Autodesk 123D: First Impressions

I dread using AutoCAD.

A 3d CAD suite I disuse so much I had to look up it's name despite it being installed on the workstations at Swansea University (not to mention stipulated in many engineering assignments); AutoCAD is probably not a bad program, but nothing in it's UI seems intuitive to me and neither did the UI of 3ds max for that matter.  My memory is expectedly hazy, but it seems to centre around this 3d grid as is standard fare; the problem arises when I expect to be able to draw a rectangle or other polygon and simply extrude it and I simply could not find the function which did that (If I remember it right I pretty much flunked that part of one assignment practically relying on tutorials).  Given the damnation I have bestowed upon AutoCAD, imagine my surprise when I discover a simplified CAD suite made by the same people (Autodesk) that not only is intuitive, but seems to be tied in with my darling emerging technology:

The most laid-back, pants-around-the-knees 3d modelling I ever did see...

Meet Autodesk 123D, a barebones 3d CAD program which is designed to give ordinary humans (you) and greenhorn ingrates of engineering (me) access the world of 3d printing by giving a super-streamlined but fully-capable interface.  It functions pretty much how you would expect - you draw a polygon, you extrude it and BAM! you have a prism in the shape of the polygon.  Now, I realise the you probably want to print something less vapid than a prism, once again, it has you covered; simply select the face you wish to extend the additional feature off of, then extrude (that means draw it out, btw).

Okay, that is as far as I got, but I genuinely believe I will grow to love this program almost as much as SketchUp (almost!); maybe after a while I may miss Solidworks features like being able to instantly calculate a part's volume and even mass once the materials are specified, and you can also run a simulation to see how it will fare under load (certain to make my PC explode!).  I am seriously considering inroads into 3d Printing for my projects and even perhaps as a source of income, everything about this technology makes me squeal in delight considering that now I don't even need a lathe to make rudimentary CO2 engines and other super-complex things.

Until next time...