Would you recommend Autodesk 123D

Hi
If you are knew to 3D Printing & 3D design , would you recommend 123D design to create parts etc. I am not talking about sculpturing animals & people etc. As a starting point of creating objects. ( Beginner at 3D software )
Whats your recommendation ?

Thanks

As new to 3D printing I was also looking for some design software, I am now using 123D all the time. I find it quite easy and simple and does (so far) everithing I want. But I have not tried anything like sculpturing, just brackets and covers types of things.

But it is free and there is plenty of support, so nothing to loses in giving it a go.

Dave

Hi
Thanks Dave, I am busy playing around with it and watching the tutorials on you tube. It seems to be the one to start with. Need to get my mendel90 finished this weekend. Received my E3D hotend today which is awesome.

Thanks

I use it all the time, save every 5 min though there are a couple of bugs like if you click measure twice you get the hourglass of death but it is super solid, it has taken me a couple of months to become a lot better at using it but I was designing parts from day one. One tip I have for you is to run your .stl files through this before using slicer to generate g-code:

[modelrepair.azurewebsites.net]

it repairs any mistakes you made, I am only now to the point of 9 out of 10 files I make are perfectly made and do not require fixing. Good luck! It is awesome to make whatever you can envision ;-)

Look at Rhino3d.com. If you are a teacher or student it's all but free. Wonderfull program.

hey elwood, 123d is free ;-)

123d catch coolest thing since sliced bread.

Yes.

I use it often.

I have Autocad and Solidworks available to me through work, and I have been meaning to learn how to use them, but 123D Design does nearly everything I need and is fairly easy to use.
It seems pretty simple to start with, but as you use it you learn it can do a lot more than you first think.

I learnt how to use it in one night (I used the online tutorials). On the second night I was able to design an internal casing for a hatch lock for an old car of mine and send it to i.materialise to be printed (or cast) in brass. I had it plated when I got it back and it was great! And it cost only $70 including shipping to Australia! The machine shops wouldn't make me one (too fiddly), you couldn't buy it as a spare part (to old) and any second hand one was as worn as mine.

The only thing I don't like about 123D Design is its inability to do threads (or helixes). I haven't figured out how. I don't think it can.

And one tip: Before you export to .stl format, combine all the subparts. (You can try without doing this, but if it turns up in slic3r incomplete, go back to 123D and combine).

Wow, I'll have to check it out. Thanks.

Thank you guys for the Tips and advise, much appreciate it.
Enjoying getting into the software.

Maybe give Onshape a try, it's very similar to Solidworks/Inventor but runs through your browser or an app on phone/tablet. I tried it and it was a tad slow compared to Inventor that I use at work, but it does have a ton of features and they actively update it weekly I think. Free for 5 private drawings or you can deactivate some to keep going or just make them public to stay free.

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Please add your printer design to [reprap.org]

I use FreeCAD.

It's not a mature product, so it has a few bugs (if I do something dumb, it occasionally crashes; if I don't do dumb things or stupidly complicated things, it mostly works fine), the UI is a bit clunky in some ways, and there's a steep learning curve.

But it does work very well, there's plenty of online tutorials and examples, it's actively being improved, and of course it's completely free (as in beer AND speech).