Modeling Apps

[HMA_Steve]

Can any one recommend some good 3D modeling apps other than 3DS Max for doing more product / industrial design based stuff? Ive had a quick look at Rhino and Autodesk's Studio Tools, anybody used these?
Also whats Maya like as a modeler?
Any comments welcome.

[mcvltd]

I'd suggest Rhino if you need to send stuff off for manufacture...

..or..

....Modo if all you need is pretty pictures.


Rob.

[Adam H. Stewart]

Maya ain't all that for modelling

I'm a max user for years and years, I am currently learning Modo for those odd modelling jobs max complains about - I am not sure how Modo stacks up with Rhino. Modo is purely polygon ( I think Rhino is Nurbs ) based not sure if it has the guts for industrial design ( floating cloud point ect. ) but it is a pretty sweet piece of software.
I'm not a fan of modelling in Maya - I hope this helps in some way.

[meanadam]

ProE, Solidworks, and Rhino are all nurbs modelers for CNC / STL output.

ProE is what most of the pros use now, Solidworks sometimes - but less features.

[dapeter]

I'll second the vote for Modo... it's a great piece of software.

[Paul Oblomov]

Nere tried Modo, but Rhino - love it But you should remember that poly modeling is totaly different to nurbs one.

[mcvltd]

But you should remember that poly modeling is totaly different to nurbs one.

Sooooo true! one's from venus, the others from mars!

With nurbs you've got to know what you want before hand, because any mods could mean a total re-build.... unless you use Pro-E's parametric surfacing.... but I guess even that has limits.

[Paul Oblomov]

Well, in many cases there's a thing called "history", so anything you do, can be rebuild. Rhino4 has that one.... StudioTools too (strange.... *smiling*)

[flipside]

If you want to do product design, you should get a nurbs modeler.

Don't know about your budget, but rhino is pretty impressive for its price. If you have more money and want to go all the way in product design, go for solidworks. You really don't want to model all the ribbons and holes of the inside of a plastic part with rhino, unless you can be sure nothing will change anymore to the design. Solidworks is fully parametric and the latest developments look very very powerfull regarding changes in the history tree.