Cool Instructable about using free and open source software (SketchUp and Inkscape) to design in 3D and then layout your pieces for 2D laser cutting. www.instructables.com/id/… sketchup.google.com code.google.com/p/sketchu… www.inkscape.org
Wings is another piece of open source software available for Linux, OS X, and Windows. Here’s what a recent reviewer said: Wings is a great modeler that I have been using for years now. Don’t let the UI put you off. Similar to Blender, tt is fully cross platform which is why it doesn’t fit [...]
Another piece of nifty 3D modeling software. Open-source. Runs on Linux, OS X, and Windows. Quote from the website: Art of Illusion is a free, open source 3D modelling and rendering studio. It is written entirely in Java, and should be usable on any Java Virtual Machine which is compatible with J2SE 1.4 or later. [...]
I ran across a post this morning at MAKE Magazine (which is a great mag, by the way) that explains different 3-d printers that are currently available, including both commercial and open source projects. In the last few years Rapid Prototyping(RP) has become more automated and much cheaper. Machines suitable for offices and academic environments [...]
There is another software package I just thought of this morning that might be useful. It is called Moment of Inspiration (MOI) (I am not so hot on the name) but it is good software in any case. The interface is very intuitive and in many ways it is a nice blend of the features found in [...]
