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Frosties
(@frosties)
Active Member
New to 3d-printing

Hello!

New guy here!
Just ut in an order for a 3d-printer today and is really looking forward to getting it!

Just curios on how you go about making your models?
Seeing a lot about Slic3r but as i understand that is just to load the finished model and send to printer correct?

What program are you using for making the 3d-models from scratch?

And as lots of the filaments were out of stock here, any suggestions on other suppliers?

Thanks in advance!

Posted : 11/03/2017 6:26 pm
3Delight
(@3delight)
Moderator Moderator
Re: New to 3d-printing

Software
It depends on your budget, computer OS and needs. There free packages like blender, Autodesk 123D Design, Autodesk TinkerCAD, etc. At the other end of the spectrum are the big heavy weight (and priced) packages like Autodesk 3DS, Autodesk AutoCAD, Maxon Cinema 4D, Rhino, etc. Some of the commercial packages offer discounts if you are a student or teacher. What you need is a 3D modelling or CAD package that can export/save files in STL format. The more advanced the package and/or the models you design then the more powerful your computer will need to be.

Filaments
This will depend where you live, but there are a lot of companies out there that sell filament (Eg. rigid.ink), plus you can always look on sites like Amazon.

Posted : 11/03/2017 8:49 pm
Frosties
(@frosties)
Active Member
Topic starter answered:
Re: New to 3d-printing

Thanks for your reply!

Ive got Autodesk Inventor through my work so sitting and trying to figure it out 🙂

I will check out a couple of different suppliers for filament and see what i can find, thanks for the tip about amazon!

Posted : 11/03/2017 10:10 pm
lee.g
(@lee-g)
Estimable Member
Re: New to 3d-printing

I started out with Tinkercad which allowed me to do basics. Could be painful sometimes though for example putting on a chamfer.

I then got to the point where I needed more and am now using Autodesk 123D design. I really like this and is a big step up from Tinkercad. I can make models very quickly and it allows me to make complex models. It still has it's limitations but if you search there is normally someone that has found a way around that limitation.

I might have the opportunity to use Solidworks but the learning curve for this scares me.

Posted : 11/03/2017 10:23 pm
3Delight
(@3delight)
Moderator Moderator
Re: New to 3d-printing

Thanks for your reply!

Ive got Autodesk Inventor through my work so sitting and trying to figure it out 🙂

I will check out a couple of different suppliers for filament and see what i can find, thanks for the tip about amazon!

Have a look on YouTube for some tutorials (E.g.: )

It doesn't take long to get the hang of the basics in 3D modelling, then it's just a case of trying things out...

Posted : 12/03/2017 12:39 am
JJ3DPrinter
(@jj3dprinter)
Eminent Member
Re: New to 3d-printing

Go get Autodesk Inventor Pro 2017 for free here. There's a learning curve to it for sure but it's professional software so it can do so much. Once you finish your model you then click print and send to 3d printer. This saves the file to an STL file which then is used in slicer software like cura or Slic3r which is what I prefer. Then you save the file as Gcode which the printer then uses to print your model.

http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/all

Posted : 13/03/2017 4:25 am
Ulli
 Ulli
(@ulli)
New Member
Re: New to 3d-printing

Hello everybody,
I´m also a new user. I live currently in Germany...
Are there any recommendations for a good (free?) 3D Software (for Beginners) to use with OS X, as Autodesk 123D is no longer available?

Thank you

Ulli

Posted : 26/03/2017 2:06 pm
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