3Dprinten and CNC work in general demands much knowledge of software. Last two years i spent much time in learning more about the necessary software for lasercutting, 3D printing and milling. I used one program intensely for directing the laser: Rhino

The programs i use:

Rhino 3D and Grasshopper (nurbs modeller and pluginfor parametric design)

Blender: opensource meshmodeller( and animation)

Sculptris en Zbrush: surface (topological) modellers for meshes

Vue (landscaperendering)

I use Solidworks for productmodelling and simulations.

A dinosaur is Bryce which i use since version 1. I'm kind of fond of it's material generator, but the interface is completely outdated and inefficient. I should train to use Vue, Maya and 3dsMax

I finally found good use for OpenScad models: parametric designs on the internet

These are design programs.

I also use programs for interfacing the printers and router and for slicing for 3D:

Rhinocam (router)

Skeinforge, Cura, Pronterface (3D printer interface and slicer)

123Dmake (slicer and construction of objects), 123Dcatch (3d models from photo)

Artec studio (scanner software)

For mechatronics and better understanding of the machines i also started to work with:

Arduino and processing

Python is on the wish list.