The Best CAD Software of 2022 (All Levels)

CAD (Computer Aided Design) software comes in a variety of shapes and sizes, all aimed at helping a designer to create sketches, 3D models, dimensioned drawings, schematics, simulations, and more. CAD software is used by many trades, with some CAD software packages specifically designed for engineering, while others are more suited towards architecture and construction projects.To get more news about CAD software, you can visit shine news official website.

plenty of top CAD software options out there with a wide variety of prices and features. We’ve rounded up this carefully-curated list to help you pick the one best suited for your next project.
What features should you look for when choosing a CAD package? The answer really depends on your specific needs as a designer, as well as the type of project you’re working on. Our list of top CAD software for all levels covers a range of different packages that can certainly be used to design objects for 3D printing, but many of the entries in this list can be used for purposes other than this — like architecture or interior design.

Each entry has been grouped into categories according to our recommended skill level, with top CAD software options for beginners, intermediate, and advanced professional users. CAD novices won’t be overwhelmed by software with a steep learning curve if they stick to our beginner choices, and if you’re a CAD pro, you won’t be bored and frustrated by CAD software that’s too simplistic. Whether you’re a CAD beginner or a CAD expert, we think you’ll find the perfect option in our list below.
Tinkercad is an easy-to-use tool for creating 3D models. It’s developed by Autodesk, an American multinational software company who have a large share of the CAD market and will pop up a lot in this list.

Tinkercad works with primitive shapes like cylinders, prisms, and spheres and combines them to create more complex shapes. When you’re happy with your design, you can export it as an STL or OBJ file, which are perfect formats to use with popular slicers for 3D printing.

Tinkercad also does more than just CAD: It can be used to design simple electrical circuits and even block-based programming. If you’re not sure how to get started, there are plenty of e-learning resources that can help you improve your skills. This is a top CAD software for beginners, so it’s often used by educators to help students of all ages learn more about science, technology, engineering, art, and math (STEAM) fields.

While Tinkercad is a top CAD software for beginners, as your skills develop, you might find yourself noticing the software’s limits. At this point, you’ll probably want to graduate to more advanced CAD software. Keep reading, because we have lots of options further down our list that you can move to when you’re ready.
BlocksCAD is a web-based 3D modeling tool that encourages young students to learn math, computational thinking, and coding concepts by designing objects with drag-and-drop code blocks.

It’s built on top of OpenSCAD (discussed further down this list) and could be described as “OpenSCAD meets Tinkercad” because although it uses code to design objects, a Scratch-style drag-and-drop code block interface makes it much more accessible to novices.

It may seem daunting to design objects with code, so BlocksCAD provides rich content resources for free — including self-paced e-learning to get you up and running. Educators can also benefit from dashboards with lesson plans aligned with curriculums for young learners.
SketchUp is a 3D modeling program for a wide range of drawing applications such as architecture, interior design, landscape architecture, and civil and mechanical engineering. It was once known as “Google SketchUp”, but it has now passed hands to Trimble, a software, hardware, and services technology company.

SketchUp can be used to create 3D models of buildings, furniture, landscapes, and more. If you don’t have the skills to design everything from scratch, you can lean on Trimble’s 3D Warehouse, which hosts thousands of existing designs from the community.
If you want to use SketchUp for 3D printing, it should be noted this is primarily a surface modeling CAD software. In other words, objects are first drawn as surfaces and then must later be connected to form solid objects for 3D printing. If this step isn’t taken, you might find your model slices with weird effects – or doesn’t slice at all.

The good news here is a library of extensions can enhance SketchUp to suit a specific workflow. We highly recommend the “SketchUp STL extension” if your 3D printing models are designed in SketchUp, which solves the surface modeling limitations.

SketchUp is easy to learn, easy to use, and capable of some incredible detail. It’s a great tool for visualizing ideas and communicating designs to clients and colleagues.