Tinkercad is geared towards beginners. Its interface allows designers to drag and drop premade shapes into a workspace, combining them to make a 3D model. It is web-based and totally free, meaning no downloads are necessary.
Meshmixer is a free downloadable 3D modeling software. It is built to work well with curves and organic shapes such as faces. Meshmixer has a higher learning curve than Tinkercad, but is a great software to move your 3D modeling skills from beginner to advanced.
Blender is an advanced 3D modeling software geared towards animators. It is open source and free to use for any purpose.
Autodesk produces a suite of applications for professional 3D modeling. Some apps are geared towards engineers, others towards artists. These powerful applications are the standard at many companies doing 3D design work. Autodesk offers a 2 year free trial of it's entire software suite to anyone with an educational email address.
We recommend starting with Fusion 360 for engineering projects and Maya for artistic and animation projects.
Need some help getting started or getting a model just right? Send any questions or request a tutorial by emailing genesis.lab@pepperdine.edu.
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