Cad recomendations

Hi
I have a reprap 3d printer and I am looking for a good cad software to use for making parts.
I have been using a student version of autodesk inventor but I will be graduating soon and will no longer have that as an option.
I also have experience with solidworks, sketchup, 123d design, and autocad. My favorite is solidworks but it does not work on my computer.
I was thinking about trying fusion 360, but I was wondering what are some other options? Is fusion 360 a good option?
Thanks
Tanner

Fusion360 is a great option. The maker/startup license makes it free to use for most purposes. It's powerful. It exports solid STLs. And if you're already familiar with Inventor you'll probably find the workflow pretty easy to pick up. It uses cloud storage for your projects, but you can export full archives. There's a lot of good tutorials out there as well, so it's easy to get going. There's a surface workspace as well as modeling, so you can get some fairly organic shapes, but it's no where near blender or cinema4D in that regard. But for mechanical modeling it excels.

I use OnShape.com... online, free for personal use (but all your work is public (but that seems a reasonable trade to me)). Not good for dealing with meshes but otherwise excellent.

There's also FreeCAD, which I use sometimes, mainly for converting meshes to solids for use in OnShape.

OpenSCAD is free, cross-platform. It reads text files that describe objects and their transformations. It takes a bit to understand its language, but once you do, its very powerful and flexible.

I am a complete beginner to CAD modelling and I have been learning Fusion360 for the last 3 weeks or so.
It is a great piece of software and very flexible.
Best of all it is free with the hobbyist/startup licence.

There are literally hundreds of videos produced by Lars Christensen on youtube which walk you through each stage of the design process including how to deal with imported stl files etc.
Give it a try, you will not be disappointed.

Blender 2.8. The best software I learned so far.
The strongest point: It is a sandbox! Everything is there. Moderate-to-hard to learn though.
If you want to jumpstart your Blender check my review of ptt Blender 2.8 4-week course:
[3dwithus.com]
A good read and a lot of images.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2021 04:52AM by MaxFunkner.

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Maker, designer, and blogger on the subjects of 3D design and 3D printing.
[3dwithus.com]

This is proper Pro grade and $0 for personal use.

[www.plm.automation.siemens.com]