[cultofmetatron]

I would say avoid it. blender is an excellent MESH modeler but that puts it fundamentally at odds with being a good parametric modeler. a parametric modeler's base primitives are based in deformations on solid objects. mesh modelers are just vertices connected by line segments where 3 form a face. servicable if you're just doing simple objects for a 3d printer but disastrous if you need precision.

[amelius]

I don't understand why precision would be an issue? Is it not possible to fix the position of vertices to sub-micron precision?

I know that Blender is used more in the movie industry. But what if I wanted to make, say, an animation of some cartoon character that gets shredded in a gearbox? What program would I use?

[rounce]

A curve in a parametric CAD program will have an internal representation which is perfectly smooth. As rather than being than a set of straight lines (edges) connected by vertices it is instead a mathematical description of a curve which has infinite resolution.

For your animation example Blender would be the appropriate tool to use as you are doing stuff that requires flexibility of form rather than precision.

[amelius]

Aha, so it is a bit like bitmap versus vector graphics in 2d painting programs.

[rounce]

Yeah somewhat, there’s also the thing where mesh models can potentially have no thickness (eg. a single polygon) as well as gaps in the mesh whereas this is (usually) impossible in the case of a parametric model.