CAD work.....few bits

[Paul H]

Jun 21, 2008 11:15:54 GMT SeventyNine said:

I recomend Catia all the time every time, if your going to learn one you may aswell learn the best.

3DS max if you want less technical stuff

Best at what? Different programs are best for different things.... Then there's the issue of file compatibility with a company's exisiting CAD files.

Also, 3DS Max is primarily a character modelling, and rendering / animation package. It is excellent at rendering, but useless for modelling complex surfacing, as it uses polygons rather then nurbs. Whilst it can be used to model complex stuff, the same thing can be done in Rhino in a fraction of the time.

[carnut1100]

I work in the drawing office that does all the drawings for these little beauties


That one is a 112 metre ferry which is now operating in Japan for Higashi Nihon and it is called Natchan Rera.
I came here to work when that one was nearly finished but now the next one is over 50 metres long and built up to the second vehicle deck. It should be ready to launch at the end of the year.

We use AutoCAD 2009 which is a LOT better than the 2007 version I learned on , and the 2008 version we had when I came here.
We used to use CADkey but that sucks!
I have to know how to use it, because all of our old drawings are in that format.

Here are a fwe of the 3D AutoCAD projects I did at technical college.





And here are a couple of things I did as projects in 3D Parametric, using Autodesk Inventor which is a great program.
The funny looking item is a sear for a crossbow mechanism which I made some years ago, and the engine was my major project.
I have an animated video of it, and a video of it exploding into all its parts, but I can't get them to upload on here




most of what I do at work is revisions of 2D stuff, but occaisionally some 3D stuff comes along.
they use Rhino for most of the modelling work.
They also have Femap for structural analysis.

[ghettoeddie]

Some of my recent work below, as with some others i can't show anything from work however, which is a pity!

Excuse my renderings, my computer is slow so if it looks vaguely OK i just save it!

Jag S-type rear caliper

Jag XJ8 front upright and hub


Same as above but with brake caliper and rotor crudely spliced on.... bad render!


And my baby... Shelby Daytona replica bodywork! Look out for a thread on this soon!

[HoTWire]

I have nothing to show, but I work for Buro Happold, our engineers have some of the coolest software toys to play with

The Autocad geeks might be interested to know we're doing some stuff with Revit now days, which is pretty cool.

[devilishdesigner]

soem nice work! anyone use Solidworks here? thats the only thing they train us in in my course. how does it compare to the others?

[DutyFreeSaviour]

As a systems geek I've never got into individual software but was intrigued by celicav8's renderings and designs for parts he needed - would rhino be sufficient for that, or catia the best bet?
I'm looking at a MAJOR job on the GT6 rebuild so would like to play with ideas in the virtual world and then have 'em made up.

Opinions welcome, I don't mind taking the time to learn - but need to know where to start.

Thanks

John

[samwell]

in terms of aboslute beginner, i started with google sketchup. It's free and limited but it gets you in the basic mindset for extruding and cutting to creat tings. half of the challenge with CAD imo is deciding how you will "construct" your objects/parts as there is usually more than one way. Practicing with a simple program helps you think about things in a different way.

i picked up solidworks fairly quickly having used sketchup.

sam

[Stu_B]

Just been playing on that sketchup, it's good. Very basic but straightforward.

[perry]

brilliant stuff fellas

ive been having a bash with rhino3d trial for about a month now and ill download sketchup and see what thats like

ill one day have enough money to do an engineering degree but untill then ill play around with cad

[ezpez]

hi, ve been playing with google sketchup for a few weeks but want somthing more organic to work with for architecture and car modeling*eventaully, I'm not terribly good yet* any ore recomend anything?

[DutyFreeSaviour]

sketchup downloading now - thanks

[ezpez]

hey i know this threads been dead a few weeks but iva been plying with cars in the pittiful sketchup *not making modifing other poples work* and produced this boso masterpiece



ive not changed much thinking bout it lol, exhaust, wheels, oil cooler *with obligatory 1 piece looped hose*, 10 degrees of camber on the back 5 on the front.





those wheels are a pain in the ar$e to build in sketchup you wouldent belive, took me about 3 hours of work to do the whole thing and 50% was on the wheels. oh and apologies for the miss matched bumper :S dunno what went on there

[JasonB]

Apart from sketchup are there any download sites you can get cheap / free CAD packages?

Used to use Autocad / IBM CADAM many years ago and would love to have a little package to fall back on when I need to sketch up a few things.

Also the house design shots looked great, is there something you can buy / download that does that??

I'm not the greatest on the whole interweb thing so maybe getting CD-ROMs would be better??

JB

[Paul H]

Jun 25, 2008 14:29:03 GMT ghettoeddie said:

And my baby... Shelby Daytona replica bodywork! Look out for a thread on this soon!

That's very cool! What program are you using? It's been a very long time since I last did car bodywork

[ghettoeddie]

Cheers Paul

That was done in Solidworks. Needed some dedication however! Rendered in Photoworks, you can make the renders look MUCH nicer than that.... but it takes time and you need a decent computer!

If you need any more info just ask...

Edd

[Nathan]

I really need to upload my final bit of work i did for uni.

We were told to create a game intro video, so it was a mass of drifting cars etc LOL all done in 3D Studio Max, love that prog.

[Paul H]

Edd - that's a mighty fine effort! I can do most engineering type stuff with Solidworks, but haven't got as far as such complex surfacing yet.

[devilishdesigner]

yeah, I havent gotten into complex surfacing yet either, will have to give it a shot sometime. were all those renderings just in photoworks?

[Vinyl Instinct]

Jun 20, 2008 15:55:00 GMT skinley said:

Can anyone recommend a good CAD programme for an absolute beginner?

Hi mate, I'm a steel fabricator/erector and use a really simple CAD programme for drawing up steel end plates/brackets/fittings etc, it's called AutoCAD R14, I got it from a draughtsman at our office, it's a no frills basic programme that is simple to get to grips with and get you started. Oh and due to it's age it's probably very cheap now too. ;D ;D

[Schakal]

this one is an absolute winnarzz for me