Hi Brad,
Have you tried Google Sketchup?
http://sketchup.google.com/
It’s free and I think you can save work as a CAD drawing to import to CAD.

I have used ViaCAD by punch software, but this is for a PC. It was under $100 and worked well.

I’m with Jefferson on this one, Sketchup is a really nice tool and best of all its free. You can also import models from the vast Google database. If you have any questions please let me know, I’ve used it for a while.

blender is a open source 3D tool, you can search on net and get it for free. I believe they have PC, MAC and Linux version.
Here is some of my practice:
http://www.makeworldbetter.com/mwb_invention_prototype.html

Leonard, thanks, I’m trying it now. It’s very easy to use. Can it do textures? Can I export to other formats? Do you use it for protytyping? Is the pro version worth it?

Tim, thanks, I’ve messed with blendar, and though it’s clearly very powerful, it’s also VERY awkward and unintuitive to use (IMHO). I’ve been messing with sketchup and it’s just the opposite… very intuitive but maybe not so powerful. If there were a way to animate moving objects directly in it, or export to an animation program, that would be a perfect solution. Also, they just released a bunch of excellent training videos recently, as well as a (PC only) web exporter that basically creates a Javascript-driven object QTVR that might be really nice for demoing a product.

I would get a free copy of Rhino 3.0 and run boot camp !

easy , free , and files transfer via autocad solidworks

Matthew, I like the idea but haven’t had to do any PC work on my Mac. I’m diggin’ blender, and will stick with it for a while, it’s got a simple interface but seems to have plenty of power under the hood.

Does Rhino do animations? That’s the one weakness of SketchUp—I’d love to be able to render movies of the product in action. Or is there another animation program you can use once you’ve created your objects and environment in SketchUp?

Sorry, I meant to say I’m diggin’ sketchup—the Blender interface is… well, let’s just say I think it would be easier to navigate a starship through the orion nebula with a nasty hangover while being attacked by klingons. With both eyes closed.

Animation is an add on for $500.

http://www.bongo3d.com/sales-na.htm

Pretty sure you could export from sketchup to animate in Bongo. Just a matter of taking some time to see what format to use.

not sure if sketchup can export to STL for prototyping, but may well be some easy way of translating it. does blender create STL files? I can tell it at least reads them from the website.

sketchup will most likely export into google’s brand spanking new “lively” 3d chat environment at some point. May be months or years, though…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YbwfOucET8

the QTVR option sounds great

oops…looks like to have to buy the $500 pro option to export 3d data out of sketchup

http://sketchup.google.com/product/features.html

to sum up….

1) Blender should be FREE to model, animate, and create 3d data(STL file) for a physical prototype. Don’t have any idea how easy it is to create an STL file or if it can be done for sure.

2) Sketchup is FREE to model. You may need to pay $500 to animate or look at it in 3D virtual reality.

3) Rhino is $900, has great modeling, great STL creation for physical prototypes, but you can likely use blender to animate for FREE from it, unless you want to drop $500 on the bongo animation tool. Judging by my experience with Rhino, Bongo is likely easier to use than Blender.

In terms of ease of use it sounds like sketchup > rhino > blender

I prefer Rhino because its very easy to use and also powerful, but I could see sketchup being a great inventors tool.

It sounds like currently, it is hard to get an STL file from a sketchup model.

http://groups.google.com/group/sketchuphowto/browse_thread/thread/ec75a1c3ccb0112f/e30b049d5e3afba4?lnk=gst&q=

Brad, Carrara Studio is a pretty good program if you are looking to create photo realistic renders of your ideas. It also can do animation. It’s not CAD software but will allow you to import and export in CAD formats. I do all my initial prototyping in it. Again, it’s not CAD so no engineering functions like mold flow tests, or stress simulations. It just makes your designs look great. I’ve done renders of ideas that you’d swear were photos.
Here is a link to their site…check it out.

http://www.daz3d.com/i.x/software/carrara/

Thanks for all the input. I’ve decided to go with sketchup for now. It’s free, it’s remarkably easy to use, and for now I don’t need the CAD features, I just want to export images. If only there were a simple add-on that enabled me to do simple animations.

Here’s an image I did for an idea.

I’m still figuring out how the various shading rendering settings work. But the sheer number of models available makes it a good choice right now.

Hold the phone—I just came across Papervision3d, a 3D rendering engine for Flash… and it imports Sketchup models. Looks like I’ll be able to have my Kate and Edith, too.

has anyone tried autodesk Maya, they have a free personal learning edition which is fully functional, the only drawback is that anything you do has ‘not for commercial use’ on it, but i have played with it some so far and am impressed, though it is pretty complex.

Maya is a very high end 3D software, mostly for display type modeling, that is not for product development. A program also gobbled up by AutoDesk is called Alias Studio. It is one of the most ubiquitous design packages for industrial design. This sort of bridges the gap between an artistic package, and a CAD package that is more suited for mechanical design. I think they have a demo version available. I’d really consider Rhino as a good starting package. Good price, high power, Mac and PC compatible.

Mark
www.3dyn.com

i know maya is pretty up there, also very complicated as well. does anybody know of software which would let me draw people, what i need is a picture of a person, animated, using my product and while i used to be very artistic i sort of lost that years ago and havent had much luck. perhaps like a cartoon software or similar.

Hi Brad,
Just about any 3d software is going to give you headaches. Blender is completely different than anything out there, but once you take off the gloves, you can work faster than any other modeler. I was a die hard 3d studio max fan until I really sat down and tried it. If you don’t want to dedicate alot of time learning software though, stick with sketchup.