Which software to use to make an N scale model on Shapeways?

[craigolio1]

Hey everyone.  I want to play with some software to see if I have it in me to make an N scale model on Shapeways.  Can anyone direct me to a free software that is fairly easy to learn?

Thanks, Craig

[BCR751]

For starters, why not try doing some Railwest or NSC wood chip cars?  (hint,hint)

Doug

[ljudice]

www.sketchup.com

[craigolio1]

Ha ha.  Yes I would like some of those too.  I've been working on an N scale Royal Hudson for, I don't know, ever...   and I basically have the mechanism and tender frame done and ready to mount body on.  (I recall posting a thread here about that maybe a year ago so you can see how fast I work.)  At this point I'm kind of stuck on how to begin the body.  I have a piece of brass tube that is a great place to start, but with all of the cool things I see coming from 3D printing, I thought maybe that would be a good option.  That being said, I've looked at various kinds of software and I think I'm out of my league here.  Maybe if someone ELSE did the CAD design...  hint, there would be a little bit of demand for it.  There was a lot of interest in the GF6C that came out last year and that sure is an odd duck, surely someone else could use an H1E body.

Maybe I should change the name of this thread to, who wants to design a Royal Hudson for Shapeways?

Craig

[craigolio1]

Thanks, Sketchup looks very cool....  and possibly easy to use.

Craig

[peteski]

I've played with StetchUp and while it is easy to use, it has limitations. I also had to change my way of thinking as I found the way you do things non-intuitive (at least for me). But once I figured things out, it wasn't bad.  I highly recommend viewing their online tutorial videos - very helpful in understanding how to do things.  But if your model needs complex surfaces, SketchUp is probably not the tool you want.  I also discovered that many of its operations do not work well on very small (read: N scale) objects.  I had better success drawing the object in 1:1 scale then reducing it to 1:160 (0.00625%) once I completed the design.

[jagged ben]

But if your model needs complex surfaces, SketchUp is probably not the tool you want. 

Do you have another suggestion?

...reducing it to 1:160 (0.00625%) ...   

It's just .00625.    The % should not be there.

[peteski]

Do you have another suggestion?

...reducing it to 1:160 (0.00625%) ...   

It's just .00625.    The % should not be there.

I don't have SketchUp handy but I believe that it does use percent as units (however you do not have to actually type in the % sign).

[jagged ben]

I don't have SketchUp handy but I believe that it does use percent as units (however you do not have to actually type in the % sign).

Nope.  I just tried it, Sketchup just uses a plain factor over 1.  So you type in 0.00625.   If it was percent you'd type in 0.625.

[peteski]

Nope.  I just tried it, Sketchup just uses a plain factor over 1.  So you type in 0.00625.   If it was percent you'd type in 0.625.

Thanks for the correction.

[GimpLizard]

I don't know about any free 3D CAD programs (other than Sketchup). But there are a couple of inexpensive ones worth a look. IMSI has DesignCAD 3D Max for $100 (http://www.imsidesign.com/Products/DesignCADSeries/DesignCAD3DMAXV22/tabid/1832/Default.aspx) or TurboCAD Delux for $130 (http://www.turbocad.com/TurboCAD/TurboCADWindows/TurboCADDeluxev20/tabid/2407/Default.aspx). Of the two, DesignCAD is probably the easier to learn. While TurboCAD offers more features.

[ljudice]

Just to be clear, I offered Sketchup as an easy, inexpensive way to get started and try something...

Their pro version may be more capable, but there are other, better solutions (as pointed out here) if you get serious!

- Lou

[nscaleSPF2]

I've had good results using TuboCAD 3D Deluxe for Mac.  Amazon sells earlier versions of the software for much less than $100.  There are a few video tutorials on the TurboCAD website, that demonstrate the software's capabilities.  I used it to design a model sailboat hull (irregular shape) as well as a PRR position signal (in another Railwire thread).  It took me about 8 hours of experimenting with the software to get up to speed, but then your results may vary.

TurboCAD can also create an STL file, which you will need to order a part from Shapeways.

Jim

[craigolio1]

Thanks guys!

[hminky]

There is Creo-Elements:

http://www.ptc.com/products/creo-elements-direct/modeling-express/

It is parametric meaning you can change a dimension and the model will change:



and it is free and exports "stl".

Harold