Recomended 3d Modeling Program

[Yodajammies]

So I've enlisted the help of a good Mech-E friend of mine in building my own CNC table and I've always wanted to learn more about modeling and its use in working up rapid prototypes.

Now I've poked around with SketchUp and obviously its fairly worthless for this, and blender isn't much better.

SO what are all the cool kids modeling with these days? Maya? XSI? 3dS? Ben, what are you using?

Also, does anyone know if the Maya PLE allows for the saving and export of .objs and/or other standard 3d formats?


Thanks in advance.

 

[unholykey]

Yoda, i am a pretty good CADD and 3d designer who works with CNC my teacher has one at our shop, the best programs to use are mastercam x3 software if you can afford it for the CNC machine, and solidworks for the 3d modeling. yes eveyone solidworks, because you can upload solidworks models directly into X3 and run it through the tool path or guidance program. plus as stated earlier on a post by adam i believe solidworks has a program that allows you to create 3d files for games and upload them into the game. plus solid works is relatively inexpensive. $80 to $200 depending on the version you buy. just go to WWW.Solidworks.COM. mastercam X3 is very expensive software and so is a CNC machine you can maybe find a shop that will allow you to use their CNC machine for free or for a price maybe but the X3 software is gonna be hard to come by since it just came out like 3 months ago, not many people are gonna have it. best of luck to you.

 

[rundown]

erg sorry to say this but blender is actually better then i first tought.
I'm using it since meh key of studio max was out of date
but its actually good

 

[Toby]

Blender is very good, but not for CAD. It will, however export/import a lot of standard 3d formats.

If you seriously want to do CAD, get Pro/ENGINEER, Solid Edge or SolidWorks. Student editons are quite cheap (compared to full price). Also, there's obviously AutoCAD, but I don't know any firms/unis here in Germany that use AutoCAD, for some reason (I'm no pro though, don't know the industry standards, but I have worked with SolidWorks, Solid Edge and Pro/ENGINEER).

There are so many programs, including some open source ones, but I don't think they're very good.

 

[Loess]

You want SolidWorks or ProE. I've used both, they're both really nice for solid modeling. The university that I went to for Mech E uses SolidWorks, the company that I work for uses ProE. I believe that I remember hearing about freeware programs that can generate toolpaths for you, but I wouldn't know where to look. If you can go to a couple night classes at a community college, you can probably get a student license for either program. The SolidWorks student version doesn't seem as restricted about exporting as ProE's student version, and is a little easier to learn how to use without training.

Good luck with your CNC build.

 

[Yodajammies]

Ah, yeah my mech E buddy has a, erm, "copy" of solid works that I'll probably get a hold of, but what do you guys think of 3dStudio Max? We use it at work, and it would really flesh out my skill set if I could use it in a professional setting as well as at home with my project work.

http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Mak...e-Cheaply-and-/


We're starting with this basic layout and modifying the dimensions of it a bit. We're shooting for a z-depth of at least 14" with an x,y plane around 36".

I've been sourcing parts this afternoon, and it looks like we can get this pup built for under 400$.

At this point, I"m still playing devils advocate since I have a very rudimentary knowledge of ECE skills and I've at best dabbled in 3d modeling, but if we can pull this off. Wow. I'll be pretty excited.


Now my other question was, how do you go about ripping 3d meshes out of games and such. Of course its illegal as hell, but whats the basic premise of such a task? Any special decompiling software to use? etc?

 

[Toby]

Ah, yeah my mech E buddy has a, erm, "copy" of solid works that I'll probably get a hold of, but what do you guys think of 3dStudio Max? We use it at work, and it would really flesh out my skill set if I could use it in a professional setting as well as at home with my project work.

you have to be clear about what you're talking about... 3ds Max is a 3d modelling program, they work differently than CAD programs and normally aren't interchangeable. 3ds Max is a solid modelling program, but quite expensive. if you don't know how to handle/use it, it's not better (or worse) than blender Both have steep learning curves. But being able to ask colleges might give you a head start.

Now my other question was, how do you go about ripping 3d meshes out of games and such. Of course its illegal as hell, but whats the basic premise of such a task? Any special decompiling software to use? etc?

Well, since you don't want to do it, because it's illegal, then you won't want to google around for "{insert game name} extract models" or similar phrases, because you might find some extracted models, which you don't want, and you definitely won't be interested in 3D ripper DX.

 

[FinnishSpartan]

3ds max = BEST (30 day trial)
3d Maya = Similiar to max

If you need a free software, try blender or milkway.
You mentioned that blender doesnt work, but it's actually great after you get used with the interface.

-FSS

 

[CommanderFluffy]

after reading through this convo i went on a google search and found homemade hobby builders foam cnc machiene and a table top cnc machene.. and i can build all of it in my garage!

i love how random topic reading can lead to such great rewards from google... thanks

 

[Yodajammies]

haha no prob.


Definitely check out some of the builds on Instructables.com.

They have some super detailed plans available.

 

[Matthijs]

3ds max = BEST (30 day trial)
3d Maya = Similiar to max

If you need a free software, try blender or milkway.
You mentioned that blender doesnt work, but it's actually great after you get used with the interface.

-FSS

3ds max = BEST (30 day trial) (If you buy it... :rolleyes )

Matthijs

 

[Yodajammies]

hmmm if I can learn it in 30 days, it MAY be worth the $texas as we use it here at work. If I can add 3d modeling with 3dStudio to my resume, my worth to the company will double.

Two birds with one stone and such.


Now does anyone have any experience with any CAM utilities - generating tool paths and Gcode for the router, etc? I think this is going to be the biggest unknown to overcome so far....

 

[trintlord]

Sketchup can be used for 3D printing and all now. go to CADspan.com and download the sketchup plugin that allows .stl exports. It "shrinkwraps" the model to create a solid single piece. These also unfold very well in pepakura!