Reeves Callaway wrote:
Gentlemen,
I thought I would chime in here with, first of all, a thank you to
Paul for putting me on this list. The past week's reading has been
stimulating. And second, a general attaboy for the remarkably good
thinking that seems to be devoted to this project.
As an engine engineer, and the designer/ supplier of turbosystems
to Mazda ( albeit for the conventional IC version- The MazdaSpeed
Protege) I am thrilled that there is a mechanism for getting the
correct solutions thought out by the collective group, similar to
the way Linux 'improves', so that fewer folks are saddled with the
urban myths of engine systems. I will be happy to throw my experience
into the ring.
So, to start. Rhino software is in fact the system of choice for
our designers and renderers, and we find the results are easily
exported to any of the 'big' systems, so much so that we have
stopped using CATIA, et al. altogether. And when I think of the
money we spent...
Attached here is a recent notice from Rhino for anyone who would
like to go through the training. These classes will take your
operational times down to a fraction of what they would be using
self taught methods.
YHS,
Reeves Callaway
Founder, The Callaway Companies
American Flyer wrote:
Nathan:
I'm sure that Rhino is a great package, but if cost means anything
to you whatsoever, you should take a look at ProDesktop by PTC
(the makers of ProEngineer). ProDesktop Express is freeware
(NOT shareware). It is an amazingly feature-packed 3d CAD package
(IMHO). I just finished designing an assembly containing 136 parts.
I find the interface to be quite intuitive (in direct contrast
to ProEngineer, which I have also used). It took me about 3 hours
to get up to speed initially. You can get ProDesktop Express at:
http://www.ptc.com/appserver/it/icm/cda/template_lib/
product/icm01_product_v.jsp?&im_dbkey=2295&im_language=en&tab=try
The full version costs $1000, but the free version has no significant
limitations (in fact on their user group, people who
originally bought the full version complain that PTC gives
away too much with the free version).
You will be amazed at what this program will do
for free. I do not work for PTC :)
Harrison Young
Got any examples of part renderings in Pro Desktop Express?
BTW Harrison do you have a shorter www address for that web site.
Long web site addresses don't go through the internet email very well.
The break through in Rhino is the way you approach constructing
a 3D drawing. The vast majority of people in the world know how and start
with a three view 2D drawing. Rhino gives you four equal sized windows
on the screen. You use three of them to draw a three view 2D drawing.
Front/side/top or back/side/bottom or any combination of the above.
As you do this the 3D wire frame illustration of the part
magical appears in the fourth window. You then press render and
a photo like illustration appears. A person used to making
three view drawings can learn Rhino in minutes. Especially if
you have already had experience with almost any CAD program.
Long time DOS ACAD users like myself will learn Rhino in seconds.
Rhino has a free version too but it is limited to 25 saves.
Other than that it is exactly the same.
Rhino also has a completely unlimited student version for $300.
I still take college courses so that is how I got mine.
Rhino is extremely powerful. As far as I can tell it is
more powerful than Solid Works.
It has a tremendous number of interchangeably file formats. You
can load a new version of an ACAD drawing into Rhino and export
it as an old version of ACAD and have it work in old ACAD. That
is something ACAD itself is unable to do. Rhino can export
stl files which work directly in stereolithography machines.
That is the feature I use to make low cost aluminum casting
patterns in hours rather than weeks.
Paul Lamar
Try this link:
http://www.ptc.com/appserver/it/icm/cda/icm01_list.jsp?group=201&num=1&show=y&keyword=355
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