There is more here than you need – design, mechanical assemblies, structural analysis, renderings and animations, it has it all.

It is incredibly powerful and seasoned as a well-supported segment of the Autodesk family. The most commonly used programs for this level are Creo, Solidworks, and the recently revamped Fusion 360 offering from Autodesk. Whether you are an engineer at Bosch designing a new spark-plug or working independently at home on your new robotic kitchen appliance to grow broccoli sprouts, you will require a professional workflow, tools, and skills. This is where the rubber really meets the road because, in order to actually manufacture something that is complex, you will need to provide precise specifications and have the ability to collaborate on standard files with manufacturing partners.

In this article, I explore 3D engineering for people who are most interested in designing physical products, especially for scale commercial production. Fusion 360 Training for Practical 3D Printing As long as you can master the slicer software, like Cura or Prusaslicer, you can just grab a sculpture that someone else has uploaded and you are good to go. It could be that anything you can imagine has already been shared by someone else online, in which case all you really need to do is simply search for a mesh file (.stl) that you like on free sites. All of the above programs can be used for 3D printing however if your sole goal is simply to fill your home with plastic gadgets, you may not need to learn any CAD software at all. For data-heavy artistic projects featuring unique details like jewelry, or sculpting a person’s face, perhaps you are best served by learning Blender, Rhino, or ZBrush. Many will get their first exposure to product design through entry-level student programs such as TinkerCad.

Where should you get started? Well, it depends on what you are most interested in creating.

Learning fusion 360 for beginners