That CATIA looks very powerful, but i can't say I want to design cars and I imagine that is the most competitive design field out there. I have never seen CATIA used in furniture design.
I am a Product Designer / Engineer and have been using Solidworks for the past 9 (god is it that long) years. If you don't want to do detailed engineering and are more interested in creating beatifully shaped surfaces then don't bother looking at Solidworks / Pro-E / Inventor. They are great packages but restrict your creativity a little when it comes to organic shapes.
I have been toying with the idea of buying a seat of "Autodesk Alias Design" it looks really powerful. Especially like the idea of using it with a wacom tablet to colour in my 3d models. It appears to be a bit like a cross between 3ds max and illustrator/photoshop.
I also use hypershot to render up my designs. Can make a model look sexy very quickly and really impresses my clients. Has helped me win a few jobs just because I can turn them round so quick.
The image below was modelled in Solidworks and rendered in hypershot. Modelling work 1-2hours, hypershot materials work 30mins plus 30mins to do a 3megapixel render.
[url= http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4066/4272683254_2c05804c8c_o.jp g" target="_blank">
If it is just prospecting for jobs and you want to do engineering related stuff then learn solidworks.
If you want to pick up more furniture work off your own back then get skilled up in something that will help you attract new clients.
If you want to do film work then maya is a must.
chrisad3d that luxrender looks cool I'll have a look at that tomorrow at work.
So, could I pay you to 3D model my house then I could change the colours of the walls and floor coverings, and see what they look like?
This is walk in the park really,ive been a dedicated environment artist for 6 out of the 10 years ive been working professionally - i create/re-created exact 3dmodels from concept sketchs or real life everyday.
In fact a few years ago i did this exact thing for my parents as a favour, i added a proposed extension,altered the interior and even visualised a more mature garden so they could have a better idea what the house would look like when the plants grew in 🙂
Tails, i may get slated for this but I have a copy of cinema 4d r11 I can burn onto a disc for you if interested?
I'm also trying to learn for the same reason as you.
ohhhh! That'll be great chameleon, my email is Ands43 @ hotmail.com
Hey tails, I work as a character modeller in the games industry and teach modelling in Maya part-time at the local Uni. I'm going to stick my neck out and say that without the [url= http://draster.com/nex-1.5/ ]NEX plugin by digital raster[/url] (or lots of custom written scripts), maya is exceptionally weak as a modelling package. I'd really only consider Maya if you are a competent scripter or work with programmers, or like doing repetitive simple tasks over and over :P. 3DS Max is better straight out of the box for modelling and has the added strength of the modifier stack which can be useful for layering modelling operations non-destructively. It has recently just integrated the polyboost modelling tools which are fantastic. Both programs are bloated though and need some serious changes, and if you learn one of them, you will be able to pick the other one up in a matter of days if another job requires that specific package. Most of the packages share the same fundamentals.
I'd personally have a look at [url= http://www.luxology.com/modo/tour/ ]Modo[/url]. Relatively new program that benefits from not having old legacy code. Extremely nice for hard surface modelling and is cheaper than Max and Maya. Using that in combination with Zbrush for organics and you won't go far wrong. I use Maya daily at the studio I work at and do my own work on Max at home. Have done for many years. Many maya users migrate to Modo or [url= http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=13571168 ]XSi[/url] in my experience. Hope this helps.
So, could I pay you to 3D model my house then I could change the colours of the walls and floor coverings, and see what they look like?
There are actually quite a few home design programs (IMSI Floorplan 3D, Punch, several others that I can't remember right now) that you can use for this, that will be cheaper and perhaps easier to use than a full CAD modeller.
I've worked in retail interiors and exhibition design for a long time and have never heard of anyone using maya. Industry programs are along the lines of 3d studio, Cinema 4d, form z, Vectorworks. No furniture design company is going to want to pay you much for renderings as there is not much money in it. Anything architectural tends to be 3d studio as it fits better with auto cad that most architects use. Lots of interior practices use vectorworks and render stuff in something like cinema 4d. Programs like solid works are for product designers and are more than is required for your area. No interior/ exhibition/ furniture consultancy is going to pay for a solid works or catia seat.
No interior/ exhibition/ furniture consultancy is going to pay for a solid works or catia seat.
well thats bull right there as I know people working in furniture using solidworks, whether the software is legal is another question, as my ex employer had fake autoCAD which I understand for single/home users but employers should be buying seats. Thanks for the info in regards to the other programs, I certainly need to do more research.
I just saw above after I posted that someone else was using solidworks in furniture design, although more for manufacture than visuals. Your not going to go far wrong learning studio max as a starting point as has been mentioned by quite a few people. If you want to freelance you are always going to need to know several packages. You really need to decide what area you want to work in and also if you want to be a jockey or just use modeling as a design tool in conjuntion with other skills. In the long term I'm sure more consultancies will be outsourcing visualising overseas and it will be designers with a wide range of skills including 3d modeling that will get work.
Lots of interior practices use vectorworks and render stuff in something like cinema 4d.
ajc - I shouldn't care, since I don't really work in this sector any more, but in your opinion why would vectorworks users not use renderworks for renders rather than exporting to a separate package like cinema4d?
Porterclough - Even the recent versions of renderworks have been horribly slow, clunky and produce poor results compared to packages like c4d or studio max. It is very common to use a different render package to modeling even when the modeler may have an integrated render engine. A product designer friend uses solidwork and then exports to c4d to render for the same reason. Often for simple images its not worth exporting but for a large retail or aircraft interior for example a dedicated render package will do a better job.
First can I say thanks for the great response. i'm going to do a few of these trials and see how i get along possibly doing a few online tutorials that I'm sure are available.
You really need to decide what area you want to work in and also if you want to be a jockey or just use modeling as a design tool in conjuntion with other skills.
It is an awkward question as I really enjoy furniture/product design and much prefer smaller scale, but if the cash is in being a jockey then I'm happy to keep designing furniture as a hobby, whilst working with whatever pays.
