I wanted to make dumb merch for my dumb game to see if I could. Turns out I can, and the next time they’ll be better. I think they turned out great!
@SunlessGameStudios nice, I keep trying to move to Blender, but I cannot get past the complicated UI. I still use Tinkercad because I know how to get what I want… but I really should learn blender…
Just don’t give up, find something that pulls you in and let it. I learned on CAD software first, and applied that knowledge to an existing model I had already made. Your imagination is more powerful than motivation, so let it guide you instead. That’s how I got there.
Link or picture?
Imgur link takes you to them. https://imgur.com/a/BP3xaZ5
Nice. And thanks for the link
Looks good! That aside, is blender not a Computer-Aided Design program? You used a computer program to aid in designing an asset, no?
I know some would argue that only parametric modeling programs ‘count’, but that’s fucking dumb- by that logic, AutoCAD* and plenty of other CAD programs get excluded too. We wouldn’t need to append the ‘parametric’ qualifier to the acronym if it were an inherent part of the definition.
* yes, I’m aware they’ve added a parametric tool suite to AutoCAD. That doesn’t make it a parametric CAD program
Edit: fixed a typo
Well, yeah a computer is obviously used but you’re using it in an extremely literal sense that people generally don’t use. Blender and similar are usually referred to as 3D modelling software. The key difference seems to be that 3D modeling software is not intended for precise real-world dimension but more organic shape manipulation and CAD software is meant for precise dimentioned designs made from extruded 2D sketches.
I was being facetious about the literal use of a computer
CAD software is meant for precise dimentioned designs made from extruded 2D sketches
This exactly what I’m arguing against. Parametric CAD like Solidworks and whatever you’d call AutoCAD don’t get to own the term.
What I was trying to say, and was not very clear, is that CAD is an umbrella term for a wide variety of programs that generate digital models for use elsewhere, whether that’s manufacturing or animation. There are different subdomains, like surface modeling (blender) and parametric modeling (solidworks), but no single subgroup is necessarily the ‘true’ CAD. They’re all computer-assisted design programs, just specialized with different approaches for different purposes.
But why muddy the terminology, when there is already a clear distinction between the two major factions? where CAD isused to denote the traditionally engineering oriented, and 3D modeling is for the traditionally organic model design tool, do you need to mix the two? They each serve distinct specialized purposes and their definition are widely recognized within industry in general already.
Blender, Solidworks, AutoCAD, Catia, and any other modelling software of your choice all ultimately do the same thing: build digital representations of objects based on our understanding of how they might exist in physical reality. They differ in the workflow to get there, which is why we have terms like surface modelling programs and parametric CAD to differentiate their function or workflow.
OP literally used Blender to manufacture a physical thing- the qualification of Blender as “not CAD” is what’s actually muddying the water. If it isn’t a CAD program, how could they have physically manufactured their design?
To suggest that only some types of programs that do this are CAD is unnecessarily reductionist and doesn’t actually help anyone understand the difference between them. There is legitimate differentiation to be made with things like CAM programs, rendering software, etc., where you are now using that digital representation to achieve some end goal. CAD is about creating those digital assets that could ostensibly exist in the real world, regardless of whether it’s meant for animation, manufacturing, simulation, or whatever else.
Edit: Blender is even listed on the CAD Wikipedia page
Computer-aided design (CAD) is the use of computers (or workstations) to aid in the creation, modification, analysis, or optimization of a design.
CAD is an important industrial art extensively used in many applications, including automotive, shipbuilding, and aerospace industries, industrial and architectural design (building information modeling), prosthetics, and many more. CAD is also widely used to produce computer animation for special effects in movies, advertising and technical manuals, often called DCC digital content creation.
