Low cost (free) 3D cad package for basic use

DublinDilbert

Hi Guys,

Can anyone recomend a low cost 3D cad package that could be used to create basic shapes and export step/IGES files. I'm an EE and many of the electronics pacakages and import a 3D rendering of the component.

Google sketch up would work well only it can't export step or IGES files. Soild works looks fairly easy to use and lots of tutorials on the web, but I would only use once every so often, so couldn't justify buying it.

DD

mjsmyth

Have you looked at Blender? It's a fantastic 3D Modeler/Rendering/Animation package and it is free.

It may or may not be what you want, but it supports STEP and IGES.

http://www.blender.org/

Turbulent Bill

What are you trying to do? Most board layout packages (Allegro etc.) can use the component footprint and height information in the part files to produce basic 3D volumes of components. The board layout (PCB, component positions etc.) can then be exported in IDF format - 3D CAD programs can then import these to build 3D models.

Some EE programs can import IDF files too (PCB outlines, component designs etc.), but I don't know of any that are free. IGES/STEP are really mechanical-only.

DublinDilbert

I want a 3d package to make non standard components, like a battery holder or a spring.

Many EDA packages can import / export iges & step files.

I was playing with blender earlier, it looks quite good. I only looked at it quickly, but couldn't see how to export step or iges files.

mjsmyth

It appears that I may be wrong about Blender. I can't find where I got the info about STEP/IGES support.. I hate when that happens.

It might be worth asking over at:
http://www.blender.org/community/user-community/

MJ

DublinDilbert

There is an IGES export script that you can get, but when i run it, it crashes. Apart from that it seems to be quite a nice program.