This is a list of 17 Best Free 3D Modeling Software For Windows. A 3D model can be defined as a model which represents an object in a 3D graphical mode and the process of creating a 3D model is known as 3D modeling. 3D modeling has evolved a lot with the growth of computer technology.It is now commonly used in various industries, such as: Architecture, Medical science, Gaming, Animation, Film.
- Top 3d Software Programs
- Top 3d Rendering Programs
- Top 10 3d Programs
- Best 3d Program For Mac
- 3d Character Programs
Now, let's take a look at the best 3D modeling software programs out there! Best 3D Modelling Software 1. Type: Subscription Price: $245/month. When you ask any professional 3D modeller in the industry which program they use the most, Autodesk Maya is the most common answer, and for good reason. Dec 30, 2020 Top 10 Free Home Design Software. The following are some of the ten best free home design software to use in 2020. All of these provide a free version of the software, though accessing the paid version is all up to your choice. AutoCAD Architecture. AutoCAD architecture is a perfect and free home design software for completing the needs of an.
Home Design Software is the easiest and quickest option for designing 3D house model compared to complex Autodesk CAD and 3D Modeling Software. Here we list the best free and premium home design software in 2021.
3d paint ipad. Most of these 3D home design software provides all of the essential features and also advanced options and sample plans. With these home design tool, you can visualize the exterior design, landscape, interiors, kitchen, bath, or room addition with custom cabinets, lighting, furniture, and other appliances.
There are several types of 3D design software available to draw basic 3D design models. In this article, we've collected only software created for 3d home design purpose. Audio voice changer. Let's take a look at 3D house design software to create your dream home model today.
Best Home Design Software for Windows and Mac
Home Designer Suite
Home Designer Suite 2020 is the best house design software and it offers sophisticated CAD tools so you can design like professional. There are lots of video tutorial available on Chief Architect website which helps learning process much easier.
This 3D home design software also best for cost estimator or quantity surveyor. With this program, you can create a spreadsheet with totals for supplies you need to build. Home Designer Suite is the best interior design software with home builder wizards.
Sweet Home 3D
Sweet Home 3D is easy to learn interior design software that helps you draw the plan of your house in 2D, arrange furniture on it and visit the results in 3D.
Premium Sweet Home 3D
Premium Sweet Home 3D is an easy to learn design software with professional features. This is the best software for beginners with no design skills or without other 3D design experience. The Sweet Home 3D is much cheaper than other applications because it costs $14.99.
It is available for Windows 10, 8, 7, Vista and XP (suitable for 32 and 64 bits); and MAC OS X. This 3D House used as interior design software because exterior design tools are extremely limited.
DreamPlan
DreamPlan is a free home design software for windows. It's also available for other operating systems such as Mac and Android, but you need to pay. DreamPlan contains narrow features compared to Sweet Home 3D. However, It is free to download home design 3d tool for Windows PC users so If you are beginner or DIY home design enthusiast, this 2D, and 3D house design fits your needs.
RoomSketcher
RoomSketcher is a free house design software and online tool comes with amazing professional features. This free design program helps you create 2D and 3D floor plans on a tablet, PC or Mac. you can easily generate stunning 3D Photos. RoomSketcher 3D Floor Plans provide you with a stunning overview of your floor plan layout in 3D. If you looking only free room design software or floor plan designer free version, this is absolutely best for you.
TurboFloorPlan Home and Landscape Pro
TurboFloorPlan Home and Landscape Pro easy to use professional home and landscape design software for Windows Desktops. It provides a list of materials and cost estimates tool for your house design projects.
This home plan software assists you to plan of your dream home from the foundation, walls, windows, doors, custom roof types to HVAC, electrical, and plumbing layouts.
Top 3d Software Programs
Home Designer Pro 2018
Home Designer Pro 2018 is another 3d house plan designing software from Chief Architect. This Chief Architect's home design tool has more advanced features compared to Home Designer Suite 2018 and also it's the higher price than Home Designer Suite. It costs $495.95.
It includes amazing features not only for interior design but also exterior tools for home design, remodeling, decks, and landscaping design. Home Designer Pro 2018 has cost estimation tool which lets you calculate material quantity easily.
Virtual Architect
Virtual Architect Ultimate is home designing software with landscaping and decks features. This house design application contains powerful designer tools and helpful tutorial to create a professional-quality home interior and exteriors.
Punch Home & Landscape Design
Punch Home & Landscape Design is another home builder software with easy to plan and create a dream home using intuitive design tools for the 2D to 3D visuals. There are perfect sets of design tools available to enhance your landscaping and outdoor living spaces. You can easily design gardens, patios, decks, outdoor kitchens, water features, fences, and other beautiful exterior spaces with simple to use landscape design software.
