Because of 3D printing’s prevalence in industry and manufacturing, the OEMs of 3D printing software have developed additional capabilities that support electrical and mechanical design integration.
How to Use 3D Printing Software?ģD printing software encompasses a wide variety of products that aid 3D printing or design process, including slicers, design automation, computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) and computer-aided design (CAD) technologies.ĬAD software allows the users to design complex models that can be sliced into fine layers to laid out instructions for the printers.
This allows the companies to move through design cycles faster and more efficiently. Unlike traditional processes, 3D printed parts and prototypes can often be produced in hours, rather than traditional means of manufacturing which can take from a few days to weeks.
There are various paid and open source 3D printing software available in the market that makes it easy for designers to create complex designs. The best program for 3D printing then uses these G codes to replicate physically realisable models.Ī best software for 3D printer modeling uses G-codes to replicate physically realizable models. A 3D printing software tool is used for transforming your drawings into meshes which are called G-codes. Created by Autodesk, Fusion 360 is based in the cloud to easily share and work on projects simultaneously.A 3D printing software is a tool which converts a design in your computer into a 3D model with depth and dimensions.
Here is a great PDF tutorial over how to create a keychain by the Center for Advanced Surface Engineering, one of our partners: Introduction to 3D Printing with Onshapeįusion 360 Cost: Free for Students and Educators Operating System: iOS, Android, Windows, Mac Tutorials Included: Yes, AUTODESK University Level of Difficulty: Medium to Hardį usion 360 is a fantastic software suite for computer aided manufacturing. It's also based in a web browser, and they also have a great app for tablets! is a more advanced modeling program, created by some of the same minds that made SOLIDWORKS.
Onshape Cost: Free for Students and Educators Operating System: iOS, Android Windows, Mac, Linux, or Chromebook Web Browser Tutorials Included: Yes, embedded tutorials available Level of Difficulty: Medium SketchUp has tons of tutorials available on their website: They even have a web browser based platform, SketchUp for Schools, that works on Chromebooks with Google Classroom! is a great program to learn the basics of 3D design. SketchUp Cost: Free for Educators Operating System: Windows, Mac, Chromebooks Tutorials Included: Yes, embedded tutorials available Level of Difficulty: Easy to Medium Here's our video on how to create a keychain and export it for 3D printing: It's even based in a web browser, so it works on Chromebooks! It's made by AUTODESK, and the controls you learn scale great into Fusion 360. is a fantastic site to begin learning how to 3D model. Our favorite 3D design softwares are free for schools, easy to use, and have a lot of tutorials available on the web.Ĭlick here to download our PDF tutorial on how to export from these programs for 3D printing! Tinkercad Cost: Free Operating System: Windows, Mac, Linux, or Chromebook Web Browser Tutorials Included: Yes, embedded tutorials available Level of Difficulty: Easy 3D printing is the most fun when you make the models yourself!Īt NWA3D, we're constantly using CAD (computer aided design) software to 3D print.