In preparation of the arrival, what do we need to have set up to create code for printing?

And Who can put together a brief run through about making a object.

I would like to start working with somebody to maybe set up a 5 minute (or longer, if we want to get into further detail) video about this, for us to have as a reference and start building virtual instructors for our equipment.

Sounds like there's a path for most any CAD program to be used.

The key is the STL file- once you have that, you can run it through the appropriate massagers to produce an output that the MakerBot can print. SketchUp and Blender can both be trained to produce STL files.

Yes, it is now possible to create stl files from sketch-up, which is free and pretty easy to use.

i believe that only the pay version of sketchup can output a stl, but i'm reasonably certain blender can output stl.

note, not all stl files are created equal, there can be some oddities that won't print.

i have the capability to output stls and generally know how to make them work, although it's a chunk of CAD that's not my forte.

What are the commercial versions priced at, I know we have had talk about getting a AutoCad License for TCMaker, is that the preferred option?

What's an AutoCAD license cost?

Let's try the free software routes first and see how those treat us.

There is also OpenSCAD, which lets you write a script which describes a 3d object.
It can generate STL files.

I've got leads on donations for several professional cad solutions, but that's on hold for 501c3, which is with the lawyers at present.

Now that our MakerBot has been shipped, when we get an ETA can we schedule a day for construction?