Hello all still pretty new at this. Been doing a lot of simply project but have start won’t to do some 3D projects. I have the Shapeoko XXL what programs will I need to get started. Thanks in advance for the help from everyone.
Fusion360 is a great free-ish program to get started on. It can be a bit overwhelming, but there’s plenty of youtube support for it.
Any idea what type of projects you are looking to do?
Also if you haven’t yet, I strongly recommend Winston Moy’s youtube channel. A lot of great dives into fusion or using the machine.
It’s worth checking out the older stuff and moving forward since you are newer to the tool.
Also worth doing some more simple type projects along the way. My first project out of the gate was something that needed machining on both sides and was way more complicated than a good starter project should’ve been.
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And if you don’t feel like learning Fusion360, or want to specialize in relief carving, the paid products often mentioned here are Vectric’s VCarve and Aspire, and Carbide 3D’s MeshCam.
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What sort of 3D?
Notable candidates include:
- Autodesk Fusion 360
- Alibre Atom3D — affordable 3D CAM w/ perpetual license
- Moment of Inspiration — freeform 3D
- Solvespace — lightweight parametric 3D CAD
- FreeCAD — opensource 3D CAD
- Blender — opensource 3D modeling
- Sculptris — free 3D modeling
If you’d let us know what sort of work you wish to do we’d be better able to advise.
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