So I made a thing.

RyanFodder

I'm thinking about picking up a real modeling software license. To test my mettle, I tried doing a bottle opener in Google Sketchup. I couldn't get it exactly what I wanted, but I ended up with this key chain swag.

http://t.co/6yIt2sgOfQ



If you are interested in having something modeled (for 3D printing or otherwise) let me know.

Canti

What can you do for me as far as this goes?

NullenVoyd

now get a 3d printer, and make that logo a bottle opener nao nao NAO

RyanFodder

Its $147 to print in stainless.

Ryder

Do you have dimensions, arc, etc for this?

RyanFodder

The whole thing is roughly 5 in from bottom to top. You can get a bottle cap in the "i" portion if I'm not mistaken.

Note on the design:
What I would do if I were making this in a more useful program is make thin sections for looks, hollow out the hat, and make a lip to hole a bottle. Should be able to about halve the costs if I were doing this proper.

Its annoying to me that I can do this at work like its nothing, and at home I'm completely crippled without lack of tools. Hopefully I can get something done in the future ($5000 for the license) that looks more like I'm used to.

RyanFodder

Canti said:

What can you do for me as far as this goes?

I can probably make you a simplified model that the turret could rotate, maybe even the tracks.

Myrmidon

Consider Cubify: Invent. While not as robust as AutoCAD or SolidWorks, it's also much less expensive - and more functional than the google one. Its parent company also offers a service where you send in .stl files and they print your shit for you.

I've done a little freelance work using it. It's not bad, but it's not great, either. Their constraint system is pretty wimpy, and there's no option to build drawings - you kind of just have to take screenshots of shit.

By the way, people on craigslist are DYING for this shit right now. "3D PRINT ME THIS LOLOLOL" "I'LL PAY MONEY FOR YOU TO 3D DESIGN ME A PUPPY" and stuff. Most of the jobs are little couple-hour deals and as long as the finished product looks correct, they don't care how elegant your measurement formulas are (there's no lifetime on the design, they just want a companion cube) - leaving you free to simply do all the math on paper and bang out a quick product instead of inputting the relationships between measurements. Freelance work is awesome.

Sonorous

Also, don't forget about Blender. I've used it for a few things but I haven't taken the time to really get down and dirty with it, but I have seen people do AMAZING stuff with that software.

JBoogaloo

As far as modeling goes, would Maya or 3D Max provide any use to you at all?

Sonorous

JBoogaloo said:

As far as modeling goes, would Maya or 3D Max provide any use to you at all?

The issue there is a astronomical price tag attached to the software. It's not really an option for a someone who dabbles in 3D modeling.

RyanFodder

Thanks for the feedback. The problem with blender I have is that I don't think like it works (modeling with wireframe clay), I think in terms of blocks and spheres (3D modeling.)

I'm watching the Cubify: Invent videos and it looks MUCH better than Sketchup. Seems like a decent compromise to Solidworks.

If I end up buying expensive software, I'd go with Pro/E or Solidworks since that is what I'm already familiar with. In my vision of things, if I can make this work, I wouldn't mind buying the expensive license if I got something decent out of it. Solidworks does some pretty amazing things.

For what I want, though, it LOOKS like Cubify: Invent would work great... AND its two orders of magnitude less than Solidworks.

RyanFodder

Myrmidon said:

...
By the way, people on craigslist are DYING for this shit right now. "3D PRINT ME THIS LOLOLOL" "I'LL PAY MONEY FOR YOU TO 3D DESIGN ME A PUPPY" and stuff. Most of the jobs are little couple-hour deals and as long as the finished product looks correct, they don't care how elegant your measurement formulas are (there's no lifetime on the design, they just want a companion cube) - leaving you free to simply do all the math on paper and bang out a quick product instead of inputting the relationships between measurements. Freelance work is awesome.

This sounds like EXACTLY what I want to be doing.

Myrmidon

CannonFodder said:

Myrmidon said:

...
By the way, people on craigslist are DYING for this shit right now. "3D PRINT ME THIS LOLOLOL" "I'LL PAY MONEY FOR YOU TO 3D DESIGN ME A PUPPY" and stuff. Most of the jobs are little couple-hour deals and as long as the finished product looks correct, they don't care how elegant your measurement formulas are (there's no lifetime on the design, they just want a companion cube) - leaving you free to simply do all the math on paper and bang out a quick product instead of inputting the relationships between measurements. Freelance work is awesome.

