Autodesk 123D free maker design program.

Autodesk has released a free solid modeling design app that's aimed at the maker community, called 123D. It interchanges .sat and .stp and outputs .stl when you're done. It doesn't have to phone home and isn't time limited. Tagging along after Sketchup in some ways, but isn't restricted to facet representations, and has a limited (so far) amount of its own "warehouse" content for download.

[www.123dapp.com]

other discussions on this:

[groups.google.com]#

my impression:

First impression:

* terms and conditions exist in 4 dozen languages but German is
missing
* program is a Beta
* program only exists in US-english
* all the points in "Learn About 123D" do not work on a 64bit Windows
(they try to open an swf as a file and the Adobe web-site says that
the flash player 10.x is no available in 64 bit.)
* lines in sketches are hidden in "draw"
* sketches can be on flat surfaces but not on non-flat ones
* If the model is in metric units, you cannot specify inches for
features (e.g. a 1/4 hole to attach a camera in a metric part)
* the only constraint I have found is "pin down" = lock feature
* I cannot find the operations I did in the model-hierarchy or any
kind of construction-timeline
* I also cannot find a way to temporarily supress and operation, only
parts
* I can enter basic formulas but not variable-names

It seems to be some kind of "Sketchup meets ProE".
Give extremely visual oriented people very basic parametric tools
without allowing much in terms of later modification of the created
object.
Useful for simple modifications to solid models in the usual CAD-
formats and simple 1-off parts.
Not so much for complex parts that you test-print and then modify
earlier steps in the construction history or change any parameters at
all.

Marcus

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Autodesk 123D is a free Windows desktop 3D modeling application that can be used by students, hobbyists and entrepreneurs alike.With Autodesk 123D, anyone can explore, learn and create highly precise 3D models. Makers can bring ideas to reality by combining powerful digital design with services for creating physical objects.

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3D services

Hello blitz3dservice ...what exactly are you trying to say
by quoting that advertisement?




blitz3dservice Wrote:
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> Autodesk 123D is a free Windows desktop 3D
> modeling application that can be used by students,
> hobbyists and entrepreneurs alike.With Autodesk
> 123D, anyone can explore, learn and create highly
> precise 3D models. Makers can bring ideas to
> reality by combining powerful digital design with
> services for creating physical objects.

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* homeprototype free 3d design repository
* Blog
* Google+

I tried it out, having almost zero previous experience. It seems easy enough to operate and it does offer dimensions which AOI does not. So that's a definite plus. However, when I create something and try to slice it in Skeinforge (V41), it comes out much too small.
First I thought it was a problem with going from metric to imperial or some such. But the factor it is off by is exactly 10.
Has anybody else experienced this?

ST

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/30/2011 08:53PM by stefanst.

In the Autodesk 123D forum I found the answer; they use centimeter instead of milimeter; that is why it is a factor 10 of - the solution they propose is to scale it a factor 10

cva Wrote:
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> In the Autodesk 123D forum I found the answer;
> they use centimeter instead of milimeter; that is
> why it is a factor 10 of - the solution they
> propose is to scale it a factor 10


But of course! The output in STL does not appear to have dimensions, and even though 123d displays dimensions in millimeters, it exports them in centimeters (not a recommended unit any more- who the hell thought of that?). And there you got your factor of 10.

ST

Version 5 beta just released has improvements like 2D .dwg sheet output, and correcting that unit/scale glitch. Doesn't dimension, but .dwgs can be dimensioned and edited in lots of free apps. It now imports IGES, can do a bit more with .stl imports, and has some new rendering ability.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/06/2011 01:50AM by murrayd.

Thanks for the info!

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Up to version 6.1 that runs on 64 bit windows. I found it to be farily useful but different enough to take time to learn. I have Turbocad and find the 3D to be impossible to manipulate no matter how long I try... maybe improved in later versions for $. I was able to import an Autodesk Inventor format from a parts website that I was able to modify in 123D then post out in STL to my printer. I'm more interested in mechanical objects then artistic shapes. I really like the ability to push/pull surfaces, and to a dimension. Similar to Sketchup but I feel you can make more accurate alterations in this program, and the STL output comes included with the beta.

What are your experiances with it?

AutoDesk123D is so ridiculously bloated, it's a 500mb download!
I repeat 500mb!!
And then it apparently starts downloading even more during installation!
What on earth are Autodesk doing in all that space? This is just obscene levels of bloat.

Let's compare that to the others:

Moi3d = 15mb
Blender = 27mb
Sketchup = 35mb
Truespace = 80-120mb
Hexagon = 80mb
Creo Elements/Direct Modeling Express = 140mb

123D is quite frankly morbidly obese, I don't think I even have enough room on my computer to install it, let alone run it. I bet it's probably really slow and laggy in operation too.

3 typical reasons:

- Programmers never remove code, but only add workarounds over workarounds.

- Extensive documentation with high resolution pictures.

- Big part libraries.

I prefer slim software, too.

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3dFan Wrote:
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> AutoDesk123D is so ridiculously bloated, it's a
> 500mb download!
> I repeat 500mb!!

That's a whole lot better than comparable commercial software, such as SolidWorks or CATIA. They just stripped down their commercial software to get AutoDesk123D.

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3dFan Wrote:
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> 123D is quite frankly morbidly obese, I don't
> think I even have enough room on my computer to
> install it, let alone run it. I bet it's probably
> really slow and laggy in operation too.

Yes it does require a fast machine, but it is quite good, and currently free. I don't like what they did to beta9 though, the need for being online to create stl files. Beta8 dos not require this........