Creating a printable design is the crucial first step in the 3D printing process – and everyone seems to have a different opinion on which software is the most suitable for getting this job done. So what’s the most popular 3D modeling software for 3D printing? Read on to discover the top 25!
Creating a printable design is the first step in the 3D printing process. But which software is the most popular? (Screenshot by Nils Anderssen)
Ranking the most popular 3D modeling software for 3D printing isn’t that easy. Simply looking at the number of users of a certain software would create a misleading picture: while some programs were created especially for 3D printing communities (like Tinkercad) others are mostly used by visual artists and game designers – and barely by 3D printing enthusiasts.
That’s why we created an overview that looks at several factors: the general popularity of the software as well as its use within the 3D printing community. In total we looked at six different variables that made up the final score.
General popularity:
- Social Media Score: The first factor that we took into account is the overall popularity of the software on social networks. This includes the number of fans, followers, and mentions on social media.
- Page Authority: This is a score developed by Moz that predicts how well a specific page ranks on search engines and includes various sub-variables (for example link counts).
While these two factors show the overall popularity of the software, they do not distinguish between using the software for 3D printing or for any other purpose. That’s why we added some more factors that are related to 3D printing:
Popularity in the 3D printing community:
- 3D Printing Forum Mentions: We calculated how often the software is mentioned in leading 3D printing forums (e.g. 3dprintboard.com).
- 3D Printing Video Mentions: This number shows how often the software is tagged in 3D printing videos on YouTube. It includes mentions such as “3D printing with XY”, “XY tutorial for 3D printing”, etc.
- 3D Printing Databases: This is a score that shows how often 3D models in 3D printing databases and communities were tagged with a specific software. A higher score means that many 3D printable models were tagged with the name of this software.
- 3D Printing Google Score: This number shows how often the software is mentioned in the context of 3D printing on Google.
One last reminder before showing you the results: this evaluation is not about how good the software is. It’s simply about trying to put a number to the size of its 3D printing community. An outstanding software with a niche focus (e.g. sculpting software) will have a harder time scoring well because there are fewer 3D sculptors out there. Thus this list is all about the sheer numbers and does not make any statement about the quality of the software.
The results:
But now, let’s take a look at the results: here are the 25 most popular 3D modeling software programs for 3D printing based on various popularity variables.
Blender and SketchUp top the list!
So here it is: Blender has the biggest, most active 3D printing community. The community is especially keen on sharing and spreading resources: Blender has most forum entries, YouTube videos and Google search results related to 3D printing content.
This popularity is down to two reasons: first, Blender gives its users enormous design freedom with nearly innumerable tools, and second, it’s a free open-source software. However, Blender is known for a steep learning curve and is often considered difficult for beginners.
SketchUp takes the silver medal in our ranking. It simply scored very well in each of the categories we observed. SketchUp is known for its beginner-friendly learning curve and features tons of tools for geometric objects. And the best thingabout it: SketchUp also comes as a free version. SketchUp also recently facilitated prepping and sharing 3D printable objects and thus its likely that its ‘database score’ will increase even further in the near future.
Don’t underestimate beginner-friendly software!
Beginner-friendly software has a somewhat difficult stand when it come to this list. Free online apps like Tinkercad offer the most important basic design tools and make 3D modeling as easy as it gets. However, once designers master this software, they are quite likely to advance to other, more sophisticated programs. This is why we were surprised to see Tinkercad as high as the 8th rank, only slightly behind its bigger, more professional, brothers from Autodesk (such as AutoCAD, Maya, 3DS Max and Inventor) and SolidWorks.
Don’t underestimate niche products!
As already pointed out, niche products also have a hard time scoring well on this list – which doesn’t mean that they are any less worthy. ZBrush (which ranked 9th) is hands-down the most popular digital sculpting software. When creating figurines, magical creatures, and any other organic object it’s probably the mightiest software to go with.
