#123d design vs sketchup code#
#123d design vs sketchup series#
#123d design vs sketchup download#

#123d design vs sketchup code#

The thing is, while some diehard 3D modelers will code in G-code, it's almost impossible for mortal humans to design complex 3D models directly in G-code. Codes can move a gantry to a specific X/Y/Z position, can control the heating and cooling of print heads, can instruct the printer to feed out filament, and more. It consists of a relatively large number of numeric codes (many preceded by the letter 'G', hence G-code) that function as commands that tell machines what specific actions they're to take. The G-code we're looking at as a foundation for desktop fabrication goes all the way back to the 1950s and the MIT Servomechanisms Laboratory. Most 3D printers (and subtractive devices like CNC machines) use a programming language called G-code (not to be confused with the 1999 album by rapper Juvenile, the 2005 song by Geto Boys on their The Foundation album, or the album put out in 2008 by Korean rapper Eun Ji Won).

#123d design vs sketchup series#

The other way is to use your already developed core tech, put a new UI on it for novice cad users and try to win the base over by builing a better product.Whether you're new to 3D printing or an old hand, ZDNet's 3D Printing Discovery Series will help you understand and get the most out of this amazing, accessible technology. They could have bought Sketchup for the userbase and then spent the money to integrate the product into the Autodesk family. So it seems they could have approached this in 2 ways. If Autodesk had purchased Sktechup, would they have made it fit the rest of the Autodesk design products? How much would it cost to make those under the hood changes? But in some ways this seems to make more sense than buying Sketchup. So did Autodesk really have to spend millions on this? Maybe, I'm not sure. The UI seems to be designed for the DIY crowd, but the core of the products seems to work and feel a lot like Fusion. SO I downloaded and installed Autodesk 123D and gave it a try.ġ23D seems to be a repurposed Inventor Fuion. I read Roopinder's article and it got me curious. Wouldn’t it make more sense to just buy the product everyone is already using? Don’t ask me. So, if I were Autodesk, I would wonder: do I spend millions on developing and marketing - and years to try to lure customers away from a product they willingly chose, invested time to learn, may be even love? Spend more millions on a Website [that purportedly has the demographics of makers/DIYers, and end up with picklers and cupcake makers? SketchUp had – without trying – gained an incredible head start into a market that Autodesk was drooling for publicly. Thousands of people had been at this for years. There were dozens of Adirondack chair designs. How deep was this library? Out of curiosity, I looked for Adirondack chairs. In fact, every tool and machine I needed was there. In less than one hour, I had a reasonable attempt at a factory layout.

#123d design vs sketchup download#

Let’s see, should I make each machine in 123D, even if was free and easy to use (supposedly)? Or should I download models from the SketchUp library? I found Bridgeports, lathes, drill presses, tables, even a water jet cutter in the SketchUp library. One time, I had to make a factory layout. This was clearly evident in its 3D Warehouse, a vast library of models, produced over the years - all available for free.

SketchUp already had its faithful adherents. But it takes more to convert users than throwing around free software. And so spent millions.ġ23D is free, like SketchUp. They were chasing the same audience, but devised a new product to do so. With great fanfare they came out with 123D. Autodesk noticed, too, and they were not about to let this go unanswered. I attended a Maker Faire south of San Francisco and was amazed at the almost universal adoption of SketchUp. It spread like wildfire, reaching and saturating an unintended but huge audience. The AEC community may not have jumped on SketchUp to create the built world, but the DIYers sure jumped on it to make whatever whirligig, gizmos, low-riders, furniture, or whatever crazy contraption that was in their head. Autodesk has been actively chasing the maker/inventor/hobbyist market, such as it is. Why did Autodesk not outbid everyone? I would have thought they’d do whatever it took to acquire SketchUp. We speculated over and came up with the usual suspects. CAD insiders had known SketchUp was on the blocks. Never has this been more obvious than when Trimble came out of nowhere to buy SketchUp from Google. All that, I still can’t predict their moves. I live in its shadow my neighbors are Autodeskers. I’ve written much about them, their products.

I have watched Autodesk for about 15 years. You think it will hop one way but it hops the other. Following Autodesk is like chasing a jack rabbit.