This sounds like EXACTLY what I want to be doing.

It's not as much fun as it sounds. Most of these clients have no idea either how to use what you give them or what they actually want - they're just guys with money to burn. I had one client pay for a little six hour job - He LOVED the design to bits - I opened the program in front of him, showed him the measurements, took screenshots at different angles, and provided him with the .FUN files (the invent version of a project file) so that he could edit them himself, per our agreement.

His response? "I can't get the files to open!" again and again, he'd text and email and call, and I'd send new ones, or say 'try this,' etc. One day I finally asked him "what program are you opening the .FUN files with?"

"...program?" He didn't understand how simply double-clicking a file didn't open it - he'd never installed Invent in the first place, so his computer didn't know what the fuck a .fun file was. It would have been nice if I'd known he was completely computer illiterate, I would have sent him .stl files and been done with it.

I mean, you make a quick buck and it's fun to do, but interfacing with the client blows ass. Much better, I would think, to interface with engineering clients that have an idea as to the difference between their ass and a hole in the ground.

Myrmidon

You know, by the same token, you could hire 3D designers and buy a couple 3D printers and start a custom "random 3D bullshit" shop. Then you could hire someone to do the interfacing.

JBoogaloo

Myrmidon said:

CannonFodder said:

Myrmidon said:

...
By the way, people on craigslist are DYING for this shit right now. "3D PRINT ME THIS LOLOLOL" "I'LL PAY MONEY FOR YOU TO 3D DESIGN ME A PUPPY" and stuff. Most of the jobs are little couple-hour deals and as long as the finished product looks correct, they don't care how elegant your measurement formulas are (there's no lifetime on the design, they just want a companion cube) - leaving you free to simply do all the math on paper and bang out a quick product instead of inputting the relationships between measurements. Freelance work is awesome.

This sounds like EXACTLY what I want to be doing.

It's not as much fun as it sounds. Most of these clients have no idea either how to use what you give them or what they actually want - they're just guys with money to burn. I had one client pay for a little six hour job - He LOVED the design to bits - I opened the program in front of him, showed him the measurements, took screenshots at different angles, and provided him with the .FUN files (the invent version of a project file) so that he could edit them himself, per our agreement.

His response? "I can't get the files to open!" again and again, he'd text and email and call, and I'd send new ones, or say 'try this,' etc. One day I finally asked him "what program are you opening the .FUN files with?"

"...program?" He didn't understand how simply double-clicking a file didn't open it - he'd never installed Invent in the first place, so his computer didn't know what the fuck a .fun file was. It would have been nice if I'd known he was completely computer illiterate, I would have sent him .stl files and been done with it.

I mean, you make a quick buck and it's fun to do, but interfacing with the client blows ass. Much better, I would think, to interface with engineering clients that have an idea as to the difference between their ass and a hole in the ground.

Clientsfromhell.net

RyanFodder

Myrmidon said:

You know, by the same token, you could hire 3D designers and buy a couple 3D printers and start a custom "random 3D bullshit" shop. Then you could hire someone to do the interfacing.

I'm up for teaching people how to design stuff....

Kwitko

If someone can send me a 2D drawing, I can make a prototype on my company's laser cutter.

Aaron

Also, there are places like TechShop.

Linc

Cannonfodder should probably move here and get a TechShop membership. Yup.

RyanFodder

If I could find a way to make enough money to pay for loans with that, I would consider it at this point.

RyanFodder

Its bigger, harder, and stiffer than I expected.







Droid Razr for comparison:

Thrax

CannonFodder said:

Its bigger, harder, and stiffer than I expected.

twss

drasnor

So I found out about OnShape yesterday and demo'd it at my AIAA rocketry club meeting last night. Short summary, if you're looking for good, free parametric solid modeling that handles like SolidWorks then you should try out OnShape. It works for all my hobbyist use cases.

Linc

@drasnor said:
you should try out OnShape.

And check out that sweet, sweet forum they have too.

drasnor

I found today that OnShape pairs well with SimScale finite element analysis. It can do some fairly basic FEA if you need to quick check something but at present it doesn't have the full selection of boundary constraints and load profiles that I'm used to having. Still pretty useful though and you can't beat the price.