Hello All,

I would like to know which CAD tool would be easier and more useful to
use.   I've looked and played with solid works and found it fairly easy
to use.  The only thing I don't care for is the licensing of the
software (you don't own it, you rent it).   On the other hand there is
Rhino, I have not used it, so does it have the same functionality as solid
works?  Can I convert a 3-D image I created into a 2-D blueprint with
dimensions and all the other things that are associated with a
blueprint?   I like Rhino, because, once you buy it ? you own it.  But
the thing that concerns me, when you look at Rhino's website in the gallery,
all the compositions look like some kind of widget --- there is nothing
showing you can actually create 2-D prints.

Some advice would be greatly appreciated.

I know this topic has come up in the past but I lost a lot of my postings
due to a crash.

Thanks to all who respond!

Burck

Rhino is not completely functional as Solid Works as far as things like
fillets and shells are concerned. It is also probably more accurate for
mechanical drawings. Rhino on the other hand does compound curved solids
such as cowling's better than Solid Works IMHO. Also I suspect the rendering
may be better but I am not sure about that.

In most cases a Rhino dwg can be exported as an IGES and loaded into Solid
Works for further processing. This works for NC machine shops that have
Solid Works as a lot of the NC software imports Solid Works and not always
Rhino. Some more recent NC software can import Rhino dwgs directly. Larry, I
am sure, will fill you in on this. Plus there are other people on here that
have used both. I personally find the user interface on Rhino more friendly
than Solid Works.
--
Paul Lamar ...No rotor no motor.

SolidWorks can read a Rhino .3dm file directly.
Marinus B. (Ben) Bosma

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