Downloaded the recently released Autodesk 123D software that is a free 3D modelling software from the leader of CAD software, Autodesk.
According to the literature from this site, drawings made by this software can be easily used by 3D printers. More info on this software can be read here and they also have a facebook page up as well as a youtube page. Free 3D rendered models can be downloaded from their site, here.
Lets see where this goes, time to get some skills ready for the future!
Been playing around with it a while and so far this was what I came up with. I guess it helps that I had some experience in technical drawings and older versions of AutoCAD in college so I don't get lost with the terms in the controls. Of course watching these group of videos also helped
Problems I've encountered so far are with the interface. I think I installed it wrong because I'm wondering why the control panels are missing some characters. I tried using the measure feature in the assemble portion of Autodesk 123D and I ran into a problem where the menu wasn't showing the characters. Must be a font issue with my PC or the software.
Update: Found out that the problem has something to do with my graphics card being unrecognized that's why the fonts disappear. I'm using an Intel based graphics card which is currently unsupported by Autodesk 123D, the solution is to wait for Autodesk to fix the problem or go out and buy a new graphics card that is supported by Autodesk 123D.... I've got time *snicker*... meanwhile I'll just go on to the opensourced blender as my the software for 3D modelling.
I tested this software out on a PC with Dual Core Pentium E5200 2.50 Ghz running on Windows XP and an onboard 128 Mb Intel Video Card. I have to say that the software is a bit sluggish running on this kind of set up. This would probably run faster on the latest setup with Windows 7 and lot larger RAM and video card memory.
