Best software for product design?

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

I want to learn how to product 3D models for product design, and which can then (potentially) be 3D printed. Can anyone recommend some good software to get me going on a Mac?

(As an educator I can download AutoCAD and Sketchup, if these are suitable options)

 

[Astonish_IT]

Hello,

If I am not wrong, most of the product design studios, like car design stuios, use nurbs modelling. There are two type of modelling types, Nurbs Modelling and Polygonal modelling. Polygonal is used mostly for games, movies, animations and nurbs and paramteric modelling is mostly used for product design and engineering.

One of the best options for nurbs modelling is Rhinoceros and Autodesk AliasStudio. As an educator, you can have Alias for free, but unfortunately they dropped Mac support lately so the last version should be 2020 if I am not wrong. Having said that, even tho AliasStudio is very powerful and my preferance, Rhinoceros 3D has a much more user friendly interface for people learning nurbs modelling. Rhinoceros has some educational promotion too. As for end user, since Rhinoceros costs much less than Alias Studio, you are able to find many resources online such as tutorials so it would help you to start.

Although nurbs modelling is the ideal, more precise modelling, there are many people using polygonal modelling and they do 3d print with them. If you choose that path, you can download Blender, it is a powerful, free, open sourse polygonal modelling app with A LOT of of tutorials on youtube to get started. Or else, you can try Autodesk 3ds Max, which is a very powerful software and that you can use with you education account for free thru Autodesk but I do not know if they have a Mac version. Always from Autodesk, there is also Maya as a polygonal modelling app and it has Mac version as well. But, to start with, I would either advice you Rhinoceros or Blender.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

If I am not wrong, most of the product design studios, like car design stuios, use nurbs modelling. There are two type of modelling types, Nurbs Modelling and Polygonal modelling. Polygonal is used mostly for games, movies, animations and nurbs and paramteric modelling is mostly used for product design and engineering.

This is correct.

For designing products for physical production, NURBS is preferred because it will create more accurate models.

Polygonal modeling is a hack that works great for graphical imagery because of its relatively low computational demands.

In addition to AliasStudio there's AutoCAD, CATIA SolidWorks, Fusion 360.

 

[Herbert123]

If you are just doing 3d printing, polygonal modeling is just fine. Blender has built-in flight-check tools to check a mesh for 3d printing issues. (It's even possible in Photoshop but I wouldn't be caught dead in PS for this type of work) You'd be doing yourself a disservice to use a CAD package in this case, because it is generally much easier to construct objects in Sketch, Blender, C4D, Max, etc. than it is in a CAD package like AutoCAD.

If you are planning on actual product design (as in having it manufactured), use a CAD package (like Rhino, etc.), of course. Polygons are avoided.

But for certain merchandise such as figurines sculpting in 3d packages (ZBrush, Blender, 3dCoat, Mudbox) is preferred, and later converted.