sharpshooter223

so this year in my engineering/design class is really my first experience with a 3D CAD and im thinking it might be a basic one for learning on, not that i would know the difference yet, just wondering what 3D CAD those of you who use one have.

batchelc

My Feedback: (7)

Sharp,

Your opening a can of worms. Everyone has an opinion on this. Try them all out.

Just read the difference on a SOLID, SURFACE and WIREFRAME models to get started.

Alibre Cad has a free limited parts program that builds solids that would be good to start on.

Solidworks, CATIA, ProE and NX are all used in industry.

Chris

sharpshooter223

i've had a bit of work with rhino if that is a benchmark for anything, not a ton but a decent amount. im going to be off in college starting this coming fall and i wont be able to acctualy build anything so i figure i might as well make some 3d models, i dont have a 3d cad program at home though, so im looking to see what kind of free stuff i can get. rhino has a free trial that is supposed to not cancel itself on some computers, i dont know about any other brands though.

JV44

HI , I use rhino as is easy to use and gets very good results, also autocad however is a lot more complex than rhino for 3d.

sharpshooter223

i am limited to free stuff for the time being, i guess what i really need to know is just whats out there. i was using a free trial for a 2d cad but now that i know how to use them id rather use 3d cad.

MasterAlex

I use Delta CAD for my limited needs. Can't go wrong with the price - free trial. [link=http://www.deltacad.com/]Here's[/link] the link.

-MA

sharpshooter223

yea, i was using delta cad but its not 3d, im looking for a 3d cad, i may end up just using rhino since thats what i know.

Laird SS

Try Google's Sketch-up. It's free and seems to work fine. I, personally use Solidworks for modeling most of my needs and an older version of AutoCAD for some 2-D stuff. AutoCAD is difficult to use for 3-D. I also use Corel Draw to generate files for driving a laser cutter. Good luck. Let us know how things are coming.

bb

Steven S

Truespace is now available for free. It has a NURBS surface modeller like Rhino.
http://www.caligari.com/Products/tru...hure/intro.asp

Steve S

batchelc

My Feedback: (7)

http://www.alibre.com/ is free and is a Solid Modeler. I think you will find that google sketchup is too limiting.