Just behind ZBrush, Cinema 4D comes in 10th, 123D Design 11th and OpenSCAD 12th.
Rhino is ranked 13th. But of course, quantitative statistics always miss some details. For example, we split up Rhinoceros and Grasshopper as two different modeling tools since their approach to designing and their communities’ commitments are easy to differentiate. On the other hand Grasshopper can be seen as ‘only’ a plugin for Rhinoceros and so our data would be biased. Counting Rhino and Grasshopper as one software would increase its rank significantly to a score of 45 and the 10th rank.
Ranks 14 to 20 are as follows: Modo, Fusion 360, Meshmixer (a free mashup 3D software from Autodesk), LightWave, Sculptris (a free sculpting software from the makers of ZBrush), Grasshopper (an algorithmic modeling plugin for Rhino), and FreeCAD.
MoI3D (also known as Moment of Inspiration) claims the 21st rank. Here it is important to acknowledge that some publishers that do not follow an aggressive online marketing strategy. MoI3D for example does not have an official Facebook page or Twitter account. Most of its community sticks to MoI’s very own discussion board and looks for resources on MoI’s wiki platform. It’s only logical that the score of a software that searches less external exposure will be understated.
The last four programs to make it into the top 25 are 3Dtin (22nd), Wings3D (23rd), K-3D (24th), and BRL-CAD (25th).
Software that didn’t make it to the top 25, but might just be as equally suitable for your needs, are (in alphabetical order): 3D Canvas, 3D Creationist, 3D-Coat, 3DPlus, 3DSlash, 3DVIA Shape, AC3D, Alias, Alibre Design Xpress, Anarkik3D Ltd, Anim8or, Animation:Master, Art of Illusion, Autodesk Revit, Autodesk Softimage, AutoQ3D, Bishop3D, Blink 3D, Bryce, Carrara, CASCADE, Catia, Cheetah3D, City Engine, Clara.io, DAZ Studio, DesignWorkshop, eDrawings, EIAS, Flux, Form-Z, fragMOTION, GDesign, Hexagon, Houdini, K3DSurf, LeoCAD, MASSIVE, Metasequioa, MilkShape3D, Minos, MorphiApp, OnShape, Poser, Pro/E, RaySupreme, Remo 3D, SculptGL, Seamless3D, Shade 3D, Silo, SOCET SET, SolidEdge, SolidThinking, SpaceClaim, Strata 3D, Sweet Home 3D, TopMod 3D, TrueSpace, Unigraphics, Vectorworks, XSI, and Zmodeler.
What these scores tell us and what they don’t:
To sum it up, these scores show us the following things:
- 3D modelers have a lot of choices when it comes to designing a new object for 3D printing. Scores are tight and there are lots of programs to choose from. This list can give a general tendency of how big the 3D printing communities for each of these programs are.
- Freeware with a lot of design freedom (like Blender) have the most 3D printing users. These programs don’t cost a dime and are suitable for a wide range of products.
What these scores don’t show us:
- They don’t show us which program is the best 3D modeling software. It doesn’t include any ranking on the interface, functions, price, etc.
- They don’t show us which program is the easiest 3D modeling software either. It doesn’t contain information about how beginner-friendly a program is.
- Just because a software is popular doesn’t mean that it’s the right software for you. The best way to find your software is by visiting their individual websites, checking their prices, taking a look at objects that were created with them, and by thinking about the time that you’re willing to spend on learning it.
It you’re new to the world of 3D modeling, this article about how to get started with 3D modeling might be useful. If you already know how to use a 3D modeling software but you’re having trouble with modeling for 3D printing, then avoiding these 5 common mistakes will definitely help. If you already have a printable 3D file, simply upload it to our website, choose from more than 100 material options, and let us take care of printing your object.
- See more at: http://i.materialise.com/blog/top-25-most-popular-3d-modeling-design-software-for-3d-printing#sthash.ueNsZQqn.dpuf
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