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(sarcastic commentard post)

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CAD isn't as difficult as it looks, especially if you're just making models and not creating formal, ASME or ISO drawings for traditional manufacturing - GD&T is tricky, and takes a lot of practice to do elegantly and in an easily understood fashion.

What i'd recommend is Vectorworks, but only because that's what i'm used to, and AFAIK it's a bit more user friendly than AUTOCAD.

Anyways find some small objects around the house and recreate them in 3D - you may need micrometers to attain any real precision - and work your way up to more complex objects. The trick is being able to visualize the steps you'll take to make a shape - a good way to start making things is to create a rough, encompassing shape and then subtract various other shapes from it.

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@jchabotte:

There's also novel methods like sweeps, extrude-along-path, lofts, tapered extrusions that are usually very good for creating a limited number of rough shapes. for example, something that is cylindrically symmetrical (such as a donut or a vase) is actually really simple - a donut is a swept circle and a vase is a swept profile.

if you have the time, it's a rather rewarding activity.

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i too get to do CAD for my day job, but I mostly do mechanical assemblies, enclosures, sheet metal and machining, lots of gas flow control and custom test equipment stuff. since it's a small company i also get stuck doing wiring diagrams, design guides, PCB fabs and assemblies, the whole gamut.

I like it a lot : )

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Good to know, and i'm pleased to find that Vectorworks can export .stl files - useless for now due to a lack of a 3D printer, but still, good to know.

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And the best non-vibrating ones are made of glass, also not sure how well water based glue would go over in that... uh... environment.

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Hey look at that, you made a new friend.

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