Punch Interior Design
If you are only looking interior design software with libraries of materials and furnishings, Punch Interior Design right one for you. Punch Interior Design software available for both Mac and PC. It has a lot of interior design features, kitchen furniture and cabinets, bath 3d models, and more.
Total 3D Landscape & Deck Premium
Total 3D Landscape & Deck Premium comes with over a thousand sample home plans. Step-by-step Guides and Video Tutorials walk you through each step, and the simple interface makes navigating through design options easy.
MyVirtualHome
MyVirtualHome is a free house design software that provides a useful collection of tools for designing a 3D house. Free Download
SketchUp Make 2017
SketchUp is free design tools to create all kinds of 3D images and designs, from woodworking blueprints to urban planning designs. Free Download
Instant Architect
Instant Architect is the basic house builder and remodel software. It's the perfect solution for quickly planning your next remodeling, redecorating, or weekend home improvement project.
Total 3D Home Design Deluxe 11
Total 3D Home Design Deluxe 11 house design software has an extensive library of objects and sample plans. Previous design skills are not needed. Whether you are remodeling your house, decorating a room, or designing your dream home, the tools and inspiration you need are included.
The community of 3D printing and modeling may have become much larger in the past few years, but most 3D models shared online nowadays are limited to a few file formats. One of these file formats is STL. Despite its ubiquity, STL files are notoriously difficult to edit. Should you find yourself with an STL file format that you'd like to tweak and play around with, what software should you use? What exactly is the STL file format, and why is it so important?
What is the STL file format?
STL stands for 'Stereolithography' and is considered one of the simplest 3D file formats. It's also one of the oldest, developed in the 1980s and was originally meant to simplify the transfer of data from 3D CAD models to a 3D printer.
Top 3d Rendering Programs
A characteristic of the STL file format, which makes it one of the simpler options, is that it approximates a 3D surface as a triangular mesh. Thus, instead of a truly smooth surface, an STL object is composed of a high number of very small, non-overlapping triangles. This technique is known as tessellation and is considered one of the oldest methods of simplifying a smooth surface in 3D space.
By increasing the number and decreasing the size of the triangles that form the tessellated pattern, the resolution of a 3D file in the STL format can be enhanced. Naturally, a file that holds a higher resolution model will be larger. However, the accuracy at which an STL file can approximate a surface will always be at a lower fidelity compared to file formats that represent 3D surfaces using smooth splines, such as OBJ.
What are the benefits of STL?
The STL file format has been widely used for sharing of models within the 3D printing community. They may have limitations in terms of resolution and fidelity, but so do 3D printers. In fact, STL has become such a preferred file format that most 3D printers and slicer software used nowadays have been designed to work with STL files.
Since STL files are simple and have small file sizes, they are more easily shared and downloaded than other, high-fidelity alternatives. In most cases, users of 3D printers can just download a finished model off of file-sharing websites and print them at home. Beginners to 3D printing typically start this way before developing the skills to come up with their own models.
Top 10 3d Programs
What are STL editors, and why use them?
While downloading finished models is certainly a quick and convenient way to get into 3D printing, some people may want to edit the features of a model to suit their needs. There could also be circumstances when you only need to print a part of a model. Not all models are perfect, so you may even find yourself needing to repair that model you just downloaded.
There are two different types of STL editing and modeling software. The first is based on CAD and is made for general 3D modeling. This technology has been the standard for industrial and professional 3D modeling and allows for extremely accurate measurement and modeling in 3D space. Since the resolution of 3D printers is limited, CAD software is considered overpowered for use in modeling for 3D printers. Thus, although CAD-based software platforms do an excellent job, editing STL files do not quite utilize the full potential of this type of software.
3D modeling software specially made for 3D printing are called mesh editing software. Instead of precise software representation, a mesh editing software instead reduces these objects into shells with no internal filling. This simplifies the modeling process, although the model can be quickly converted to solid objects right before printing. Within the 3D printing community, mesh editing software is considered more appropriate for STL editing.
The top 5 best free STL editors
1. FreeCAD
FreeCAD is one of the most feature-rich CAD design software platforms. Best of all, the software is open source and completely free. FreeCAD uses parametric modeling principles and has been widely used by both professionals and beginners.
With FreeCAD, you can add features, make measurements, and separate components of an existing STL file. Since FreeCAD was originally meant for mechanical and engineering design, it allows for extremely fine and precise edits. However, it's very difficult to use FreeCAD for sculpting, so smooth surfaces can be challenging.
