment on usability or functionality but it is free.

Don't waste your time with this. Tried it once. Didn't find it very productive. I doubt the military actually uses this.

[iDig3Dprinting]

Don't waste your time with this. Tried it once. Didn't find it very productive. I doubt the military actually uses this.

Yes, we were not convinced it would be worth are while investing time in learning it we are just aware that it exists and is free. But you never know, our experience of freeware is that sometimes you can find some real gems if you are prepared to get past, what usually appears to be, a poor interface.

[Sebastian Finke]

But you never know, our experience of freeware is that sometimes you can find some real gems if you are prepared to get past, what usually appears to be, a poor interface.

Absolutely. Unfortunately not in this case though. Firstly there is no UI, everything had to be typed in by hand. and the more complex your part got the longer each command got. For jollies I tried to design a little kids' rake for the beach. Took three days; with todays software this shouldn't take more than an hour. I also couldn't save to stp or iges (also done through a command line style editor.) No... not worth it.

[Marm]

I know I'm one of the few Sketchup flag bearers here, but I've found that if you want to do it in sketchup, someone else smarter has too, and they wrote a plugin for it.

http://sketchucation.com/forums/view...p?f=79&t=40505 Is a thread about making a golfball in sketchup. There's a working model linked there too:

SUGOLF.JPG

Rendered and everything too. And if that's all there is to the SU file, then it would convert easily to an STL.

Take a look. I don't understand why more people don't use it, it's a nifty little program that is intuitive and powerful when you add the right tools.

[curious aardvark]

Firstly there is no UI, everything had to be typed in by hand. and the more complex your part got the longer each command got.

I like the sound of that :-) I'll give it a go.

And I tried sketchup - absolutely bloody useless. None of the tutorials I followed worked. Couldn't even find the centre of a cube to push in to make a box. It just wouldn't do it. At which point, after a few hours I gave up, tried openscad and had made abox inside a minute.
Horrible software. And not exactly 3d print friendly.

brl cad is weird. Currently looking at tinkercad.

Ah - web app.

lol what i actually want is someone to fix openscad so it uses multile cpu cores and doesn't have a facet limit. lol
Haven't found anything I can't make with it yet - the scripts for the pinboards and golfball style glandes work great, till openscad dies on me.
OH well.

[Sebastian Finke]

Seriously, give the free ones I mentioned in my first post a look. They are the closest you'll get to professional CAD without paying.

[curious aardvark]

cheers mate - hadn't seen the standalone 123d before :-)

The designspark is $800 - lol no chance. I grumbled enough when I bought simplify3d.

The creo thing just doesn't do enough parts.

I'll sit down at the weekend and have a solid look through the ones I've now got.

Thanks guys :-)