Comments on: Is all industrial design software the same?

By: hanz

hanz — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 14:17:54 +0000

i just have two graphics softwares in my computer, Autocad 2008 and 3D Max 2008 and its just about anything i need. im all set!

By: AdamS

AdamS — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 09:24:11 +0000

Too right, 3DS all the way, although not for line or spline work, generally I do all 2D in AutoCAD. I also don’t use the MentalRay render engine as there are better engines for Max

By: Jables

Jables — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:58:35 +0000

mighty vray

By: Rony John

Rony John — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 14:27:26 +0000

3D MAX is simply the best around..

By: ReadyFreddy

ReadyFreddy — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 06:11:12 +0000

Strata gives you an Adobe-like interface, plugs-in to Photoshop CS3 Extended, you can save out 3D PDFs, 3D web pages, 3D models from photos of existing models, etc.

If you want ease of use and something that works like an Adobe app check out Strata.

http://www.strata.com

By: powers

powers — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:47:30 +0000

blender.

By: adam

adam — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 13:06:34 +0000

All CAD is cheap when put next to its productivity. If a CAD package makes me twice as fast as a designer, then the package is technically “worth” the same as my salary (as an alternative to paying another designer full time to achieve the same effect). So all CAD packages are “reasonably” priced, it’s just a matter of how much more efficient you want to be.

Modo is a fast renderer, and a decent sub-d modeler. It’s handy for visualization of organic forms, not so much for more “structural” forms.

Rhino is a great, cheap, digital pencil. It’s advantages are its disadvantages too. Alias is an excellent package in terms of functionality, it’s terrible in terms of its learning curve and instability.

SolidWorks is a very nice package with limited surfacing capabilities. NX5 is similar, but much more robust for larger manufacturing/engineering tasks (built on the same kernel as SolidWorks). CATIA V5 is a fantastic surfacing/engineering package, but it’s very expensive and difficult to learn.

I’ve worked professionally with all of these platforms, and there are people who swear by each one. It’s a matter of what you need. For my money, I’d go with V5 any day. But lets not forget about good ol’ pencil, paper, and a ball of clay. There’s no faster way to explore a concept without the constraints that CAD imposes.

By: TH

TH — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 09:56:10 +0000

Would be interesting to see a table of the software packages on the market and the features that were mentioned, to be able to see which of them fit the requirements best, and what you get if you have less money to spend (I have no clue about these, but assume that the more expensive packs can do more stuff than the cheaper ones).

By: e-paz

e-paz — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:53:31 +0000

Alias ($25,000)???
I think that the price does not match the product. My humble opinion is that the rhino has the best cost-benefit relationship, and that is one of the programs easier interface

By: Long Tran

Long Tran — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:18:24 +0000

It’s all about MODO!
http://www.luxology.com