Hello Engineers!

Today I want to point out 5 FREE SITES for those who are approaching 3D modelling, among which you can find the most suitable for you.

You can then deepen your knowledge of the software directly on the sites listed.

5 FREE MODELLING SOFTWARE FOR 3D PRINTING

We have searched online for sites used for 3D modelling and here are our five suggestions.

1. THINKERCAD

Thinkercad, (we also talked about it in the article on professional printing software) is software produced by Autodesk. It is completely web-based and is perfect for those who initially approach 3D modelling or for those who do not have a great deal of experience or who still need to carry out basic projects. Thinkecad has pre-configured and parametric elements such as parallelepipeds, spheres, cubes, toroids, which can be merged together and then modelled as desired. The Plus: the possibility of viewing the project in Lego or Minecraft version.

2. FREECAD

A little more professional, Freecad is also completely free (see also the article on professional 3D printing software). It is a structured 3D CAD, also in Italian and its community is very active in the exchange of advice between users. The working environment is very similar to professional CADs.

 

3. THINGIVERSE

Thingiverse is a very well built site, where you can find, through the search engine, models ready for printing. I select the model and on the dedicated page, in addition to the classic download button, other information is available such as comments, images of users who have already printed the file and modified versions.

4. VORONATOR

Voronator applies to your 3D model the "Voronoi" effect, known as Voronoi tessellation or Voronoi decomposition or Dirichlet tessellation. It is a particular decomposition of a metric space determined by the distances to a given discrete set of elements in space, such as an infinite set of points. Basically, it is the effect below and to obtain it all you have to do is upload the file to voronator.com, click on the "show advanced options" link and select some additional parameters such as the format of the returned file, the amount of holes or the thickness of the mesh. The site also supports STL files.

5. POLYD: .STEP .STL CONVERTER

For designers who prefer to work with the STEP format, there is PolyD's free converter. The steps are simple and immediate and you can choose between 3 levels of resolution of the . STEP .STL CONVERSION.

FIVERR

The EXTRA site is FIVERR, which is not free, but it is very useful because it contains many freelancers who offer the most varied services; with regard to 3D printing, professional 3D designers for many sectors such as design, mechanics, industry, etc. lend their services here. As in Thingverse, there are comments and reviews from users who have already used the platform.