# Simpler CAD software

**URL:** <https://forum.lulzbot.com/t/simpler-cad-software/3179>\
**Category:** Software\
**Created:** [March 23, 2016, 7:15pm UTC](https://forum.lulzbot.com/t/simpler-cad-software/3179 "2016-03-23T19:15:20Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![crippel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cab0a1/32.png) [@crippel](https://forum.lulzbot.com/u/crippel)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 7:15pm UTC](https://forum.lulzbot.com/t/simpler-cad-software/3179/1 "2016-03-23T19:15:20Z")

</div>

Dear Colleagues,

Does anyone know really, really simple CAD software that could take a Thingiverse object and allow kids to change it just be pulling the edges of the object?

Any CAD software could do this,  
but I want software so simple, so intuitive any young child or older person with no CAD training can do it.

What is the simplest CAD software you know?

Chris Rippel  
Central Kansas Library System  
Great Bend, Kansas

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![piercet](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.lulzbot.com/piercet/32/12_2.png) [@piercet](https://forum.lulzbot.com/u/piercet)\
**Post date:** [March 23, 2016, 10:20pm UTC](https://forum.lulzbot.com/t/simpler-cad-software/3179/2 "2016-03-23T22:20:39Z")

</div>

A thingiverse object is generally going to be an STL (Stereo Tomographic Lithography) format file, which is actually really difficult to edit after the fact. It is possible to edit an STL, but it is by no means an easy process.

Basically think of an STL as the equievelent to a scanned image PDF file. You can view it, you can make copies of it, but trying to edit it requires importing it via OCR, whereas if you had the origional Word DocX file instead of that PDF you could just open and edit it directly.

If you just want to scale an object up or down in size, that can be accompleshed from the printer interface.

Tinkercad is a decent choice if you want a simple CAD program to make new things or edit editable cad models  
[https://www.tinkercad.com/](https://www.tinkercad.com/)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![John\_Mc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/65b543/32.png) [@John\_Mc](https://forum.lulzbot.com/u/John_Mc)\
**Post date:** [March 24, 2016, 2:51am UTC](https://forum.lulzbot.com/t/simpler-cad-software/3179/3 "2016-03-24T02:51:50Z")

</div>

TinkerCad is what the elementary school in my area is using. There are a few tutorials that give the kids the basics, then they just start poking around with it. It’s a web-based program, so you can run it from just about any computer that has a web browser. Since the kids designs are also stored online, they can work on something in class, then log on at home and it’s right there ready to go.