What is Reddit's opinion of Rhinoceros?

From 3.5 billion Reddit comments

A few rather advanced programs can do topology optimization. Check out Altair SolidThinking Inspire, and SciArt.

Or, if you want to write your own software, you might look to the McNeel Rhino community, where some users have used the generative design capabilities of the Grasshopper extension, coupled with FEA analysis, to optimize the designs of things such as stadiums and ships. (Hint: This is probably a job best left to PhD's.)

I am a huge fan of McNeels Rhinoceros 5, and use it daily. It is very easy to learn in my opinion, can run on very low spec'd machies, and can export to a number of formats, including .STL.

The parametric history is nice, but I still find myself in Rhino to handle complex surfaces. It also plays well with Solidworks.

http://www.rhino3d.com/

We do a large number of injection molded consumer devices in my department, and the ID guys don't do anything in CAD. My process is to use Solidworks to block out the structural bits needed for drawings and tolerancing for fit, and then work in Rhino to make the geometry match the ID.

Update: Not sure why that got voted down. OP said that he was scared of Rhino making things sloppy. Solidworks' surfacing tools aren't up to task for handling some of the curves and shapes handed to us.

We use Rhinoceros for programming a laser but a lot of the people in the training class were designing jewelry with it. It has a free mode that limits your saves but it can be re-installed np

Rhino 5 is $995. The other package for 1499 includes stuff you don't need. Rhino 5 for mac is free.

Here is the download link for the demo of rhino 5. It is limited to 25 saves or exports, but other than that, it is fully functional . If you're considering spending money on an application, it's always good to make sure you like to feel a bit first.

Rhino 5 is still in beta and therefore mcneel is offering it for free. I'd give that a go and since it's also command line based you're pretty much learning autocad at the same time.

http://www.rhino3d.com/download/wenatchee/5.0/wip

Personally I really like Rhinoceros because of its complex surface tools (and its cheaper than most of the Autodesk stuff). If your a student you can get Autodesk software for free though.

contrary to Imanemu i have seen a lot of firms working with Rhino and it doesn´t look like it is going to change soon. Especially smaller studios love their rhino because it is so much cheaper (like one thenth of the price from other programs)

Anyway i prefer SW but learning Rhino is definately a good idea too and it is pretty easy to learn.

That being said, I started with the tutorials offered on the homepage as well and found it to be a great start for the program.

rhino offers a good database of stuff to learn from. http://www.rhino3d.com/training.htm

http://www.rhino3d.com/download.htm (rhino level 1 and 2 training materials)

I use Rhino constantly and I love it as a tool for architectural and product rendering. I haven't done much in the way of jewelry design, but I know it is a popular tool in the industry.

There is a listing on jewelry specific plugins for rhino here. You can find some tutorials for jewelry design in rhino here and a gallery of jewelry made in rhino here.

Get a couple books. Not that much credible material online. Principles of Yacht Design by Larsson, Eliasson and Orych is the modern standard textbook. C A Marchaj is a bit deeper, might be overkill for a highschool project.

As far as CAD goes, if you're interested in naval architecture beyond this project, do yourself a favor and switch to Rhino, the industry standard. A fast, lean, well documented and easy to learn surface modeller as opposed to the bloated and overpriced Autodesk crap.

Free to try for 90 days, and 80% reduced for students.

3ds max is probably not the right tool for the job. The CAD import module of 3ds max is positively ancient, slow and annoying. With it you end up with broken geometry that needs extensive fixing, a job that is loathed by all 3d artists and also way beyond your capabilities.

I've had the best experiences with that kind of thing using Rhino. It has the best meshing algorithm that I know, giving you the cleanest possible output.

I've had good results with Rhino for creating organic-ish designs. Also experimented with Sculptris, it's pretty neat. Kind of like digital clay sculpting. FYI Sculptris is forever free, but Rhino is only free for a 90 day trial, after which it no longer saves or exports in a way that a reinstall doesn't fix.

SketchUp Make is free and there is a student addition of the pro for $50 (free 30 day trial) - The main difference is that Pro allows for importing/exporting CAD, which is essential for any professional project. (http://www.sketchup.com/download/all)

Rhino is $195 for students and it is the same as the commercial without any watermarks or anything. (http://www.rhino3d.com/edu)

AutoCAD also has some 3D modeling programs that are free for students (http://www.autodesk.com/education/free-software/all)

I use Rhino (fun and detailed modeling), SketchUp (professionally and for quick concepts), 3DS Max (rendering w/ VRay) But I want to try out Cinema 4d but their free student seems to be a pain.

