It is designed to create 3D art, visual effects, animations, video games, and 3D printed models.Īll in all, if you want to do 3D work on your computer, Blender has what you need. Open source status means that the source code is freely distributed and open for customization, which has led to a wide acceptance of this software in the hobby community. We will make decisions between Blender and Fusion 360 based on several criteria, including:īlender (available since 1998), is an open source 3D computer graphics suite. In this article we take a look at two very popular CAD programs: Blender and Fusion 360.Įach CAD software has its own strengths and weaknesses.

Simply put, CAD (Computer Aided Design) software allows you to create 3D objects and export them as STL files for printing. But what happens if you get bored with all the STL files you find online? Or a downloaded 3D model does not quite meet your requirements? In these cases you should look more closely at CAD software.

Many hobby designers will look for models for 3D printing on one of the many websites for 3D models like Thingiverse, MyMiniFactory or Pinshape.

Fusion 360 cost per year