I am a architecture student, and I haven't taken any computer-based design class at school. I am planning to learn how to use some design programs on my own this summer.
What's the most popular and essential software an architect should master?
Do you know any good Comprehensive AutoCAD guidebook?
Max requires a significant amount of work to do simple things, like say you have a huge wall with tons of windows and you want to move everything (openings, mullions, glass, etc.) down 6" - just a pain. In FormZ you can select ALL the vertices and move it all, very quickly.
FormZ is also a billion times better while moving scenes around. you can move around, zoom in and out, without ever having the scene flash and hesitate. This goes for moving objects around too. It's super simple to move something, snap it in 3D, and know it's accurate. Not with Max.
Basically, it's just so much faster to model and explore with.
But for final presentation work, Max is a billion times easier. Cameras, lights, etc., are just better and faster.
FYI, I use Max daily for presentation stuff, but could give it up if FormZ got some decent rendering plugins and upped their animation (which it looks like they are doing). Maxwell does not count as 'decent', not in the real world.
Learn one program to render in really well...I prefer my 3DSMax..
then pickup any and all *cough* (pirated) software you possibly can... and tool around...
Get to know Flash (or whatever Adobe's coming out with), everything else Adobe, (Pshop, Illustrator, Premier, etc.)
Then learn your game editing software... Quake, HL2, SecondLife...
Then learn a programming language or two...
Then get Reason or Cakewalk and start making music...
Then move onto CATIA, Ghery Technologies, Revit, Inventor, etc, get a gigantic 3d Digitizer, a giant 5-axis milling machine, Fluent, NetLogo... and inevitably take over the world...
ok, fer serious... ACAD is a good base, for 3d modelling I would recommend Rhino, (Learned on Form-Z, saw the light in Max and Rhino and never looked back), and learn Sketch-up (free) for panic 3d models 2 hours before your pin-up...
but the most important piece of harware you should concentrate on using is the pencil and paper...oh how i regret not mastering this skill earlier...
I use sketchup and illustrator, but I like the LTL look...so I create extreme perspectives, trace my geometry, scan it, and then color it in Illustrator, trace shadow lines, then add a few people in photoshop, and I am done. However, that look makes it look like it is hand drawn. If want want a very polished, photorealistic look, then use the programs listed. I am one who likes my rendering to look like a rendering and not the real thing.
as for cad. autocad is good. vectorworks is also good but not as common in offices. there are others but if you can do one of these you won't find learning new programs very difficult.
i also use form-z to model in, and render in cinema 4d.
played with maya and rhino, etc, but didn't like them for modelling somehow. form-z is very accurate, which i like. it is not very good with nurbs and blobs and such, which i don't like. but such forms are still not very much part of my daily life (though things are def changing), so not an issue...the gui for form-z is a bit obtuse as well, while the other stuff mentioned above works more intuitively, and as such may be easier to learn...
I am with jump. I hate blobs/nurbs, so those tools don't mean anything to me. Just depends on your taste and what you are trying to get done. Sketchup is probably fine for 90% of the arch firms out there, because most people just do simple boxes with pitched roofs.
which software program?
I am a architecture student, and I haven't taken any computer-based design class at school. I am planning to learn how to use some design programs on my own this summer.
What's the most popular and essential software an architect should master?
Do you know any good Comprehensive AutoCAD guidebook?
Any information is appreciated. Thanks!
Well, acad isn't going to help you design much, but it's essentail.
For design, nothing compares to FormZ, imho. 3D Studio is great for rendering and animations, but not for design.
what are the advantages of FormZ over 3ds max, im a 3ds max man myself. not that i use it much for design.
Just curious of how it's a better program for design???
MAYA
Max requires a significant amount of work to do simple things, like say you have a huge wall with tons of windows and you want to move everything (openings, mullions, glass, etc.) down 6" - just a pain. In FormZ you can select ALL the vertices and move it all, very quickly.
FormZ is also a billion times better while moving scenes around. you can move around, zoom in and out, without ever having the scene flash and hesitate. This goes for moving objects around too. It's super simple to move something, snap it in 3D, and know it's accurate. Not with Max.
Basically, it's just so much faster to model and explore with.
But for final presentation work, Max is a billion times easier. Cameras, lights, etc., are just better and faster.
FYI, I use Max daily for presentation stuff, but could give it up if FormZ got some decent rendering plugins and upped their animation (which it looks like they are doing). Maxwell does not count as 'decent', not in the real world.
are people actually endorsing Form-Z? ach...
3d Model = RHINO...blows everyone away...
Know ACAD to get yourself a job...
Learn one program to render in really well...I prefer my 3DSMax..
then pickup any and all *cough* (pirated) software you possibly can... and tool around...
Get to know Flash (or whatever Adobe's coming out with), everything else Adobe, (Pshop, Illustrator, Premier, etc.)
Then learn your game editing software... Quake, HL2, SecondLife...
Then learn a programming language or two...
Then get Reason or Cakewalk and start making music...
Then move onto CATIA, Ghery Technologies, Revit, Inventor, etc, get a gigantic 3d Digitizer, a giant 5-axis milling machine, Fluent, NetLogo... and inevitably take over the world...
ok, fer serious... ACAD is a good base, for 3d modelling I would recommend Rhino, (Learned on Form-Z, saw the light in Max and Rhino and never looked back), and learn Sketch-up (free) for panic 3d models 2 hours before your pin-up...
but the most important piece of harware you should concentrate on using is the pencil and paper...oh how i regret not mastering this skill earlier...
I use sketchup and illustrator, but I like the LTL look...so I create extreme perspectives, trace my geometry, scan it, and then color it in Illustrator, trace shadow lines, then add a few people in photoshop, and I am done. However, that look makes it look like it is hand drawn. If want want a very polished, photorealistic look, then use the programs listed. I am one who likes my rendering to look like a rendering and not the real thing.
as for cad. autocad is good. vectorworks is also good but not as common in offices. there are others but if you can do one of these you won't find learning new programs very difficult.
i also use form-z to model in, and render in cinema 4d.
played with maya and rhino, etc, but didn't like them for modelling somehow. form-z is very accurate, which i like. it is not very good with nurbs and blobs and such, which i don't like. but such forms are still not very much part of my daily life (though things are def changing), so not an issue...the gui for form-z is a bit obtuse as well, while the other stuff mentioned above works more intuitively, and as such may be easier to learn...
adobe creative suite software are all essential.
I am with jump. I hate blobs/nurbs, so those tools don't mean anything to me. Just depends on your taste and what you are trying to get done. Sketchup is probably fine for 90% of the arch firms out there, because most people just do simple boxes with pitched roofs.
pro tools is much better than cakewalk for music
but i like Audition.
no reason?
y not acid?
are you fruity loops?
Depends on what you are doing.
Might as well learn Autocad because it is easy and common.
Rhino because it is the best importer/exporter/translator
Maya/3ds for animations and fun
Digital Projects because parametrics are only going to get more popular
Ecotect because it is awesome.
Been a while since this first started
#1 Revit - rapidly becoming a standard
#2 3D Studio - so you can render your Revit models
#3 - Acad - just the basics
Maybe a 3D program that is easier to design in, such as SketchUp, FormZ or (so I hear) Rhino.
photoshop dude.
www.artweaver.de
http://portableapps.com/apps/graphics_pictures/gimp_portable
portable GIMP
http://www.inkscape.org/
a little alternative to the 10ton Adobe in the room
some free (auto)CAD cloneware
http://www.softsea.com/review/ProgeCAD-LT-2006.html
Rhinoceros for sure, as you can do what you would do in programs like: Autocad, Max, Illustrator, Indesign, all with it
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