Use your undergraduate degree to your advantage. I'm currently doing a studio that's co-led by a guy with an undergrad in computer science and a March that's quite interesting. Read this book to get a basic understanding of a way that mathematics has influenced the current architectural discourse. I'm sure you know all the principles outlined within in but they're all based around an interface called Grasshopper which is an algorithmic modelling add on to Rhinoceros (a modelling program). This sort of architectural study will compliment your undergrad in mathematics amazingly well. I could recommend some more resources if you're interested

You can get access to Rhino for Mac for free at the moment. It's a neverending work in progress, but very usable. Things it's missing include a legit plotting feature (better to export to .ai) and a built-in script editor (though I wrote a small script that at least gives you basic repl access) but is otherwise quite usable. Admittedly I have AutoCAD and Rhino on Windows for whenever it falls short, but for 3d printing or other purely digital work I haven't used Windows in ages.

Rhino3D

This software is useful for not only making renderings of what the object looks like, but also for generating cut paths for CNC mills, 3D printing etc so you could make it yourself

I would suggest trying to cram as much drawing in as possible. When I went to school for Game Design, I had the 3d modeling in the bag, but I couldn't draw at all. When I was in school, my teach showed us of concept art from the movie [9](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9_(2009_film) and said "If you want to get an A in my class, you have to draw like this."

As for 3D modeling, Rhinoceros is the one I learned on in high school, but it's pretty easy to follow and fun to use. You can also check out Maya and 3D Studio Max, but Rhino would be very good for a basic understanding of a 3D environment.

I'm not sure exactly what you're asking but in Blender there is a modifier called "boolean operator" and you can subtract shapes from other shapes. It's kind of like the subtract pathfinder in Illustrator. You might try rough google searches like "subtract from shape rhino". Abstract words like that seem to help a lot when you're looking for something you're not sure how to ask. I think google searches synonyms too.

Perhaps this is what you're looking for?

http://www.rhino3d.com/4/help/commands/booleans.htm

I used Rhinoceros for the graphic. There's a proof somewhere regarding the close-packing of spheres that states that the tetrahedron configuration minimizes the space taken up, I think.

I doubt your teacher would be able to model this in SolidWorks. I have been using SolidWorks professionally for fifteen years, and I would not even attempt to model this in SolidWorks.

If you are set on modeling this, your time would be better spent downloading Rhino, learning how to use it, modeling this in Rhino, and importing that model into SolidWorks.

A much better choice would be picking something else to model.

If you like books I would go over the level 1 and leve 2 materials presented by macneel: Level 1, Level 2 materials currently you are required to pass these two in order to become a rhino licensed trainer so I would say that these materials do cover almost everything. I have done the level 1 course and I can say it is really nice.

I know this is an old thread, but here's the link to Rhino's website if you're still looking for information. Rhinoceros 3D

I first heard about Rhino at USITT SW last year when a concept artist gave a presentation on his art and workflow. He said the scenic designers in film use Rhino regularly. So if that is something you are interested in you might want to check it out.

As someone who is back in school to learn design after years working as a scenic carp I'm in a CAD class learning 3d Vectorworks right now. What was said above about 3d rendering in VW taking a ton of resources is very true. In my free time I dabble with ACAD because I can clearly see the employment benefit of knowing both systems. That said, everyone on the TD side of things at my school uses ACAD for their construction drafting. All the designers use VW.

I forget the exact prices but for an industrial use software it is a cheap option. But not cheap for an individual. I think it runs around $8000 per seat for the basic version and several hundred a year for maintenance fees. Depending on how computer savvy you are, you can always find and install cracked copies of solidworks online.

If you are a student, you can get the 1 year educational version for $100

I think, but not sure, that rhino3d is another good economical CAD software. http://www.rhino3d.com/

I use a program called Rhino to model my tracks. The interface is pretty straightforward and there are plenty of tutorials on youtube and the like.

Doing models of the track outlines isn't too bad, but the topographic ones are more involved. I started Monaco 2 times before I finally buckled myself to my chair and wouldn't leave until it was done.

Rhino is one of the major NURBS programs out there. I think their page should be able to explain it pretty clearly.

I use NURBS all the time in my ship design software, and had no idea what they were all about until I saw you asked and I figured I might as well look. So... thanks for asking!

I made a quick 3D model in Rhinoceros, and then rendered it in VRay. Also, the 3D model I have uploaded.

Do you work primarily for yourself, retail stores, or a manufacturer? Have you worked at all with computer applications like Rhino, or do you do everything manually?