3D Printing with Autodesk 123D, Tinkercad, and MakerBot

Of all the beginner's books about creating designs for 3D printing, this is by far the best one. There are loads of tips and tutorials and each exercise builds on the last. As the cover states, this book covers the 123D suite of tools as well as TinkerCad which provide the beginner and hobbyist with a great suite of free design tools. This is certainly my "go-to" book and the one I continually keep by my desk as I design my projects.

My colleague and I just purchased two Makerbots for our high school, and settled on Autodesk's 123D suite of software for student use.The software has gone through so many revisions so quickly that many of the online video tutorials are dated, with command menus and defaults changing on the way. Plus, having to sit through a 5 minute video is a bit frustrating when what you really want to do is leaf through an index and get to the point.Though new to 3d printing we are reasonably computer and software savvy - therefore this book isn't exactly the user manual I wanted. It is aimed much more squarely at the rank beginner, but as such, it does a pretty good job walking you through the various sorts of design software in the 123D suite and explaining how they work together. I am confident that I could hand this book to one of my more curious but non-techy students, and that they would be able to follow it. The book is rather brief, just a few quick exercises in each piece of software showing you the basics, but it gives you the overview.

A very good book on how to use not just Autodesk 123D Design , but also 123D Make , 123D Catch , 123D Meshmixer ,CNC Utility, Kids! Tinkercad and a wealth of information to Design, Construct , Create and Print 3D objects.I Found this a great reference book to guide me in creating objects of my own design.

Referring to AD 123D in the actual program the menu bar has tiny, tiny symbols on the computer display. In this book, they are shown even smaller again and again. Some of the drop down menus are shown at a readable size, but most of the time you need a magnifying glass.

Met and exceeded my needs. Recommended as the first book for all 3d printing investors and potential users.The rest of the 3d printing publications are reviews not hands on texts.

Just skimmed through it so far but looks like just what I needed.

123D has updated so not all the references are current but that is ok. So far the book is very helpful to a beginner.

good, clear info for beginners in 3d printing software. This book is a great partner to Lydia's youtube series.

This book is a great help to start with all autodesk software that can be applied for 3d printing designEasy to read with very simple applications, it permits to start with zero backgroundFinally, the price is attractive.

wenn jemand das genauso einfach in Blender übersetzen könnte, wäre das tol, dabei ist auch ein Tinkercad für Minecraft, für Schulkinder

Excellent introduction to 123D. Clear guidance with good tutorial style examples to follow. Helped me get started, which is often the most difficult part of using a new programme

This book provides materials to support learning of the software packages: 123D Design, 123D Catch, 123D Meshmixer, Layout, 123D Make, 123D CNC, TinkerCAD and the Makerbot 3d printer. It is aimed at beginners who want to use some or all of these pieces to do 3d printing. It is relentlessly practical, written with the intention that you read the book at your computer working through the sequence of step-by-step tutorials which dominate the content. The tutorials are interspersed with screen shots which greatly reduces the chances of getting lost. This is all quite product-specific so you might want to check ahead of time that the software is actually what you want to learn. With the exception of Layout all the software is available for free but with a pay-for premium option. Although 3d printing and the Makerbot 3d printer are mentioned in the title, you might well benefit from reading the book even if you do not intend to do any 3d printing or if like me you use a 3d printer other than a Makerbot. The software covered also extends beyond the domain of 3d printing since 123D Make and CNC are covered. All in all there is a enormous amount of content.I worked through the 123D Design tutorials in parallel with the software's shortish (56 pages ... some of which was an advert for other 123D apps) manual. At the end of this process I felt I had a basic competence and that I knew what kinds of things could reasonably be achieved in the software. Unfortunately, I also discovered that 123d Design is just not powerful enough for what I wanted to do. It might be worth explaining how I decided 123d Design was not powerful enough ... I could not do (in a good way) one of the steps in a tutorial. The description of the step began with the word 'finesse' and that proved to be a clue that the reason the author was not explaining more carefully how to do something was because there is no good way of doing it ... you have to fudge. I confirmed this by checking the author's finished design. I then switched to Autodesk Fusion 360 (free for non-commercial use) which I learned with the help of the following book Autodesk Fusion 360 Introduction to Parametric Modeling: Autodesk Authorized Publisher. In some ways 123d Design is a cut down version of Fusion 360 so the experience of learning it was not a complete waste.123d Meshmixer appears to be a real gem. Meshmixer is good for repairing 'broken' meshes so that they can be 3d printed. Its good for making basic edits on meshes like drilling holes in a model. Its also helpful for certain matters to do with the practicalities of 3d printing such as adding support material where a printer would otherwise be trying to lay down material in mid-air. This book covers all these things in workman-like fashion. However Meshmixer has a great deal more functionality which I will bundle up in the term 'sculpting'. I would have appreciated more help from the book in getting started with sculpting. For example, on first playing with them it is unclear what the intuition is behind the behaviour of each of the sculpting brushes and while the book can get you playing it does not provide any of the needed intuition. Well, the software is quite feature-rich and the book is trying to cover a lot of ground.The Tinkercad tutorials appear slightly misdirected ... there are already a sequence of built-in tutorials in the software. Most of the Tinkercad section adds little to these built-in tutorials which are themselves of high quality. Perhaps, I should point out that the software is a moving target and so in fairness to the author she can be made to look to have got it wrong because Autodesk has changed the product.Speaking of which, if you try to use 123d CNC you will encounter a screen indicating it is unavailable pending a rework.I have not done the Layout or Catch tutorials (yet) and so won't comment on them. The same goes for the 123d Make tutorials. Likewise I have never used a Makerbot nor a 3d printing service bureau and so am not commenting on the corresponding sections of the book.If you plan to use the 123d software I think you will probably want a copy of this book. Its not perfect but in the world of consumer 3d printing where things are mostly held together with string and duct tape and powered by rubber bands it is well worth owning.

Great book for 3d printingGood priceFast delivery