My Journey with CAD and 3D Modeling

From a young age, I had a deep fascination with art, computers, mechanical engineering, and robotics. While I ultimately pursued a career in computer engineering, I've explored all these fields over the years—though mostly as a hobby rather than a professional endeavor.

My journey into CAD began when the iPad Pro was first released, along with an application called Shapr3D. At the time, I didn't own an iPad Pro, so I borrowed a smaller model to try out the app. After just a few days with the trial version, I was hooked. I quickly ordered a 12" iPad Pro and subscribed to Shapr3D's paid plan (the lowest tier available at the time). For six straight months, I dedicated my evenings to learning CAD and pushing the software to its limits. I became an active member of the Shapr3D community, contributing under the name Robotics Hobbyist.

During this period, I worked on various projects, including a model helicopter, but I soon realized that Shapr3D lacked a key feature I needed: rendering capabilities. This led me to explore alternatives, and that's when I discovered Fusion 360. I exported my project from Shapr3D and attempted to use Fusion 360 with a traditional mouse and keyboard, but I found the experience cumbersome. That's when I came across 3DConnexion and the SpaceMouse, which greatly improved my workflow. I purchased a Wireless SpaceMouse, learned how to use it, and soon mastered navigating and rendering in Fusion 360. My workflow at that time consisted of designing in Shapr3D and rendering in Fusion 360.

However, over time, Shapr3D significantly increased its pricing, making it less viable for hobbyists like myself. Although I was grandfathered into the original pricing model, I missed my renewal window and was moved to the new, much higher pricing tier. As a result, I left Shapr3D and transitioned entirely to Fusion 360, which offered a free version for hobbyists. While I occasionally revisit Shapr3D on a standard iPad to see how it has evolved, the current pricing model and limited free version make it impractical for my needs.

Over the years, I have created numerous models and refined my original helicopter project. Today, I use Fusion 360 whenever I need to design something unique or custom-fit for my needs, though my involvement in CAD has become more of a rare hobby due to other interests.