this sound like a vector base kind of works. - if you can export the vector path info of your 2D schema in .ai / .eps / .pdf / .dxf / .stp / .igs i would go with moi 3D directly. - if you can' t export vector info, i would import my 2D schema in illustrator, do a vectorisation of them and then export them in .pdf to moi…
Thank you ! MOI (Moment Of Inspiration) is a CAD modeling application, with advanced boolean functions, very very user friendly, with a top polygon export function (n-gons, tris, quads/tris, amount of polys).MOI's father is also RHINO's one. MOI: http://moi3d.com
I would maybe not go with the large complex (expensive!) major applications. But it depends a little on what might suit your son. Is he already keen on art? Does he draw a lot? Then encouraging his artistic side with something free like Sculptris http://pixologic.com/sculptris/ and a (very cheap Bamboo) graphics tablet…
@computron, have you looked at MOI? http://moi3d.com/ It's the perfect little nurbs application, not as heavy or advanced as rhino(which I love) but it has a lot of the features you would want to quickly put together a hard surface model quickly and accurately, with beautiful edge controls etc. And it comes with some…