Eric Weinhoffer has put together a great little summary article over at makezine.com that cover alternatives to TinkerCad. If you’re not familiar with TinkerCad, it’s a browser-based CAD application that lets you design 3D items right in your web browser that can be printed on a 3D printer.
TinkerCad has recently announced that it’s shutting down the service at the end of 2013, and will be slowly dwindling its user base as it moves towards another service called AirStone. I love TinkerCad, and I think it’s a great tool for novices and especially kids to get some hands-on time with CAD design. It’s colorful and it had some cute tutorials that helped new users become familiar with TinkerCad interface.
Alas, it’s going away. Thankfully Weinhoffer has put together this list of possible alternatives. Be sure to check out the commentary as there’s already some debates starting up about these alternatives, including whether or not some of them are following a similar path to TinkerCad (opening up as free and then either shutting down or moving towards a paid model).
MAKE | Free Alternatives to Tinkercad
I having the same problem. I was very upset to hear that Tinkercad was closing down. I’m a paid member of the service and it’s been the best design experience of my life.
I own a design company specializing in little stuff. I’ve tried a few of the paid for standalone apps for 3D stuff and they are all a steep learning curves. For design geeks really. I don’t have the time to go back to university for a year.
Tinkercad just did it for me. Easy. Of course it’s for kids! But what are the real alterantives to Tinkercad once you had your hands on it for a year? The others are too technical and don’t have that great GUI.
I think that Tinkercad gave up too early and couldn’t wait for the market to catch up. I truly wish I could buy the comapny.