Blender

Blender is great and there's a LOT to talk about, of which I'm learning a tiny amount reasonably slowly so I'll never claim to be any kind of authority on the topic but I will at least try and take notes of the parts that I find useful as I do. As ever this is because I'll likely forget about them. That said here's a quick overview from my experience.

The main site for Blender and to download new versions you can go here: https://www.blender.org

Although as blender is open source it's a little rough around the edges in a few regards, as of writing there's no way to update the software from within the application, as the user you need to uninstall the legacy and install the latest versions yourself. There is a caveat to this, if you install the application through Steam then you can one-click update that way.

Initial Setup:
  set measurements to mm
  Change perspective
  Save Preferences
  Persist Changes

Useful Plugins:
  Asset Libraries

Importing .stl files and adding shortcuts

Quick ring SbS

• Create circle
  • Shift + A to pull up menu, select a circle
  • Before committing go to the box at the lower left and set your verteces for smoothness and the size
• Extrude the circle inwards to create a disc
  • Select the dircle and git Tab to go into edit mode
  • With all points selected hit E (for Extrude) then S (for Sizing). This will extrude the circle along a sizing plane, inwards or outwards.
  • Now move your mouse until you have the thicknes you want for the ring.
• Extrude upwards to complete a square ring shape
  • In the top left select the faces selection type.
  • Select all faces by holding Shift 9 Alt and selecting two adjacent faces in the ring.
  • Hit E (for Extrude) and X to snap extrusion to the X axis.
  • Now move your mouse until you get to the desired height
• Set the origin of the ring
• Set desired mirroring
  • go to the spanner icon
  • Add modifier 'Mirror'
• Amend shape