Rhino to Cheetah?

Rhino to Cheetah?

Hey everyone,

Anyone doing this? If so how?

Thanks in advance.

Haven't played with Rhino in eight years, but since it's a fairly specialized modeling tool intended to fit into existing 3d workflows, chances are it has excellent file export options.

A quick search of their website reveals OBJ support and FBX support is listed as "improved" in their "what's new in v4" page:

http://www.rhino3d.com/4/newfeatures.htm

So ... FBX and OBJ should pretty much get you anywhere you want to go.

I note that Rhino has added modules for rendering (photo-real and toon) and animation.

Right on podmaster. I did a search on their site but damn if i could find that info so thanks.

I did quite a few CADs under XP. I was invited to have a look at Rhino on the Mac.
Yes, Rhino runs already as a UB, but is still under development.

With kindest regards
Frank

3dm support

Hi, I'm new to this board.
I'm more experienced in CAD modeling (NURBS) rather than animation (polygons). After some time away from modeling I recently searched the net to fulfill a requirement and discovered C3d. I'm currently evaluating it and it's great.

I worked with Rhino some time ago and it was The nurbs application in PC world IMO. Its upcoming on OSX is good news. I submitted my application for it and hope it'll be accepted.

I read a lot on this board about the way people are using SU and C3d in architectural field. IMO Rhino is the application of choice for the other side of modeling (nurbs). IIRC, the 3dm file format is public/open. Having native support for it (and for the already popular demand SU format) would make C3d a cornerstone.
- C3d standalone for general and animation modeling.
- SU+ C3d for architectural work
- Rhino (until we get a cheaper nurbs osx application) + C3d for mechanical/industrial design.

Never used Rhino, is it any good? I used PRO-E and taught Pro-desktop but not for ages.

Max_B said:

Hi, I'm new to this board.
I'm more experienced in CAD modeling (NURBS) rather than animation (polygons). After some time away from modeling I recently searched the net to fulfill a requirement and discovered C3d. I'm currently evaluating it and it's great.

I worked with Rhino some time ago and it was The nurbs application in PC world IMO. Its upcoming on OSX is good news. I submitted my application for it and hope it'll be accepted.

I read a lot on this board about the way people are using SU and C3d in architectural field. IMO Rhino is the application of choice for the other side of modeling (nurbs). IIRC, the 3dm file format is public/open. Having native support for it (and for the already popular demand SU format) would make C3d a cornerstone.
- C3d standalone for general and animation modeling.
- SU+ C3d for architectural work
- Rhino (until we get a cheaper nurbs osx application) + C3d for mechanical/industrial design.

Click to expand...

fused said:

Never used Rhino, is it any good? I used PRO-E and taught Pro-desktop but not for ages.

Click to expand...

It's more than 5y since I last used it (rhino). It was not a full mechanical software as SolidEdge/SolidWork/Pro-E, no assembly/constraint capability, but was the easiest nurbs modeling tool I ever used. Its auto snaping was wizard and it has a powerful scripting.
You can use it to design a clean boat hull, with a single 3d weighted nurbs surface, something you can't in high end mechanical package.

.obj works, sort of

I got my alpha release copy of Rhino and made some testing.
Rhino objects exported in obj files as nurbs does not import.
Exporting/converting to mesh from rhino works. You lose the nurbs model but can render.

FWIW, Solidworks is great for more 'primitive' type modelling, the sort which is great for MCAD. Although SW's can do surfaces, Solidworks is a very fiddly to use surface modeller. I recently used SW's as a surface modeller, and much of the time was spent having to read the manual, just in order to get SW's to do basic surface stuff. ViaCad/ Shark FX is much better for this. ViaCAD fwiw, is also parametric, and assemblies can be achieved via layers. Also worth mentioning, the developer is also very keen on Mac OS X, and not for just the cynical 'growing market' reasons too.

ttrw said:

ViaCad/ Shark FX is much better for this. ViaCAD fwiw, is also parametric, and assemblies can be achieved via layers. Also worth mentioning, the developer is also very keen on Mac OS X, and not for just the cynical 'growing market' reasons too.

Click to expand...

I have a running demo of Concepts Unlimited which was the previous name for Shark product line. It is a pretty good conceptual (NURBS) modeler, but the only path I found to pipeline trough C3D is STL file format which is huge.

I don't know whether SolidWorks runs on a Mac yet or how pricey it is (because it's one of those websites that forces you to contact a reseller to find any useful information, which screams "expensive" to me) but another alternative is Form*Z, which is in the $2500 range, and has full NURBS and solid modeling support. It's an incredibly strong modeler, although definitely more on the inorganic side.

Aside: at one point the best modeling / rendering workflows on the Mac was Form*Z + ElectricImage (back when EI was $5000 and Form*Z was "only" $1000). I used this pairing for about a year before I gave up and switched to 3D Studio Max (I had a project for a client and decided to do it in both Form*Z/EIAS, which I knew quite well, and Max, which I was learning to use. I got the job done faster and with better results using Max. Game, set, match.) Form*Z went into the high-end CAD market and EI built its own insanely buggy modeler, gave up and started bundling Silo...

Funny thing is that today, Cheetah 3D + EIAS would probably be a very good workflow. (C3D -> FBX -> EIAS: excellent modeling and UV-mapping ability in C3D; insanely fast distributed rendering in EIAS.) But since EIAS costs more than Lightwave, unless you already know how to use EIAS I know which I'd pick (and C3D -> Lightwave is also a good workflow if you prefer not to struggle with Lightwave's Modeler).