Cubify Invent

[bdring]

If you don't have any 3D parametric software and you are on a tight budget, you might look at Cubify Invent from 3D systems. I think it is designed to work with the Cube Printer, but the output is a basic STL file.

http://cubify.com/products/cubify_invent/index.aspx

I think it is basically a scaled down version of Alibre. It is a pretty decent parametric 3D modeling program and imports STEP and Solidworks files. It is limited to parts so you cannot do assemblies. It can export directly to STL. I found that the default accuracy of the STL is way too high, yielding a way more complex file than you need. In the system settings, change the "normal deviation from 4 to about 12 or 15.

You can get a free 60 day trial and the license only costs $49.

I used it to create a mirrored version of my lever....see below.