Tinkercad, Great for new CAD users and Classrooms!
Overall Satisfaction with Tinkercad
I have implemented Tinkercad in my classroom and train around Thirty-Six students every six months. I introduce reductive and additive sculpture, as well as 3D printing concepts in my training program. I use the projects provided by Tinkercad to reinforce the training program I have created to introduce the program. Most users have no CAD experience at the start and can create complex forms after two weeks.
Pros
- Tinkercad is a great baseline CAD program. This program is easy to implement and train people in.
- After on a short period of time my students are able to create complex forms using Tinkercads pre-generated shapes and holes.
- The Tinkercad provided projects aid in pushing the learning experience even further and reinforce the ideas that I train on and help my students explore the program before designing their own complex sculptural forms.
Cons
- The Tinkercad provided projects were upgraded in some aspects but the text for the projects has not and can cause confusion.
- Tinkedcad works best in Google Chrome on a windows machine but most of my students have Macs and even when using Chrome they run into issues that Windows users don’t
- Tinkedcad is browser-based but, to have a program that would be tablet compatible would be invaluable. So far it has only really worked on a Surface Pro 3.
- Tinkercad is free. I have had students start with me in Tinkercad and eventually work their way up in skill and purchase other Autodesk products because of the enjoyment and opportunity that Tinkercad provided.
- I Don’t make any money off the program but the enrichment it provides my students is invaluable.
- I started out with Tinkercad myself and it was so easy to learn that I have been able to use it to plan my own work and that is irreplaceable.
The alternative programs are all Autodesk programs and they are great and have many more functions than Tinkercad but are much harder and time consuming to learn. Tinkercad requires no downloading and is the most basic CAD program I have found on the market. It is also free and a great learning tool for classrooms. I would Recommend stepping up to Fusion 360 when you have outgrown Tinkercad.
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