whats up with tinker cad every time i upload a file it screws it up to the point that i have to go back and fix the files. like i load a file then i go to make it larger so i can see it better and there are holes ,spaces ect in the file but in the original file there is none. its like i have to rebuild the stupid file all over. very friggin annoying....
bahahahahahaha yup i suppose so . ive used it for a while an had a few problems in the past like missing files a lot of mine disappeared from them.... now its corrupting my files . i would switch to meshmixer but i find it really hard to use.....and the rest cost more than there worth.
Obligatory Fusion 360 hobbyist licence plug here I used tinkercad briefly, but I much prefer fusion 360 and it's sketches. I don't commercialize my models so free for me. I do use meshmixer, but only for, well, mixing meshes . Seriously I once used it to take one model of a cow, and bend the mesh slightly to make six cows in various poses, mirrored those six and that gave me a dozen that were just enough different. I also use meshmixer to solidify sketchup models occasionally.
Ditto, if you aren't commercial why not use one of the best CAD programs out there if it is free... Link ( HERE ). If I was commercial I'd pay the yearly cost and keep using it I started using it with the following video and now if I'm wondering how to do something find an appropriate YouTube to see how... Sumner
ive tried fusion 360 but i just cant get how it works. many times ive tried and i just gave up. funny i can figger most programs and after a while ill figger it out but fusion i just can not get it..........
Not wanting to make CAD a hobby that supplants model railroading, I'd be using Fusion 360 right now if not for that restrictive hobbyist license. I have no commercial plans, just don't like to be encumbered like that. Recently downloaded Blender to do some complex extrusion, but I was spending too much time re-learning the program, so I abandoned it. I've been using OpenSCAD to model DRG #168; all scripts, some straightforward, some not so much. As a programmer, it just makes sense, not only for the syntax but for the organization; I've gradually cobbled together a way to organize my designs, prints, and the supporting modules that makes it easy (for me) to change things without dorking up the whole bit, and to reuse things so I don't have to craft them from scratch every time. Very much, YMMV...
i dont think ive tried openscad . ill google it and check it out maybe my small fried pea brain can figger it out. (i should have stayed in school ) oh well that was many years ago.... Thanks Glen ill start checking that out...... Thanks sumner for that vid ill have a look at that as well....
Wondering why do you feel the hobby license if restrictive? I love it and at this point if I had to pay for it I probably would considering how much I use it. At my age time to do something is important and I can design something so much faster than anything else I've seen out there that I can use free. I've been using it about 2 1/2 years now and have used it to design 200-300 individual items easily and well over a hundred projects, with some being quite large like my coal mine complex, roundhouse and turntable for the roundhouse. I have a number of projects that I've posted the print files for anyone to use on my site here.... http://1fatgmc.com/RailRoad/3D-Printer/3D-Printer-Index.html ... or thingiverse.com here.... https://www.thingiverse.com/sumner/designs Sid play the video and at the same time use Fusion following along each step. Actually the video covers steps that you might not use at first but knowing they are there is good to know. I'm a lot faster than I was 2 years ago but still I'll bet I only use less than 10% of what Fusion can do. Just learn the commands that are relevant and don't think you need to become well versed in it to have fun and design stuff. Sumner
I've just heard second-hand about their license for hobbyist use, with some sort of dollar limitation for commercial use of model products. So, I just went to the site to confirm before I crafted an answer, and found no such thing. For free trials, only a 30-day option for businesses and an educational option. Anyway, I'm not interested in having to consider any qualifications or limitations to the modeling artifacts I produce. I'm a programmer by trade so scripting comes second nature. That, and the semantics of the translate() rotate() and scale() transforms are the same as in the graphics class I took in my master's program oh so many years ago. I can just whip it out, as if I were writing a poem or short story. Once I make a .stl file of my musings, doesn't matter what CAD program it came from. I already have posted the main components of my DRG #168 model as .stl files at a public github repo, and I'm getting ready to post the "decorations", domes, headlamp, smokestack, etc. I'll bet not many use the core engine parts, but I think a lot will find use for the decorations...
sumner ive down loaded it again and im trying to learn but my brain can not get it for some reason. But ill keep at it ill watch the videos on one screen and play with 360 on a second screen. surely i can get this i just dont understand why this program is so hard for me to learn. maybe my time with thinking is up these days , i dunno. but ill keep at it till im tired of it.
Sidney, Try these videos, which are actual tutorials. I love how this guy explains it, and it's how I started... Any of Lars Christensen videos are good.
Well looks like while I was watching his video Stephane bet me to it but I agree with his choice . Maybe try this guy's videos.... I watched the first one and he seems to take things from one step to the other a little better than some of the others I've seen. One thing to keep in mind is that there are a number of ways to get to the same finial object (.stl file). I learned some things from it that I might now use vs. what I have been doing. Keep things simple at first and you will find a way that feels good to you and yes you will get it Sumner
@sidney Just like Sumner says - start simple, then build on that. I started with basic boxes, then gradually (and slowly!) learned... a couple of recent projects: (The 35' container in the first one is part of how I learned: a box, more or less...)
