3D modelling software / Computer Science / Forums

Forums

4hv.org :: Forums :: Computer Science

« Previous topic | Next topic »

3D modelling software

1 2 next

Move Thread

LAN_403

thedatastream

Sun Mar 04 2007, 10:40AM

Registered Member #505 Joined: Sun Nov 19 2006, 06:42PM
Location: Yorkshire!
Posts: 329

As part of the design of my new DRSSTC, I want to do some basic 3D design of the base and primary and generate basic technical drawings from it so that I can use these when building my coil

The main requirement of the software is ease of use.
I don't care about 3D rendering or anything fancy.
Anyone got any good recommendations?

Thanks
James

Carbon_Rod

Sun Mar 04 2007, 10:51AM

Registered Member #65 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 06:43AM
Location:
Posts: 1155

Blender (free):

Also has some basic physics, python, and game engine support. You will have to look around for dxf and obj file converters...

For its file size its impressive. ;]

...

Sun Mar 04 2007, 06:01PM

Registered Member #56 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 05:02AM
Location: Southern Califorina, USA
Posts: 2445

I am addicted to SolidWorks. It is uber expensive (but not if you use te 100% p2p discount) and incrdibly bloated (4 disks to install it, requires a mildly high end graphic card to run, etc). But it has a very resonable learning curve (I was cranking out pretty complex stuff after 20hrs of tinkering) and once you know how to use it you can create incredibly complex models very quickly.

The general interface is quite straitforward, you click 'extrude' then a plane, make a shape, then set the thickness. Then you can do another extrude, or a cut, which works the same. Things get nsaty when you try to edit round shapes, drilling a hole in a curved surface, making helixes/toroids, etc. But there are a lot of refrence designs out on the net

But the best part is converting the 3d models into drawings. You just right click on a part, and say 'create drawing' and then you can drag the different projections of the part around on a piece of paper. Then click between 2 points, and a dimension is added between them. Do a hole annotation on all of the holes (if you used the hole wizard when making the model it will properly call out all of the holes) and viola, you have ave a drawing.

For my renderings see my website About 30hrs of rendering went into that. Here That drawing took about 30 minutes.

So far my biggest beef with it is that it is only windows, no linux version

Although I hear it might run under wine... If not it is going to be slow going with vmware, or dualbooting windows...

Sam

Sun Mar 04 2007, 06:51PM

Registered Member #227 Joined: Mon Feb 20 2006, 10:47PM
Location: Cambridge Ontario, Canada!!
Posts: 127

3d max i think its called, You get get a trial.

Steve Conner

Sun Mar 04 2007, 07:42PM

Registered Member #30 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 10:52AM
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Posts: 6706

There's a "100% discount" on SolidWorks? Cool! We had a guy come round to our work and try to sell us it for $20k.

I always used AutoCad or Autosketch for stuff like that, again with a "100% discount"

I messed with Caligari TrueSpace for a while, but it's not usable as a CAD package, it's only for making nice looking pictures.

Alex

Sun Mar 04 2007, 07:57PM

Geometrically Frustrated
Registered Member #6 Joined: Thu Feb 02 2006, 04:18AM
Location: Bowdoin, Maine
Posts: 373

Blender, wings3d, povray. You might even consider using google sketchup. It looks pretty neat and it's supposed to be easy to use. All of these choices are free and legal.

[edit] Heh, check it out: A google sketchup model of a tesla coil.

thedatastream

Sun Mar 04 2007, 08:32PM

Registered Member #505 Joined: Sun Nov 19 2006, 06:42PM
Location: Yorkshire!
Posts: 329

Wow thanks for all the replies :) Ideally I'd like something like Solidworks - it's what the MechCAD guys use at work and it looks incredibly powerful. However for the amount of time I'm going to spend on it I'm not sure it's worth learning it.

I've just downloaded Sketchup and I'm going to give it a spin. If that doesn't hit the spot then I'm going to try blender or one of the others.

I should have added - "cheap is good, free is better" ;)

Thanks
James

Bjørn

Sun Mar 04 2007, 10:57PM

Registered Member #27 Joined: Fri Feb 03 2006, 02:20AM
Location: Hyperborea
Posts: 2058

Some people find this to work for them: http://www.rhino3d.com/

I have tried most of the programs mentioned here and on average they are really bad. Nothing much seems have happened in user interface development since the Atari ST and 720kB floppies.

Nucleophobe

Mon Mar 05 2007, 02:01AM

Registered Member #108 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 11:44PM
Location: Billings, MT
Posts: 61

I'm using Unigraphics NX4 at school right now. It's beautiful, but very expensive (25k+)

RickR

Fri Mar 23 2007, 03:56PM

Registered Member #93 Joined: Thu Feb 09 2006, 04:11PM
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 64

Alibre has a free 3D modeler. I've just started getting acquainted with it, but it seems to have a lot of functionality. It comes with a set of tutorials to get you started. All the reviews I've read of the free version were positive as well.

Oh, and they have a user forum as well.

Note that I'm new to 3D modeling as well, so if anyone else has used this software I'd like to know what they think.

Rick

1 2 next

Moderator(s): Chris Russell, Noelle, Alex, Tesladownunder, Dave Marshall, Dave Billington, Bjørn, Steve Conner, Wolfram, Kizmo, Mads Barnkob