Tinkercad Strengths
This page is part of the 3Dsf.info review of Tinkercad.
Let's start with the positive stuff.
Free!
For now. Autodesk doesn't charge for its use, so if you're a hobbyist or student or a non-profit on a budget, this is pretty great.
Easily accessible
Since Tinkercad is a cloud based app it’s available on any modern computer with a browser. No extra software is needed.
Open a browser on a modern computer (ie: one built int the last few years), create an Autodesk account, and off you go! Very low barrier for entry. This is fantastic for schools and other places with computer labs and no money.
The fact that Tinkercad works at all is kind of amazing. You build your 3D models using the browser, which relies on your computer's graphics chip and the WebGL environment to function. Your design projects are all stored in the “cloud,” and are thus accessible from any compatible computer that you log into.
Open your browser, sign into Tinkercad, and there's your stuff!
Situation cloudy
Since data isn't stored locally, you can move from machine to machine and still access your projects; very handy for kids in a lab or classroom. It also initiates fairly frequent save points, so you don’t have to save your work all the time - it does it for you. And you can share items, so teachers can share a library of objects with a class.
Fairly reliable
It’s surprisingly reliable. I’ve only occasionally experienced object corruption within a project. It can happen that you lose a few minutes of work if a connection fails or browser window closes before a project is fully saved of course. And if you have a really complex object with multiple layers of groups you can experience no end of pain. But for basic stuff it's pretty good.
A fairly consistent user interface
The UI is far from perfect, but on the whole I find it pretty intuitive, easy to use and learn, and somewhat consistent. It’s perfect for knocking out a quick and dirty 3D job in a hurry without having to stumble around with a messy complicated UI.
I use other tools from time to time, but the reason I haven’t abandoned Tinkercad altogether, despite the fact I’m always bumping up against its limits, is because I do find it simple to use. 3D design is not my fulltime job. I can stop using Tinkercad for a while, then pick right back up where I left off. By contrast, professional CAD programs are so complicated that if I haven't used one for some time I find I have to relearn all the basics before being able to get to work.
I also find grownup 3D programs to be extremely annoying and challenging. The apps all seem to be designed by committees of engineers driven by marketing teams, rather than by people who actually use the product. They're like cars that have the ignition switch inside the glove compartment.
For example, Tinkercad lets you resize an object by grabbing a corner and dragging it. Done. Fusion 360 can't do that! In Fusion you have to find the object in the browser tree, show dimensions, and type in the new dimension. God. Sure, typing in values is precise, but there are times when a simple grab and drag is what you want!
A key thing about Tinkercad is that it lets you extend your experience with 2D drawing programs (and the traditional way those work) into making 3D models; something that professional 3D programs rarely do.
The “constructive solid geometry” model is simple and easy to understand
Glomming objects together to make combined group objects, technically known as Boolean unions, is simple and intuitive.
A particularly clever trick is that you can turn any object into a “hole”, which is essentially a negative form of the same object, and shown on-screen as a cross hatched grey object. A hole can then be placed next to a normal solid object, and the action of grouping will cut out a hole-shaped space. This is technically called a Boolean “difference” operation. Through carefully positioning objects and holes, then grouping the objects together, you can make surprisingly complex shapes and designs.
Multiple undo levels
Tinkercad is pretty good about maintaining a fairly large buffer of undo events, so you can reverse missteps. Or revert to an earlier design if Tinkercad screws up and accidentally deletes some objects. It can be a bit slow stepping back, and I imagine impatient kids can probably end up clicking too many times, but so it goes.
Remember that it's undo, though, not a full stored history or timeline. There's no timeline of actions saved along with your project. Close the browser window and your undo actions are gone.
Export to 3D mostly reliable
Because Tinkercad is about manipulating a bunch of virtual physical shapes that are grouped together, it’s usually pretty reliable when exporting STLs for printing. You don’t get the problem of broken objects that are non-manifold and unprintable all the time. Or rather, if I do get an error bringing a Tinkercad STL into a slicer or printer it always seems fixable without artefacts.
The main problem with exports is really complex grouped objects will often time out and fail. (make the thing into a single group, if you can, to increase the probability of it exporting okay)
Again, it's not perfect but it's a big step to simplifying the process of going from an idea on a screen to a genuine physical object. A classroom bonus.
Additional project types
Over the years Autodesk have extended the Tinkercad concept to cover projects with internal physics models, basic electronic circuits, and code blocks for programming. Very useful for engineering education.
Tinkercad is ideal for straightforward geometric designs like this. But complicated compound curves? Not so much.
COPYRIGHT
This text was written entirely by and for 3Dsf.info. Feel free to make copies for your own use, but I ask that you not repost it for download elsewhere. The reason is I'm updating these pages all the time for accuracy and development purposes. So the most up to date page should always be available at 3Dsf.info!
CONTACT
If you have any corrections or comments, feel free to drop a line:
Note: I am not Autodesk, and I'm afraid I'm not able to assist with problems or requests for help with Tinkercad.