3-D Rendering Advice

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Hello all. I am currently a student at CSU and will be doing an independent study next semester to learn a 3-D modeling program. I don't know which one to do, but am leaning towards Rhino or 3-D Max. I am just wondering if anyone could give me some advice as to which would be most beneficial as well as user friendly since I will be teaching myself, even if it doesn't include these two! Any info would be great!! Thanks!

Kelli Schwab

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Permalink Reply by Michael Roy on November 10, 2009 at 4:12am: I like 3-D Max, I found it easy to use. I couldn't really workout much with Rhino (though I didn't give it much of a go). I find the terrain capabilities of 3-D max to be really good and it is easy to start off with an autocad model and import.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kelli on November 10, 2009 at 5:12pm: Thanks for the info!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Eric Gilbey on November 10, 2009 at 11:58am: Kelli, As a student you would qualify for a free license of Vectorworks Designer, which is a standalone 2D/3D CAD program, which would allow you to work in both the 2D and 3D space interactively. The package includes all of the modules which Vectorworks offers and the landscape specific module, Landmark provides the opportunity to model and modify your site model and use of other intelligent hybrid and parametric objects. I think for the ability to import and export various file formats, including images, PDFs, DWGs and Shapefiles, you can really make 3D use of many things provided in 2D format.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kelli on November 10, 2009 at 5:13pm: Eric, thanks for the information. I think I will look into that.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Wes Arola on November 10, 2009 at 12:58pm: If you dont know Sketchup, it is a very easy program to learn and use, and will give you a base to work from. You can take sketchup models into Rhino and 3ds to detail them even more and produce high quality renders and animations. I think it is best to learn sketchup first. It is a great design tool and you can use it for presentation graphics by using programs that work with it to render your models such as artlantis or indigo. I used sketchup and photoshop to render all of my presentation graphics for my senior project at cal poly last year. I have it posted on my website at www.wesarola.com
BEST OF LUCK
another thing is... most offices use sketchup or will look for sketchup knowledge before other more advanced programs.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Frank Varro on November 10, 2009 at 3:41pm: Yeah I generally use Sketchup for my modeling, and then pull it into 3DS Max for lighting and material work. Realistically, you could probably spend a full semester working on lighting and texture/material work alone in that program too. I don't have any experience working with Rhino, but was planning on starting to mess around with it, as I have seen it lately in a few ads for jobs.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nick Aceto on November 10, 2009 at 3:43pm: On the flip side, some firms wont consider you if you dont know rhino or max.

Ultimately, it's all about what you want to do and be involved with. You can get better graphics sometimes without getting bogged down in max or other complicated software. Can you render a good perspective by hand/ in 2D?

If you dont understand and practice the fundamentals, good software will never make any difference.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kelli on November 10, 2009 at 5:23pm: Nick, thanks for the response. I feel pretty comfortable with hand rendering, although I am always trying to improve. I just feel that an independent study is a good chance to learn some things not taught in school. I'm pretty excited about it. Since I will be teaching myself, I am leaning towards Rhino due to the low learning curve...but thanks for the info!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nick Aceto on November 11, 2009 at 7:23pm: good luck..; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kelli on November 10, 2009 at 5:18pm: Wes, thanks for the reply. I do have some experience with Sketchup, however, I could definitely get more comfortable with it. I will keep this in mind. Thanks, and I enjoyed looking at your portfolio!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Daren Crabill on November 11, 2009 at 10:00am: They all have their positive aspects. SU is simple but has clear limits with regard to graphics. Rhino is relatively easy to learn and is great for creating crazy funky shapes, which is why its popular with arch students. 3ds I believe will ultimately benefit you more in the long run because of its graphic superiority. You will likely end up bringing in Rhino or SU models into it anyway for that reason. Larger learning curve but also bigger upside. The land form tool is also better here than SU.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by RFox on November 12, 2009 at 12:17am: Are you talking about modeling or are you talking about rendering? These are two different issues. If you are talking about rendering the answer is Vray because it is a plugin for SU/Max/Maya/Rhino. It is also the most common architectural render engine.

If you are talking about modeling then you might as well start with SU because it will only take you a short amount of time to figure out most of what people do on a regular basis and will teach you how to deal and interact with virtual 3D space. Then you can move onto more advanced modeling software - Max, Maya etc.; ▶ Reply to This