In January I'll be working at a new firm. To my surprise they use autocad 2005 for modeling and Max and VIZ for rendering. Has anyone modeled in autocad? The reason why I never learn 3d in autocad in the first place is because it seems to use restricted shapes what gives you less freedom and smoothness. Is there a way I can learn this within a month as an experienced max modeler? And how do you model complex shapes in autocad without modifiers like max?
first off, your assumption that autocad works best with simple shapes is correct. it does take a good bit of practice and experience to model complex shapes in cad, but getting there is worth it cause it will help you out in viz. if you already use max i would stick with that. just use your elevations and plans to build the model in max. the 3d guy at my firm does this and it works great. i am a student of viz so i prefer to go that way. as long as the model looks good you should be fine however the final product comes out.
you can import and export between ACAD and Max6. so if you do all 3d modeling in CAD you can take it into Max6 or if you model in Max6 just drop it into CAD and clean it up.
There is one very important reason why you should model in max and not autocad is because it comes into play when trying to produce animations:
In AutoCAD modeling is straight forward enough, we all draw lines and shapes, use extrusions and boolean opperations. Its the latter wich causes the problems. AutoCAD is not very good at keeping the tesselation on a mesh tight after a boolean command. The result is flicking faces during an animation as the renderer tries to interperate what it is that auto cad has done.
Also, during the import of a 3d model from AutoCAD it is dificult to control smoothing groups ( essential for reducing the amount of polys in a scene ) and also weld points on vertices. The dialogue box prompts you to give it parameters to put limits on the way it converts from a solid model to a mesh. I have found that when modeling in max you have control of such items as you build, plus with the modifiers you can tweek and pull vertices, edges etc until you are happy.
The result, a nice clean flicker free model which will be lighter than any AutoCAD model.
Dec 7, 04 7:22 pm ·
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3d in autocad...need help
In January I'll be working at a new firm. To my surprise they use autocad 2005 for modeling and Max and VIZ for rendering. Has anyone modeled in autocad? The reason why I never learn 3d in autocad in the first place is because it seems to use restricted shapes what gives you less freedom and smoothness. Is there a way I can learn this within a month as an experienced max modeler? And how do you model complex shapes in autocad without modifiers like max?
first off, your assumption that autocad works best with simple shapes is correct. it does take a good bit of practice and experience to model complex shapes in cad, but getting there is worth it cause it will help you out in viz. if you already use max i would stick with that. just use your elevations and plans to build the model in max. the 3d guy at my firm does this and it works great. i am a student of viz so i prefer to go that way. as long as the model looks good you should be fine however the final product comes out.
also-
you can import and export between ACAD and Max6. so if you do all 3d modeling in CAD you can take it into Max6 or if you model in Max6 just drop it into CAD and clean it up.
worm
Is it ADT AutoCrap or standard Autocrap.
There is one very important reason why you should model in max and not autocad is because it comes into play when trying to produce animations:
In AutoCAD modeling is straight forward enough, we all draw lines and shapes, use extrusions and boolean opperations. Its the latter wich causes the problems. AutoCAD is not very good at keeping the tesselation on a mesh tight after a boolean command. The result is flicking faces during an animation as the renderer tries to interperate what it is that auto cad has done.
Also, during the import of a 3d model from AutoCAD it is dificult to control smoothing groups ( essential for reducing the amount of polys in a scene ) and also weld points on vertices. The dialogue box prompts you to give it parameters to put limits on the way it converts from a solid model to a mesh. I have found that when modeling in max you have control of such items as you build, plus with the modifiers you can tweek and pull vertices, edges etc until you are happy.
The result, a nice clean flicker free model which will be lighter than any AutoCAD model.
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