Burna Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Does anybody use Lightwave 3D ? Not wanting to sound big headed or anything, but this image took me all of 3minutes to produce. Simple shapes with textures added and then a light source and rendering. Its a program that was used to produce the likes of Babylon 5 on TV. That's good for a few minutes work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJI Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Another minute spent on it I could add a different texture and also add a sky trace to give this.... Very quick to do in this Lightwave 3D program. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TLicense Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 This is swaying quite a bit off topic now, but I'll chip in... I wouldn't touch anything but Catia or I-DEAS/UG for anything more complicated than very simply bolean stuff. I trained on Autocad 12 and 13, and making the leap to full 3D modelling was a night and day difference. I couldn't imagine even contemplating trying to bash out some of the stuff we do in Mechanical desktop. Until 3 years ago I was very much an I-DEAS man, but I've been using Catia since and I have to say, the variety of things it can do, and the depth that it can do them to, are fantastic. Take this morning for instance, I modelled up a loadcell, performed a static F.E. and a frequency analysis on the part which calculated in closed loop what the optimum thickness of my flexure webs should be. It then automatically updated the model to suit, which I then created a generative 2D drawing from. After lunch, the load requirement went up by 2Kg's, so I re-performed the F.E. case which re-calculated the optimum flexure thickness, automatically updated the model and then automatically updated the drawing. I don't think there's any other CAD package that would enable me to do that in such a short amount of time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewen Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Haven't used Autocad for ages. Heres the last thing I did in Acad... An ergonomic study to visualise the strategy for a proposed Mammoth hunt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
extendor Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 This is swaying quite a bit off topic now, but I'll chip in... I wouldn't touch anything but Catia or I-DEAS/UG for anything more complicated than very simply bolean stuff. I trained on Autocad 12 and 13, and making the leap to full 3D modelling was a night and day difference. I couldn't imagine even contemplating trying to bash out some of the stuff we do in Mechanical desktop. Until 3 years ago I was very much an I-DEAS man, but I've been using Catia since and I have to say, the variety of things it can do, and the depth that it can do them to, are fantastic. Take this morning for instance, I modelled up a loadcell, performed a static F.E. and a frequency analysis on the part which calculated in closed loop what the optimum thickness of my flexure webs should be. It then automatically updated the model to suit, which I then created a generative 2D drawing from. After lunch, the load requirement went up by 2Kg's, so I re-performed the F.E. case which re-calculated the optimum flexure thickness, automatically updated the model and then automatically updated the drawing. I don't think there's any other CAD package that would enable me to do that in such a short amount of time. Similar history here. I did Mech Desk since it was a combine of Autovision/Autosurf etc at R13 right up to last year for archive stuff. We still keep a laptop with it on. Autodesk pre Inventor is simple Boolean and very 'clunky' to use if you want anything other than 2.5D stuff. I have 2 x SW and 1 x Inventor, all at current release with full vendor backup/helpline and ongoing updates. The cost to a small company like mine (3 staff) is huge at this mid level If we were to go to Catia/ProE it would double our costs (at least) but the gain in productivity is not 2X so the customer carries the cost. As for needing to do FEA/Mold Flow etc those costs can be subbed out at a fraction of the cost and charged direct to the client. The key is to multi project work so you can fill the delays. Basic FEA/Mold Flow are included in the SW software and are good enough for initial design evaluation. As for automatic updates and optimisation they are also in SW and Inventor. Same as automatic drawing creation and a really capable render engine. I would love to move up a notch with CAD but it would just be a luxury. Back to your point - some mid range packages are very good value for money and come hard on the heels of the top packages. Users just need to be flexible to get the best from them. As for Catia/Ideas being the only good CAD, I think its horses for courses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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