Not Everybody Can Finger Roll: September 2009

Ad infinitum, the debate continues. The question is always posed, "Which 3d ID app is king?" The answer, of course, is criteria-based (read: it depends). I would consider the following criteria:

(0) User / Work Environment
(1) End Goal / Output
(2) Cost
(3) Functionality / Workflow / Build Strategy
(4) Industry / Type of Modeler

I've used the following apps (in this order)
Pro/E (v.11 or v.12 ... we're talkin' 2000-2001 during undergrad)
Unigraphics (internship)
Solidworks (internship)
Alias (grad school)
Sketchup(1st job)
Solidworks (1st job)
3dsMax (1st job, personal use)
modo (1st job, personal use) Maya (personal use)
Rhino (current job)
SolidWorks (current job)

At work, currently, we considered Pro/E b/c it's supposed to have much higher level surface capabilities than SW, but at the end of the day, the company I work for designs eyeglasses and sunglasses, not airplanes or cars. We ended up going with SW b/c I was going to be the most senior at it (by a mile) and I was going to have to field any questions on how to use it by those less experienced. The studio (8 designers) perception was/is that SW is easier to learn and understand. I think that depends on the user and how open your mind is. We had Rhino initially and still do, but with the volume and complexity of changes we go thru, I personally needed something parametric and associative to plug into the pipeline. Or I was going to lose my mind. In a hurry. OK, anyways ...

(0) User / Workplace: Where does the user work? In a studio with others or at home by himself? How much time does she/they have to learn software? A week or three months? What's their experience level and aptitude for 3d? How frequently do they plan to be using 3d, ultimately? How does it plug into their current working style?

I'm not saying you shouldn't learn deeper programs if you don't have the time to learn all of the ins and outs. But what's important to guage is how the users are likely to be building models. Generally, the less time you have, the worse the model is going to turn out. You have to pre-think and come up with a strategy for each model. Bottles aren't like sunglasses aren't like power tools aren't like housewares.

Rhino's easy to learn (I relied on my Alias classes from school and exp. with SW) and taught myself from zero. It does a great job most of the time and it's cheap. However, when it came down to making certain types of changes, it became quite time consuming. To be clear, there are at least 10 critical dimensions on a pair of eyewear. I know that doesn't sound like much, but believe me when I tell you that managing them properly and maintaining the desired aesthetic is consistently a challenge. When you're driving NONE of your 3d data with numbers and it's all purely visual, it's not hard to imagine how I ran into problems. Throw in cam hinges, molding considerations and you've got a long day ahead of you.

I also think SW is quite easy to learn and as far as parametric modelers go, it's on the cheaper side. I've seen nothing out of Rhino that I couldn't do (and change pretty quickly) in SW. But the time to change something is quite related to how the model was built. 've seen amazing models in all of the apps listed above. And I've seen some garbage that looked great and some garbage that looked like garbage. At the end of the day, it comes down to how strong your build philosophy is. Obviously, the more cleanly you model, the better and the more easily you can make those inevitable changes. It's also perfectly ok to build a bit more sloppily to figure some things out assuming you're going to rebuild it properly to withstand design changes you may incur. But if your endgame is a rendering or something to sketch over, the model's cleanliness matters not.

(1) The Endgame:
a: Solid model (for manufacturing or prototyping)
b: Conceptual model (just to figure something out)
c: Rendering (for your 'folio, a print ad, a presentation, or street cred in some circles)
d: Something that I haven't happened to think of ... but if I were you, I would definitely take the time to think about it before making a decision

(2) Cost: This depends on your VAR (Value Added Reseller) and how good you or your operations folks are at bargaining. But to ballpark it, the apps cost the following ...
a. SW Professional: $5,000
b. ProE: at least $5,000 (to at IDSX, an Alias like add-in, that'll run an additional $5k)
c. Inventor: $5,000
d. Rhino: $1,000
e. Alias: $4,000 (This is for Alias Design, not Alias Surface or Alias Automotive)
f. Unigraphics NX: No friggin' idea, but I believe it's more than $5k
g. Catia: No friggin' idea, but I'm fairly certain it's more than $5k

(4) Functionality / Workflow / Build Strategy: Do you want to go all the way from sketch thru loosey goosey model to render to solid model to render in the same app? You're only gonna get that out of Alias Design b/c you can't sketch in SW or ProE or Rhino or Inventor. Are you going to be working off pictures or scanned sketches or vector lineart? Is this app a "point solution" or does it do more than just make 3d models (sketch, render, animate, etc.) How well does it play with other software you're using?

Regarding functionality and build philosophy, I feel it's important to investigate how each app you're considering makes models or rather, how you can make models in each of the apps. How do you want to be able to make changes? Do you like to or have the need to drive a model with dimensions? Or would you rather manipulate points (on a curve or on a surface) in 3d space? Or a little of both? How important is creating a shell of an object? What about seeing section views? How about creating a 2d drawing from your 3d model? How do you plan to share your 3d model with others? Depending on your app, you could create a 3d pdf, eDrawing, 2d drawing, or a rendering.

(4) Industry / Type of modeler ... You've got subD, Surface and Solid modelers

Here's a good explanation from Core77 of how Surface modelers differ from Solid modelers

Media/Entertainment: We're talking video games, movie animation sequences, advertisements, animation, motion graphics, medical imaging, visualization side of things, a subD modeler (Maya, 3dsMax, modo, Lightwave, Silo, Blender, etc.) is probably for you. You can get an STL file out of these with a bit of work, but it's safe to say that they weren't intended for designing products.

Surface/NURBS modelers: Alias and Rhino are the big kids on the block. Moment of Inspiration (MoI) is in the distance. Surface modelers are amazing "freeform" surface models for softgoods, products, vehicles and most other things ID that *can* be stitched solid (for manuf. or prototyping). Many models begin as Alias or Rhino models and then get tossed over the wall to the engineering department to be detailed into production models (or rebuilt into production models). But be careful if you plan on making lots of changes. Not saying it can't be done because it usually can be done. It's just a different way of working (in my mind) than in SW or ProE.

Side note: I must admit that I'm frustrated with how difficult it is to find Alias tutorials out there. I like that Alias is considering the entire product development process, but for heaven's sake, can a guy get a (comprehensive set of) tutorials? In my book, Luxology (makers of modo) is the tops when it comes to video tutorials.

Consumer Products: If you're making consumer products, then I'd say SW or ProE are quite a strong way to go. I like SW better b/c I can find reference more easily (usually a forum or blog or friends) for how to solve problems. These problems are inevitable, regardless of the app used, in my experience. I think that if you are fluent in one, it's not going to take long to pick up the other.

Conclusion:
To recap, the point of this post is that I think it's important try to do your best to develop a list of criteria to help yourself figure out which app is for you and evaluate it as objectively as you can. Core77 keeps the debate aflame, so check them out to get some other points of view. Happy modeling.