Jan '06 - Mar '06
Informal software poll - to help me figure out what I need to learn next and whether I have grounds for bugging my school to teach us more. I'll post results. You can use results to lobby your school for more courses or freebies too.
(If you're out of school and practicing, please feel free to participate, but let me know you're not a student.)
1. What software do you use in your design projects? (in order of importance, most to last)
2. What software do you love? Hate?
3. What software does your school teach you? (i.e., that you don't have to learn outside of class and classwork)
4. If you've had to learn a software package on your own, how did you do it? (experimentation, bought book, took outside class, etc)
5. What software does your school make available to you for free?
Can you put it on your own computer or do you have to use the computer lab?
6. Have you ever been precluded from learning a software package that you needed because you couldn't afford it? How did this affect your work or success?
7. Any other thoughts on design software?
4 Comments
1. Illustrator, Photoshop, Vectorworks.
2. I love the program mentioned above. Autocad is great too. I use Vectorworks because I am on a Mac. I don't think I hate any program really, but I have not tried all of them. However, I was not too thrilled with ArchiCad.
3. Vectorworks, Illustrator, Photoshop, AutoCad, 3DSM, Form Z
4.Autocad was learned during undergrad in a class.
Photoshop and Illustrator were learned by figuring it out on my own through the use of online forums, and tutorials whenever I have a question. I would not say I know how to do everything on these two programs, but I am able to create what I need to for presentation boards, etc...
Vectorworks was learned by reading forums and by also sitting down and using the program itself. With former knowledge of AutoCad, I was able to pick up on it quickly.
5. Nothing is free, but sometimes we get educational discounts
6. N/A
7. Design software is a great tool-there is no dubt about that. My personal opinion about its role is that designers should never use it as there method for coming up with a design. I am convinced that tangible model making is important to the design process. Yes-use 3d software to present your design in beautiful ways, but also take the time to understand it from the tangible sense, before the virtual. I don't think space can always be understood from the computer screen, but if the designer is able to build a model with his or her hands, this will make the design more successful.
1. Rhino, Photoshop, Illustrator, AutoCAD, 3D Max, don't know if that is the right order but you get the idea.
2. I love Photoshop. I have a love hate relationship with Rhino. Somethings are so easy and straight forward, then sometimes it won't do something and won't tell you why.
3. They don't teach us much. Mostly it's trial by fire. We did have some intro to Rhino and some studios learned advanced rendering techniques in Max for Visual Studies. But they mostly expect us to learn ourselves and teach each other.
4. Practice. I learned Photoshop by messing up pictures of people, not always in the most freindly fashion. Rhino I knew because I had this crappy 3D program back in the day. Plus I knew a little CAD. Almost entirely self taught. You learn one and the next one makes sense. Also, I understood a lot of the terminology just from being a computer/video game nerd.
5. The server has a buttload of software, but you have to be connected via hardwire to use it on your own PC. We can use Adobe CS2, AutoCAD, Max, Viz, Maya, Macromedia stuff, ESRI stuff, various types of simulation software, you name it. A few programs are limited to lab only use. There are limited lisences for a few programs, which can be annoying (Max), but they have an unlimited one for Viz, which most of the time is fine, if you are just rendering.
7. I agree with the above comment about digital tools. So many of our studios focus on digital design and it's really sad. Nothing can be built. Critics get made when you Photoshop in people. They don't want to see materials etc. They are infatuated with wireframes and transparent planes of nothingness. Then they go crazy about 'digital fabrication.' But no in the sense that it allows quick production, but rather that we can make these plexi objects from the contoured 3D model.
6. No I can pretty much use anything I want.
1. maya, illustrator, photoshop, rhino, sketchup, viz, formz, mathematica, visio,
2. love maya. hate maya. love photoshop, love indesign, love illustrator. hate viz. hate rigging. love mathematica. love rhino. love sketchup, hate sketchup for letting people get away with too much. love flash/dreamweaver 8, love MaxMSP, love jitter, etc... hate gimp. hate gimp. hate gimp. love firefox. hate ESRI for terribly outdated UI,
NO PROGRAM will ever surpass Bentley in the race for the coveted "most hated" title. this really needs no explanation, but feel free to contact me for a more in depth look at why bentley sucks.
3. i teach undergrads all the software they want to know in a course called ends 170 http://dave.showviz.net/172, but the average faculty member doesn't know jack about any software package, even in my MS Viz program where all we do is maya.
4. i have bought more 1000 page books on software packages than you could shake a stick at, and i read a lot of them cover to cover. my favorite way to learn now is camtasia driven tutorials, namely, lynda.com, gnomon.com, and digitaltutors.com
5. all the software is free to use at our labs, like viz, cad, cs2, maya for the special viz people, but other than that, we have to rely on trial versions for our own use, and spend a buck or two here and there.
6. yes, the training alone (videos like totaltraining.com) cost more than any student can afford, but often the library on campus will purchase such materials which really helps out... (namely our library just spent 7k on the gnomon maya training set... which is priceless)
7. video tutorials and dual monitor setups is the only way to fly. i have tried every method imaginable to teach software in my class and to my fellow classmates, and to myself, and video training is hands down the best way. gnomon, lynda.com. totaltraining.com, digitaltutors.com, evermotion, cgarchitect, the list goes on
1. Photoshop, 3D Max.
2. I love both applications that I have mentioned above. I hate Illustrator, because it don't have functions that I need.
3. Photoshop and Autocad of course. But they learn only main functions of Photoshop.
4. I had to learn 3D Max by myself. The process of learning was long and hard. I was reading some books (I have read about 7 books about 3D MAX), of course I was experimenting, and the biggest part of my time I was searching for the information in the internet forums.
5. Autocad, all applications of Macromedia. But you can use them only in the class.
6. No I didn't had such a situation in my life.
7. I think that designers must learn more at school and at university. It is not enough lessons about that nowadays and the main part of design information must be learned by yourself at home. Few free boks from the university would also help.
Thanks for the poll. I hope I will help you a little bit.
Sincerely,
Tim Nollton from jpg converter
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