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Since posting my CAD rendering gallery page, I've been e-mailed many times about performing advanced operations such as threading, sweeps, and other such things. Thus, I've taken the time to create a few guides on how to perform some of these advanced tasks, which can be found in the links below. Other tutorials might be coming soon, frankly depending on what you guys what me to write about (as always...).

Threading - add modeled threads and helicies to the holes you already have.
Importing images - Display 2d picture files on models over which you can trace.
Advanced/compound lofting - Creating advanced 3d surfaces using the Loft command.
Angled workplanes - Making 3d features using simple sketches and angled workplanes.
Cylindrical parts modeling tips - Organization notes about making revolution-based parts.

I've been doing this type of thing for an extremely long time, so you have to know I'm happy to share any techniques I may have. However, there are a large number of other modeling programs out there, and I haven't used all of them. I have expert knowledge with Inventor, Solidworks, and AutoCAD but those are the only mainstream programs that I'm confident I can assist you using. If you're using one of those and have a question, let me know.

Inventor v. Solidworks:
Out of the many CAD-related questions I receive, many of them begin with the phrase why don't you use Solidworks?. Well, the answer is I actually do use it, but only when needed. As I've likely mentioned elsewhere on the site, I personally prefer Inventor when working on my own. This means, given the choice I use Inventor, and it clearly doesn't limit the complexity of my modeling abilities. I have years of formal education as well as practical experience with both programs and simply prefer Inventor out of preference.

However, since both programs are heavily used throughout the industry (paintball or otherwise), I'm perfectly content using Solidworks should the need arise. An example situation would involve a colleague using Solidworks exclusively, so I would create a compatible SW model so he/she can use it. I'm flexible in this regard and it's helped me many times.

Both programs have their own advantages and disadvantages. I find Inventor to have a much easier interface, whereas Solidworks has a plethora of added support commands such as 2d sketch features, text annotation, and other assorted things. In nearly every case I can imagine, though, the added commands in SW end up being items that yield multiple ways of completing the same task, instead of being an item that Inventor lacks. For instance, there's many additional 2d sketch commands in SW that aren't available in Inv, but if you know what you're doing you won't need them. An example would be making a circular array of 6 holes in a 2d sketch then extrude them all at once, or you could extrude one hole and make a circular array of the extrusion...and end up with the same outcome. It's six of one half dozen of another (joke...but really).
Solidworks: Inventor:
That's a simplified example but you get the idea.

As far as I can tell, both programs are pretty heavily used in industries. Most paintball companies seem to use Solidworks [out of those two] but in other manufacturing areas I see a lot of Inventor as well. It's difficult to gauge for certain which program is used "more", especially since both companies claim to be the #1 according to their own studies (although it's notable that Autodesk stock is much, MUCH more valuable than stock for Dassault). In my opinion the main advantage SW has is its support for COSMOS programs or CAM software, but Inventor can replicate a lot of the same methods by converting the part files to a generic format and transferring them into SW. Nevertheless, they are both clearly leading professional programs and can be used to create anything an experienced operator desires. That's my opinion and I'm stickin to it.

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