It’s me again.
I am immensely enjoying my new TAZ6 printing other peoples hard work. I wish to build my own items. Is there affordable 3D software that exports to .stl that will work with Cura Lulzbot Edition?
thanks in advance,
pops
I use Google Sketchup Make – free, easy to use, and there is a free plugin that exports to STL. It isn’t great for complex curved surfaces, and it can take a bit of work to make sure models are completely solid (“manifold”). But I have successfully designed a lot of 3d parts with it.
FreeCAD has more features, but a little more complex. All open source.
I did a quick google search, and came up with this article that covers those and a few more:
https://www.scan2cad.com/cad/14-top-free-cad-packages/
I use Rhino3D and Zbrush. Solidworks, and Autocad Fusion 360 are all good software. yes professional software is expensive… but if you have any reason to list yourself as a student their professional software gets very cheap. Also Solidworks has a super hot deal for active duty military. My reasoning would be… We all love saving money and I support freeware like blender with a subscription… but… If you ever wanted to work for someone using these skills you would need to know how to use some professional software.
Blender is very powerful and free - youtube has great learning videos.