jga

I copy that. In the meantime I also had a second look at Fusion 360 and switched to it now. It is quite good, free basically.

Hi let me add my 2cts to this discussion as I tried many programs in the last few weeks/months. I work on a MAC. My findings: Autodesk 123D - Basic but OK. Very easy to learn, but missing some of the tools that are standard in other programs like projecting curves onto a mesh etc. Good for starters but if your design is more than combining/subtracting a couple of boxes and cylinders, add a fillet etc. than there are better options in my view. Good thing is you can work precisely (good measurement of distances etc.) Fusion 360 - Looks state of the art but it just didn't work for me. Plus the 40E per month after trial was too much. I read personal use is still free somewhere but not sure. It is very powerful though. MOI3D - really nice, easy to learn NURBS tool. not parametric so if you do something you need to undo and redo again with the right settings. more for organic stuff in my view than being a tool to precisely put a screw hole at a certain position. I like the user interface and the way things can be easily selected. Extendable via scripts. Has active community who made some very useful scripts you can add like subdividing and other stuff. Is worth my money. ViaCAD 9 - Windows version has reputation to crash often, I had no trouble with that though but Mac version Windows behaved strange sometimes. Extensive tool set and options but user interface I found it not very intuitive but others may have different view. Cheetah3D - Mac Only. More aimed at making a model and then rendering rather than for printing but still good. You can work on organic models but also work precisely. Onshape.com. Online and free for up to 5 designs. Haven't tried much but apparently company with deep pockets behind this to improve this over time. You need to be online. DesignSpark Mechanical - Windows only unfortunately. It works with Pull and Move tools that are very powerful and it is free. Lots of options. For mechanical designs. To my taste the best option there is. The way you can use the pull option and you can do things so easy that cost way more effect than any other tool I have tried. I run it in virtual machine on my Mac and it is a keeper. Blender - Very powerful tool. Goes much further with rendering, animations etc. But that user interface.. can't get used to it. Works pretty fast if you learn the keyboard shortcuts. ZBrush - Creative with clay. You pull and push and add more material like you do with Clay. For organic models. There is nothing like this. Best for creating monsters and dragon in games I think. Latest version also you can also make some more flat surfaces like you have with metals etc. Not very easy to learn, non standard user interface but can create STLs. In the end I use MOI3d and Designspark Mechanical most.