Picking the wrong design app for 3D printing will waste months of your time (here’s how I chose)

Designing your own models and turning them into physical objects with a 3D printer is a rewarding process (and it can save you some money, too). Proficiency is a journey, and success in designing models doesn’t come overnight.

The first step is to pick a design tool, and that can be easier said than done.

You’ve got options

The first tool many people start out with is Tinkercad, a free web app for object design that’s aimed at beginners of all ages. It’s a great place to start, and you can use it to design all manner of simple objects and then export them in a format that your 3D printer can use.

Tinkercad’s simplicity means that virtually anyone can use it. Drop in a few shapes, group them to create new shapes, cut parts out by subtracting new shapes from old shapes—it all feels very drag-and-drop. But this simplicity can also feel quite limiting, especially when it comes to designing more complex shapes and items that intersect with one another.

At this stage, you’ll probably want to graduate to a “proper” design tool. It’s not a decision to be taken lightly; it can cost you money, and the journey from absolute beginner to knowing what you’re doing can be a long one. There are all sorts of variables pushing and pulling you in different directions, and everyone seems to have their own opinion on which tool is the best.

Fusion (previously known as Fusion 360) is one of the most popular options. It’s produced by Autodesk (the company behind Tinkercad) and is free for personal use, with limited features. It’s also expensive at $85/month or $680/year for the full version (if ever you need it).

Sticking with premium options, Onshape is a cloud-based design tool that also comes with a limited free tier to get you started. It’s like Tinkercad in that it runs in your browser, with far more features to produce more ambitious designs. It’s even more expensive if you outgrow the free tier, at $1,500 per year.

Shapr3D is another paid solution, with an emphasis on being easy to use while still providing the depth of features expected from a professional solution. The free plan is pretty limited in that you can only have two projects on the go at once, though the full app is a lot cheaper than the competition at $25/month or $299/year.

Then there’s a full suite of free options to choose from, with FreeCAD being a top contender for anyone looking for an open-source design tool. This one seems like a no-brainer, but many can find the learning curve a bit steep.

Blender is another example of a free 3D modeling tool that can be adapted to produce models for printing. Though it’s used heavily in media production, Blender can be set to use millimeters for units and has a 3D printing toolbox add-on and export in print-friendly formats.

And then there are some outliers that might appeal more to the 3D artists, like the pricey ZBrush, which is heavily used in video game design, or Plasticity, which is “optimized for creativity” and speed and foregoes the subscription model in favor of an app you can buy outright.

Where design ambitions, intuition, and philosophy meet

There’s nothing wrong with sticking to Tinkercad if you’re comfortable doing so, but you’re going to run into problems if you have loftier design ambitions.

Beyond budget, there are some less tangible things to consider. You can probably get by just fine with a free version of Fusion if you’re just creating household items, personal projects, and sharing your work for free, but if the app doesn’t “feel right,” then you might find yourself fighting your intuition.

Selecting a modeling tool is a lot like picking a photo editing suite, digital audio workstation, or video editor. Your choice of app has to suit your workflow, and you’ll probably know pretty quickly if it doesn’t. The most important thing is to try them out and follow a few basic tutorials to understand the workflow. This should give you enough insight to make an educated decision.

There’s also the small issue of philosophy. FreeCAD has a fierce online following, though many find it intimidating. Putting in the hard yards to learn the app means you’ll have a full suite of tools available to you that you may otherwise have to pay for. If you picked a Prusa printer for its open-source heritage, FreeCAD or Blender might appeal more than Fusion or Shapr3D.

So which did I choose?

There’s no “right” answer, and I tried a whole bunch of these tools after becoming frustrated with Tinkercad’s limitations. I initially thought that FreeCAD would do it for me, but it only took about ten minutes of messing around with Fusion to see how much more comfortable I felt sticking with Autodesk’s free tier.

This might be the most boring and predictable outcome, and I’m well aware that I’m at the mercy of Autodesk and any future changes they make. It’s a gamble since I’d have to learn a tool from scratch all over again if ever the free tier disappeared (or changed to such a degree that it was no longer useful to me).

Removing the barrier to entry feels more important to me right now, and I’m relieved to have found a tool that feels good. Whatever you choose, there’s ample documentation on the web that should take you from a beginner to an amateur designer—and that’s your ticket to mastery.

Haven’t got your hands dirty yet? Learning to model as a 3D printer owner can take the hobby from a fun pastime to a truly rewarding experience.