Buying catia or other cad

[slimjim8201]

? Samples?

[PlatinumZealot]

Sorry.. I meant examples of work done in these programs..

Right now i got an incomplete M3 Csl in Maya.. but there were some inconveniences along the way, so i just want to see how other people model..

[Jersey Tom]

If you want to screw around doing purely artwork, you can use Maya. If you want to do legitimate mechanical design, use a legitimate CAD program.

I've used Solidworks, Inventor, and Pro/E Wildfire, and Catia V5.

Solidworks or Inventor are by far the way to go. They are VERY similar in capability and price. Very powerful, super easy to use. Much easier I think to get started in than Pro/E or Catia. Catia has historically had better complex surfacing tools, but Solidworks has been closing the gap rapidly.

An example of Solidworks?

http://www.dexigner.com/detail/files/12646.jpg

If you're a student you'll be able to pick up a student license of SW on the cheap. Otherwise, commercial license is a few grand. Cheap compared to $30-45,000 for Catia.

[rjsa]

Rhino 4 + T-Splines

You can't do this in SolidWorks*, and Catia or so will cost 40G. You can buy this edu combo for somethinbg around $300 and they carry no restrictions, you can use and upgrade after you graduate.

*EDIT: In a life time

[Jersey Tom]

Yea but if you actually want to MAKE anything.. design a mechanism, make nice dimensioned drawings.. not gonna be doin that in Rhino

[rjsa]

In a major car manufacturer there are too kinds of tools, to mention:

The first a design tool. Alias Studio is the standard.

The Second, a CAE (computer Aided Engineering) tool. CATIA, PRO-E and so. Solid Works is the entry level tool.

Rhino costs 1/10th of the Alias Studio license, costs zero on maintenace. And it delivers way more than 1/10th.

In fact Rhino and Solid Works bundle nicely, with each one reading the other's files out of the box. Concept and surface in Rhino, engineer in Solid Works. Both are diametrically opposed in concept and work flow. It just works.

And people do develop stunning stuff with Rhino:

http://gallery.rhino3d.com/Default.asp?i=26083

Second jet in a year makes its first flight - both designed with Rhino

After the Epic Victory on July 6th, the second prototype of the Diamond D-JET made its first flight on September 14th.

Both airplanes fuselages and engine inlets have been lofted with Rhino.

http://www.lucvanbavel.com/

[rjsa]

oh, and by the way, I design a lot of PU injection moulds for Toyota, Fiat and other brands in Rhino out of CATIA STEP files. Next day machining on Aluminium or Steel.

[PlatinumZealot]

Thanks.. I use AutoCad and Solid works for my school projects.. small machines with real dimensions and stuff..I should look into Rhino now that you mentioned it..

The only reason i used maya was because of the speed and the rendering.. and i had no dimensions of the car just some photos and it's also for you know for my artistic side.. it's has advantages and disadvantages..





Maya does not produce real curve surfaces in some of its modeling. since you are usually modeling organic features such as people and plants, effects etc For a movie or a video game.. so real smooth surfaces can be undesirable while modeling.. when you need to tuck and push vertices..

So you are right about Studio tools being better than Maya for product design purposes.

that's pretty interesting.. I never thought of rhino and solid works like that..

[rjsa]

You are using subdivision surfaces there. It's great for animation, useless for fabrication. Maya is able to convert it into bezier patches, but the surfaces look like Gauidi's work: a mosaic.

The T-Splines plugin that I mentioned adds subdivision alike workflow to Rhino, but you have real NURBS under the roof. It's a technology that blends Catmul Clark interpolation (subdivision) and NURBS.

And Rhino also has this news group http://news2.mcneel.com/scripts/dnewswe ... roup=rhino that is the best tech support availiable in the CAD business, 24X7, 365 days a year, for free.

[rjsa]

BTW, cool model.

[PlatinumZealot]

thanks.. So Rhino it is.

[Conceptual]

I have found that solid modeling in CATIA V5 is rather simple, and there isnt much that I cannot do with it at this point.

However, I am finding that generative shape design/freestyle tutorial videos are lacking, as well as available free written tutorials. I pound through it a few nights a week just to try and figure it out, but with all of the different workbench tools, and the fact that you sometimes need tools from other workbenches mid-modeling, kills me. Until I memorize every toolbar and their function and placement, it is going to be very slow. But if I cam figure it out as I did the solid modeling, it will be well worth it!

[riff_raff]

CATIA V5 is expensive and very difficult to learn. But it is, BY FAR, the best CAD software there is. AutoCAD, ProE, and SolidWorks are cheaper for a very good reason: They are much less capable.

But if your project only requires a CAD system with limited functionality, or your CAD designers are not capable of learning a complex software application, then you should probably stick with AutoCAD or SolidWorks.

Good luck,
Terry

[Conceptual]

I just bought an intensive 33 hour/730 tutorials program on Ebay for %90 shipped, and I can tell you that if you have a basic handle on the way CATIA works, this 6 DVD trainer is an AMAZING value.

I have learned more in the first 45 tutorials than I knew in completion before starting it. That is about 75 hours of trying to figure things out by using them. The system that I just bought is stunning for its pricepoint, but I will still need to find a way to get certified after I'm done...

But $90 for the tutorials is very, VERY good. It literally goes through every toolbar and option that is possible, so you DO get to know it inside out...

Um, the installed program is called MCE-Creating Parts, but I do not know the exact name of the program, since after purchasing the package, the company actually sent me burned DVD's with a letter saying that they ran out of the boxed version, and that they will send the original when they come back in stock...

It is all serial number centric as well, so don't even try to find it on the torrent sites....