I am not an “expert” 3d designer, but Working in 3D animation industry for a while couple of decades ago, and designing parts and robots for the past years and even using 3D printing everyday as a mean to build my robotic and other mechanical parts for several years now, brings a painful fact 3D software all lack very important features even now.
I expected engineering software to advance much better in 20 years, and while they all may look modern, I see not much has happened yet.
Don’t know how to describe it, but for example, AutoCAD (the most disgusting one I use the most), can use numbers. I mean every length, angle etc. has a variable to edit and issue. The it is super dumb. It works like it did back in 1990s, it was the most stupid engineering software I remember. Everybody still forced to use it, maybe just for those numbers.
There were lots of other software, mostly for 3D animation design, and they were much much better than AutoCAD, you could easily and visually design objects with different sculpting or mathematical methods. I have designed complex objects like animals super easy, but then the units used were not mathematically enough to build accurate parts for a CNC or 3D printer.
Today, still such software exists, say Blender as an example. and the same problem persists. Trying to forget AutoCad is still the same old one, just version number is raised.
Anyway, I am not feeling comfortable and I can not design what I really and accurately like or need without losing some hair.
I need an environment I can both visually and mathematically design and sculpt and modify, I want it to not have a thousand buttons but without the capability to extrude a simple shape without killing me first. I want it to have features where I can modify object by rotating, carving them like lathe, etc etc.
3D printing is going inside everyone’s home, and available software are so lame I don’t know what people will think. It may even backlash and scare them off for several years!
Do something. and no, a 2000 dollar software suit can’t win the hearts. they will either forget about it or will pirate it.
PJ.
