Which MCAD tool should I use?

[blueskull]

Hi, which MCAD tool would you guys recommend to me as a beginner?
I do not care about fancy features, complicated curve generation, etc.
The only feature I need is basic shapes (cubes, cylinders, balls, tubes, etc.).
It must be a precise grid based system, and it must be able to export some common formats, such as STL or OBJ.
I used to use TinkerCAD, but I think as I work more and more on MCAD, I probably need an offline software.
I want it to be as easy to learn as possible, preferably no learning at all (like TinkerCAD).
It must be either free software or commercial software with perpetual license. I do not want subscription based solutions.
I have $2k budget.

PS. If there are any good 3D modeling videos for Altium Designer, I'll be happy to know.

[ChunkyPastaSauce]

Fusion360. 
Easy to learn. Want a box...click create->box.  Want an extruded profile click create sketch then create->extrude..etc
Has a decent set of export translators.
Can do a lot more than what you're asking, but is stuff you can either learn later if interested or ignore if not interested.
For hobby, edu, or startup use it's free (making under $100,000 usd or less).
For larger commercial use, it's 300/yr which is dirt cheap. Or month-to-month $40.

Autodesk 123D Design is even simpler, free
FreeCAD, free

[ChunkyPastaSauce]

Haven't heart of 3D Builder, i'll check it out.

123 Design doesn't require a license for non-commercial non-cloud use, just install and run

FreeCAD doesn't either, but not as straight forward either (but not hard for basic stuff). One nice thing about FreeCAD is it's opensource, so it will always be available.

[smithnerd]

I use FreeCAD for all my metal bashing and dead tree projects. It is getting very good - and is being actively developed. I find that parametric modelling fits my style of thinking very well, which makes it fun to use.

It is cross-platform (Mac/Win/Linux) and based on an open sourced commercial CAD kernel (OpenCascade). OpenCascade has native support for BREP/STEP/IGES, as well as the common mesh and 2D file formats.

The learning curve is steep, but concepts learned will be applicable to other commercial CAD systems. I followed this guys tutorials:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_9HwDkwxllq5lFGkYBIH9g/videos

And was up and running in a couple of days.

[zapta]

It is cross-platform (Mac/Win/Linux) and based on an open sourced commercial CAD kernel (OpenCascade). OpenCascade has native support for BREP/STEP/IGES, as well as the common mesh and 2D file formats.

+1 for openscad. It's parametric, similar to common programming languages so once you defined the model you can easily tweak the dimensions. It's is also supported by thingiverse which is nice.

Here is an example of a project box designed in openscad https://github.com/zapta/arm/blob/master/phone-finder/3d/phone_finder_case.stl and here is the code that generates these customizable LED standoffs http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1710714/#files

Code: [Select]

// LED PCB standoff generator.

// +0 to hide in thingiverse customizer.
eps1 = 0.01+0;
eps2 = eps1 + eps1;

// Outer diamter.
outer_diameter = 4.0;

// Total height.
height = 8.0;

// Spacing betwene the centers of the two leads.
leads_spacing = 2.54;

// The diamter of the lead holes.
leads_hole_diameter = 0.9;

// 0 for a closed hole. 1 for an open slot.
use_open_slot = 1;

// Values below 1.0 reduces the footprint of the standoff at the
// cost of reduces stability.
width_factor = 0.8;

// Number of rows to generate.
rows = 2;

// Number of columns to generate.
columns = 4;

// Spacing of printed rows and columns.
part_spacing = 5;

// Number of faces to compute per 360 degrees.
$fn=64;

// A single LED lead hole or slot. Positioned at the
// positive X direction.
module lead_hole() {
  module hole(offset) {
     translate([offset, 0, -eps1])
        cylinder(d=leads_hole_diameter, h=height+eps2);   
  }
 
  if (use_open_slot == 0) {
    hole(leads_spacing/2);
  } else {
    hull() {
      hole(leads_spacing/2);
      hole(outer_diameter);
    }
  }
}

// A round standoff, before applying width_factor.
module round_led_standoff() {
  difference() {
    cylinder(d=outer_diameter, h=height);
    lead_hole();
    mirror([1, 0, 0]) lead_hole();
  }
}

// A round standoff with width_factor applied.
module led_standoff() {
  dx = outer_diameter + eps2;
  dy = (width_factor * outer_diameter) + eps2;
  dz = height + eps2;
  intersection() {
    round_led_standoff();
    translate([-dx/2, -dy/2, -eps1])
      cube([dx, dy, dz]);
  }
}

// Generate the array
pitch = outer_diameter + part_spacing;

for (i = [1:columns]) {
  for (j = [1:rows]) {
    translate([i*pitch, j*pitch, 0]) led_standoff();
  }
}