My (first?) 3d printer arrives tomorrow. I’ve been researching for months. One category I’ve been looking into is 3d modeling software. They all have drawbacks (too expensive, too hard to learn, save files in the cloud, etc) but the one that seems to fit the best is this apparently new one called Plasticity. I’d be willing to spend the $150 and then decide after a year if I want to re-up or just keep the current version. Or maybe I’d upgrade every few years or something.
Anyway, there are a bunch of great reviews and tutorials but they’re all over a year old, from when looks like the software was first released.
I’m wondering if anyone here has experience with it and could advise if it’s worth the $150.
You must log in or register to comment.
I think it depends greatly on your preferred workflow and what you plan to model. Parametric drafting like fusion involves creating dimensioned and constrained sketches and manipulating them. Where direct modeling like blender or plasticity is more like painting in 3D
You wouldn’t create a figurine using parametric tools as all the fine detail would be impossible to constrain. At the same time a precise gear that needs to mesh would be difficult to model in a direct modeling tool as it’s difficult to make the precise teeth
Well I suspect the custom stuff that I’m going to design will be utilitarian in nature rather than artistic- replacement parts, organizational stuff, a little attachment to something, etc. So I’ll want precise measuring tools. If I print something more artistic, I’ll probably rely on models that already exist, like DnD minis or something.
In that case, I would recommend starting with FreeCAD (get a 1.0 release candidate from the weekly builds github) and make sure to watch a couple of intro tutorials. There are tons of CAD packages with pluses and minuses (and that’s exaggerated in their free tiers), but if you can start with FreeCAD and have it as your baseline, you can avoid a lot of cost and annoying business practices, though as I mentioned elsewhere, Plasticity is not a bad choice if you go in knowing its limitations.
I’ve been a (hobbyist license) F360 user for a long time but this having a native Linux (.deb) version and the realtime Blender interaction has me thinking about trying it. $150ish has long been what my brain thinks CAD is worth for my simple needs, so it’s got that going for it. I’ve got a couple quick projects that are good for learning a new platform. One of the designs already made me rage quit Ondsel.
I got the 30 day free trial of Plasticity and I’m a few days into it. I don’t know if I’ll be able to learn enough in 30 days to accurately assess if I’ll ultimately get my $150 worth out of it but so far some YouTube tutorials are promising.
Unfortunately, not all functions are available in the linux version. However, this is not due to the developers but to the specifications so that they are allowed to implement xnurbs etc… In other words, you would have to run it via wine, but that works wonderfully. Even so, updates with fixes or new functions etc. come regularly. Had also bought it because of 3d printing and was completely new to 3d printing and 3d software. Can only recommend it.
https://youtube.com/@pixelfondue There you will also find many small 30-60 second videos that are very useful.
I still vote FreeCAD. I know Blender too, but I can put down FreeCAD for months and focus on other things. When I return to designing on FreeCAD I have very little skills decay. I have to go make the canonical tutorial doughnut (YT) almost every time I do Blender. I also have some stuff saved with notes for manually editing quad mesh objects, and converting to quads, but now that is on my old backup comp.
This is my primary gripe with renting software. I invest enormous time in learning these things. I am not for sale. I own my time investment and no one has a right to steal that from me. I’ve only used FreeCAD a couple of times in the last year. I’ve spent most of my time on other projects. Printing is not my only hobby or interest. It is a tool and a skill I own, and it complements my other tools and skills well. To me, this is a fundamental part of life as a citizen in a democracy. Once upon a time, around 1k years ago, the average person had no right to own property or their tools. They were called serfs and this societal structure is called feudalism. No ancient citizen of a democracy wanted feudalism. There was no changing of the guard, or coup that started feudalism. People slowly gave up their land and rights to live closer to private security forces of the rich. They trusted them to do the right thing. Eventually they became slaves to those feudal lords with only a theoretical right to recourse from rape and murder.
The software features of CAD are finite. There is nothing to develop in some ongoing fashion forever. Open source is slower and a bit messy at times, but it has been around for a very long time.
I’ve done the trial, and included it in my stickied writeup at [email protected]
It’s not parametric, and for amateur single-part designers the biggest thing there is just that it sucks to realize you screwed up a a height or distance somewhere, and now you have to go back and Boolean on some shape or adjust a bunch of screwholes manually. Constraining drawings and using variables is all very nice if you start making more sophisticated parts or really need to churn them out quickly, but the History is the beautiful part for this use case.
Other than that, I actually liked it quite a bit. The workflow is pretty intuitive, it works smoothly (on Win10 at least), and it has literally the nicest and most ambitious fillet/chamfer heuristics of anything I tried. It will try its best to fillet things right into oblivion.
My only other real concern is that it’s a one-man shop, but if it works mostly bug-free for you, that is not necessarily a huge deal, especially at the price point. I think it’s probably a pretty good value, but I already have a non-parametric app I can use well enough, so I went with Alibre Design on a payment plan, so it feels like a slightly expensive subscription, but then I own the license. I’m still hoping FreeCAD 1.0 will be good enough to make me regret the decision to go with Alibre, but we’ll see.
https://youtu.be/LSAc4uyxTao They add and improve stuff all the time
If you’re just looking to get started with 3d modeling, it’s hard to beat Blender. At the cost of free, it’s by far the most affordable way to dip your toes in some modeling tools.
For many workflows it’s world class. If you plan to do more organic forms or don’t need technical precision, then it’s very competitive or preferable to paid software.
You might find it lacking if you plan to do parametric or technical CAD-style modeling. Even then, I think Blender can be a low cost way to learn what you want in your software before investing in more specialized software. You’ll learn enough of the modeling basics to more fluently navigate what other software provides.
I have been told by people I know who use Blender extensively (I certainly don’t use it extensively – or at all, really) that there are plugins that will bludgeon it into producing models with dimensionally accurate features. I can’t speak for this myself but it appears to be an option.
