CAD softwares for modeling guns

What would be the best CAD software for accurate 3D modeling of a full gun like SIG P250 if my intent was to model everything and even the internals and then proceed to retopologize it in blender? Is this even a clever idea/good workflow? I’m asking because I suspect that in the future, video games if not today(Escape from Tarkov) will have fully fledged weapons with their internals that will be part of the game mechanic.

Oh, and how are people able to model guns like this one link, where do they acquire the blueprint? Or do they just have the gun on their disposal?

I know… so many questions. But I’m really curious to know all of these things.

Physically accurate mechanical design? I’d say Fusion 360 to start with - free for hobbyist use. Anything more advanced and you’re looking at full-blow MCAD solutions like Solidworks or Inventor.

How are things modeled in fine detail? Well, in some cases they have the actual object and use a set of calipers to measure the parts. Plus a good deal of talent for reverse engineering. In others the actual product designer provides the model.

Games having fully functional mechanical designs? Highly unlikely. There is zero benefit and only drawbacks to doing so when the end effect is the only thing required. Not to mention, games can have impossible objects (weapons in Halo, for example). To borrow a quote from another poster (and profuse apologies for not remembering who) “If you’re not cheating you’re doing it wrong.” Kind of like modeling the sun to provide “real” lighting.

You may look at DesignSpark Mechanical. It is a free mechanical engineering CAD program. The company makes money through their catalog of products that may be inserted into your design, so there are no commercial restrictions or anything. A paid addon is needed to output drawings, but that is not too bad.

Here is an example of modeling with it. It seems far more intuitive and streamlined than other CAD programs.

I don’t see the internals of a firearm ever being part of typical gameplay, but that program should allow you to do whatever you want.

While you are right on the CAD part I don’t agree with you completely on the games not having fully functional mechanical designs part. In 15 - 20 years I think will surely start to see that the games will have more and more realistic mechanical characteristics to it, because in that case everything would be more dynamic. Meaning, you could have played your game differently every time you start it due to the amount of different choices and play styles the complex game mechanics allow you to have. This would effectively give your game a huge replay value which is really important if you want to have a huge and loyal fan-base as a game developer.

Fusion 360 looks more appealing to me than the DesignSpark Mechanical.

I think you’re mistaken on the weapons with fully modeled internals not being part of typical gameplay. Have you by any chance seen Escape from Tarkov? Sure it might not have all of the possible parts a gun should have, for example the striking pin, but it still is pretty close to a fully detailed weapon.


I forgot to thank you for the time you took to reply to me. Thank you guys for the advice even though I haven’t taken them all into account.

I see, that is pretty cool use of the internals.

Fusion 360 or Inventor is top notch. I was actually testing Design Spark for a project, and it doesn’t support constrained sketches. That pretty much makes it worthless for anything serious or precise. FreeCAD is usable, but it is a complete pain to use. After checking, I realized that Fusion 360 has generous free licensing options for hobbyists as well as startups. So, I will probably check out using it since I am already familiar with it from an engineering project.

I’m glad to hear that. Best of luck to you, my dear friend.