Since I've been away everyone is now making stuff with CAD.. which looks really fun, so what I'm going to ask is

A. Is there a guide on this forum to working this way
B. If not, what programs are people working with
C. Who are people going too to get the CAD images rendered with a RPM
D. Once that is done, who would I talk to about casting, if I wanted a lot made?

I was thinking of making some World War I Steampunk German Robot Stormtroopers.

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Talk to E&C, Zombo and the Otterman. Between them they hold all the answers!

There is lots of cool things out there these days, that plus the fan supplements and lists is what got me back into epic a little over a year ago now.

A. Not really.
B. see this thread.
C. Mephiston mentions the main ones - though Jonluke also, he does big CADs
D. Recommend talking to Otterman or E&C

I do some rendering with Hypershot, but it's just to see what my designs would look like in pewter. I don't try for any sort of realistic environments.

After you're happy with your 'watertight' design, export it to STL. You can then upload it to a commercial 3D printing company. PrintAPart has good resolution, speed, and pricing. Their pieces are sufficient for creating RTV silicon molds. Average price is about $10 per cubic centimeter.

If you need something that can be turned into production pewter molds, you'll need a metal master. Todd Boyce at Ninjamagic can help with that - average price is about $35 per cc.