A colleague of mine asked if I could 3D printer her a cake topper for her daughter’s wedding. She had a concept in mind and thought that 3D printing could take it to a different level.

There are a lot of great programs out there to allow you to build 3D models that can be 3D printed. A program like TinkerCad is great for young children or beginners to begin “tinkering” with 3D modeling. The controls are intuitive and objects are built with basic shapes.

Something more advanced is software from Autodesk called Fusion 360. It is something that I have barely scratched the surface with and I’d love to explore more in the future when time allows. It is a much more advanced program and something that provides a lot of freedom. This freedom, however, does come with a pretty steep learning curve. There are a number of YouTube videos out and about that detail the Fusion 360 process.

For many of my designs, I ust TinkerCad. I try not to reach out beyond my safety level when I’m working on projects for others, and I’m honest with my skills. Each project I complete, I gain experience and am getting ready to take on Fusion 360 soon.