I noticed a large number of people requesting files when a 3D print is shown. It makes me wonder if most 3D modeling isn’t typically performed by a good percentage of 3D printer owners. Is that a correct perception and is the assumption true?I’m very likely going to buy a 3D printer in next week or so and I’m curious about what all it takes to go from an idea to a working prototype. I’ve been working with embedded systems and peripherals for a few years now and I’m practically in the clouds with the idea that I can finalize so many of my projects that would require customs parts or enclosures.For the most part, there seems to be an immeasurable number of print files out there for free or a few dollars, which is nice. And I understand that finding existing files makes the job just that much easier but how difficult would it be to render a 3D model from scratch?Are there open-source and free (or inexpensive) programs that do 3D models and can export them to a slicer? How difficult is it to learn modeling? Am I better off just going with existing work and maybe tweaking it as needed?Ideally, an application that is easy to use for a beginner but has the higher-level abilities that can take a project to the next level when experience and knowledge increase would be perfect. Does that exist or would I be stuck using something complicated like Blender? http://ift.tt/2fvlbpg