Hello all. The bit that I have been missing over the previous 4 years of my Shapeoko use is creating my own models to carve. I have tried many different software flavours including Sketchup, Fusion 360, FreeCad, TurboCad, CC, MeshCAM, TinkerCAD, Blender, Shapr3D and a few others besides. Yesterday, I took the plunge and purchased Plasticity (Indie version 1.4).
This gave me access to a perpetual licence and two seats for very reasonable money (£140 including taxes). The approved nodes can be a mix of operating systems. I have one node on my 5k Retina, 27 inch iMac and one node on my 27 inch screen Win 11 Pro computer. I made the decision that I would learn more about the arcane and dark art of 3D modelling. A trawl through the latest available software revealed that I might understand more of the subject with Plasticity.
The geometric modelling engine is Parasolid from Siemens. The software utilises Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS). It is not, strictly speaking, a Parametric software but a recent update has added dimensioning and measurements. I found the concepts for software use to be the easiest introduction to 3D modelling I have ever known. There are numerous online YouTube video sessions for new and experienced users and I am viewing many of these video presentations at this time.
If you have struggled, like me, to become effective at drafting 3D models, Plasticity may be a route worth examining. You can do this risk free for 30 days with the free trial of the fully featured software.
I bought a license when it first came out, but rolled, crashed, and burned in trying to use it, mostly because I wasn’t willing to take the time to plug in my Windows computer at my desk w/ Belkin docking station and mouse down in the basement.
It did seem very promising, and does seem to work very well for folks who are willing to use it with a mouse.
One can specify a preference like Blender mouse behaviours. Some of the shortcut keys are Blender like too. I use a tragic macpad for most of my Mac work but the centre mouse wheel for zoom and 3D movement is not so easy to replicate so I use a wireless mouse too.
The Plasticity ease of use seems remarkable to me. My first attempt was a cheese wedge shaped part with through holes, fillets and chamfers. It could not have felt any more logical in use and I look forward to modelling all of my own projects now.
I use Carveco Maker ($18 monthly subscription) for my CAM work. I found the look and feel of the sofware much more akin to modern software design language. My 3D carves have been simplicity and as easy to do in both gSender and Carbide Motion.
My trial of Vectric V Carve Pro software made me feel like I was back using MS DOS and Windows 3.11 because of the user interface. That may have been because I was using it through the Macintosh Bootcamp software. I now have a well specified N100 mini Windows 11 Pro box and that has made my Windows journey so much better. I can also access the Windows box from my house using MS RDP and that has been a great solution.
The components that Plasticity is using are top of the line.
The decision to not implement a history tree is not a show stopper unless you want a family of parts.
I am going to have to try this one.
I would be curious to see if @Tod1d has an opinion given he is a NX guy (same components).
I was surprised at how logical it was to use. I found Shapr3D was almost there for ease of use but some weirdness in menu access made me dislike it. Plasticity is really transparent in the user interface and that assists me to plan and remember a series of actions.
In my humble opinion it is very well written software. I don’t know enough about the use of the history tree as yet but stepping back to different points in time (by using separate saves?) may well be possible. The full parametric adjustment facility is not as important to me as ease of use. For the first time ever, I was able to create my own 3D model and I am delighted.
I wasn’t even aware of Plasticity until I saw this post. I does look like it’s designed specifically for free-form modeling, where NX focuses on prismatic modeling. Although NX does have a suite of tools for faceted modeling. I don’t have a lot of experience with those, other than minor modifications to faceted bodies for STL output.
Similar price for Alibre which I purchased a month or so ago. It is a more traditional 3D CAD app but one that works very well for that price point. It seems logical in operation to me and has some very decent training videos.
I bought the Atom version. I think it was $168 on sale. I looked at the higher packages and didn’t feel the need for the features yet.
I considered the Workshop version but their free trial was shorter for that version.
As it was I ended up buying after a few days of the trial. I am used to using CATIA in my prior job as a 3D tool. It is prohibitively expensive for casual use but Alibre works very similarly.
