I use Rhino3D 7years or so and feel proficient at it, even use it for 2D drafting. Have used AutoCAD R13 5 years , played around with ACAD 07 2D, not the 3D function. Anyone know how ACAD 3D compares to Rhino3D? Seems like its harder to do organic stuff in ACAD.
Going for a job requiring ACAD 3D, wondering how much learning curve there would be, so I might convince them I could master it quickly on my own time. thanks.
I hated AutoCAD 3D. Especially when it came to doing the 2D drawings/revisions from the 3D, an extra step because you have to update both the 3D and 2D then. They are not linked, like parametric programs, but I’ve been used to Pro-E, Solidworks and Inventor longer. But you are able to grab 2D views off the 3D so you aren’t entirely redrawing EVERYTHING again for the 2D plans, but like I said, you have to redo them both with each change, unless they’ve changed that since '09? I haven’t had to use it since then.
If you know AutoCAD shortcuts, it should be easy for you to pick up, I had a contract job I had to run with it, picked it up in a couple days to become faster at it.
thanks, wow did not know that about AutoCAD 2d to 3D, You mean you cant create the geometry in 3D then autogenerate 2D views off of the 3D. Rhino does this all day long (although somtimes you have to recreate and cleanup some lines, but it is good at it all the same). Going for a gig where they are insisting on using AutoCAD 3D for small product, dreading using it now that I hear this.
No, you can take 2D snap shots of the 3D model to create the 2D plans to put on the dimensions, but if you have to do changes/updates, you get to do everything over: update 3D, retake snap shots of the 2D, and reapply new dims. I mean you still have the 3D model no matter what, but it is time consuming to have to reapply little changes all the time -to have to retake new 2D snapshots and redo dims. What I did was copy/paste old dims that didn’t need changing since they were on a different layer and just snap the few new changed dims to the new 2D snapshot of each view. Still a hassle to keep things straight if the client changes their mind a lot, but…
I haven’t used it since '09, so you could check out a recent version to see if they’ve updated it.
Just different tools. AutoCAD freakin’ rules if you’re doing any type of dimensional drawing, but Rhino is incredible at idea generation. True, I start out by sketching concepts on paper but sometimes I question how the surfaces really interact. Thus…Rhino. It’s quick and relatively easy. Now, I actually use Rhino to develop all of my product designs and I certainly find some major, major limitations with it. For one, it’s not parametric like Solidworks. I’ve been trained in Solidworks and am amazed at what it can do, but I still go back to Rhino for quick ideation and sometimes final part design. Again, just different tools.
As for Rhino producing line drawings, it absolutely can do it. It’s just “dimension 4-view.” The results are mostly crappy and require clean-up but still, it’s do-able.
6ix, I know Rhino is not parametric, but it has something that is called incremental save. I was taught to use this when I make hard to reverse changes to a model. So before you make a hard to reverse feature save your model. Make your change, then save it as an incremental change. Rhino will append the file name with a serialized number like 001 and put it in the same folder as the original model. Now if you have to start again, you can go back to the original file, without starting all over again. I have also been successful doing full blown dimensioned drawings in Rhino, actually not bad to use, and also export them to AutoCAD as fully editable drawings. They do actually work well together. Just never committed to learning ACADs 3D since Rhino is my main.
This is brilliant… Didn’t know about the incremental save feature on Rhino, although i’ve been using it for years now!!
I use Rhino4 for pretty much everything i do, from pretty complexed surface modelling stuff along with t-splines (which is great…) through to exploring ideas and creating manufacturing drawings using the 2d drawing command, which does mean you have to clean it up a little, then i throw it into illustrator to layout, and make it look prettier…
It still continues to surprise me with features it has…
Yes it is an awesome program for the money. Yeah, there are all kinds of commands, these programs are mind boggling.
There are always people making cool plugins for it too. Yes, I like Tsplines, but haven’t committed to learning it yet. The only problem in US anyway, is most jobs want u to know Solidworks or Pro-E.