Even if you don't already have an existing STL file, you can still use FreeCAD to come up with your own 3D sketches and model them in 3D space. It does take some time to get used to the FreeCAD platform and to learn how to use its functions, but it's not so difficult to be inaccessible for beginners. One major flaw of the open source platform of FreeCAD is that it can be full of bugs, although this could be easily remedied by sticking to the latest stable version.
2. Blender
Blender is another free 3D printing software that is a little more sophisticated than FreeCAD. It has been touted as a software that can support the whole 3D design pipeline and is best suited for individual designers and small design firms. With a wide suite of excellent features, Blender has been used to for modeling, animation, video rendering, film and visual effects, and 3D simulation.
A huge part of why Blender has been able to extend its range of capabilities is that it's completely community-driven. Users can introduce new features, make minor or major changes to the code, or implement bug fixes. Best of all, Blender is completely free, even if you use it for commercial purposes.
Although modeling is just one of the major functions of Blender, it has a very rich set of features. You can build your own models from 2D sketches or edit an existing STL file. Aside from the usual features, including STL repair, removal and addition of components, and partial masking of models, Blender has much more advanced sculpting capabilities. With twenty different brush types and dynamic sculpting, you can pretty much generate any type of smooth surface. You can grab and pinch areas, flatten sections, inflate and deflate a model, or sculpt the model like clay.
We wouldn't classify Blender as beginner-friendly, but its learning curve is pretty friendly. With so many features, it will take some time before you can unlock the full potential of Blender. As far as 3D printing software go, Blender is one of the most comprehensive.
3. SketchUp
The SketchUp software platform, which used to be owned by Google, is now with Trimble but still retains the user-friendly characteristic for which it became famous for. You have the option of downloading the free SketchUp Make version or upgrading to the paid SketchUp Pro version. The good news is that you can use the free version to edit STL files, but you'll need to make sure to download and install the SketchUp STL plugin first.
The simplicity of SketchUp is its strong suit. It's very easy to learn, and its interface will feel familiar to anyone who's ever used a graphic design program. However, this ease-of-use comes at the price of a limited feature set. The STL editing capabilities of SketchUp are pretty much limited to dragging edges and vertices and adding or deleting individual triangles. It has no built-in STL repair function, but you can still do it manually by using the Solid Inspector tool and correcting any hitches yourself.
Despite the limited features of SketchUp, it remains one of the most widely used 3D design software worldwide. It's highly recommended for beginners. Even people with no 3D modeling experience can learn the fundamentals of SketchUp within a few minutes.
Best 3d Program For Mac
4. MeshLab
MeshLab, as its name implies, is a software platform for editing 3D triangular meshes. It's also open source, which helps give it a rich set of functions and features. If you need modeling software specifically for 3D printing, MeshLab is one of the best options for editing, cleaning, rendering, and texturing mesh-based models.
You will need an existing STL file to make the most use out of MeshLab. It can combine different meshes of a 3D scan, remove parts of an existing, and automatically repair a 3D model. However, it cannot be used to build your own models from scratch. You can also simplify the triangular faces of a model, thereby reducing geometry complexity for easier file sharing.
3d Character Programs
MeshLab isn't exceptionally user-friendly, but their website has several tutorials that can help get you started. They also have a dedicated community of developers that can provide support if you need bug fixes or if you just have any general questions or clarifications.
5. MeshMixer
In the field of free mesh editing programs, few can equal the quality of MeshMixer. Aside from having a huge set of the necessary mesh editing features, MeshMixer is also very user-friendly. It even has a built-in slicer tool so you can prepare your model for printing and send it directly to your 3D printer via MeshMixer.
The development team behind MeshMixer calls it the 'Swiss Army knife' of 3D meshes. It does have just about everything you need, so we're inclined to agree. You can combine meshes, drag edges and vertices, make measurements, smooth meshes, and even do free-form sculpting. The software comes with a couple of automated features that can help identify problems with your STL file such as holes, misaligned surface, and paper-thin walls.
By combining ease-of-use and an impressive array of features, MeshMixer is considered by many to be the best free mesh editing software. It's only available for Windows and Mac, though, so Linux users will have to look elsewhere.
Final thoughts
If you've gotten into 3D printing, then you probably have dozens to hundreds of STL files lying around in your computer. While printing them as they were modeled originally is fine, the next logical step you need to take is to learn how to edit existing models. This is best done with an STL editor. If you're still a beginner, then we recommend starting with an STL editor that you can download for free.
As you can see from our list of the best free STL editors, being free for use has not hindered these software platforms from having excellent quality. With impressive features and intelligently designed interfaces, it's almost unbelievable that they are free.
