Any good 3D designers here?

[lamborgini8]

Are there any good designers that can come up with a good 3d model here? I had an idea that if I design my RGY scanner in a 3D program I can see exactly what it will look like and I can change my plans if I don't like it.

So, is anyone good here?

 

[Curiously_Coherent]

Hi lambo,

Why don't you try Google SketchUp? (check it out here) It's free, easy to learn and lets you do pretty complicated models quite easily. I've used it for all my wood projects and I'm planning to use it as a virtual optical bench to design a dichro setup I want to try.

It works much better if you have a 3-button mouse and it has a few quirks, but hey, it's free. The 3-D warehouse is freakin' amazing too.

Cheers, CC

 

[lamborgini8]

Hi lambo,

Why don't you try Google SketchUp? (check it out here) It's free, easy to learn and lets you do pretty complicated models quite easily. I've used it for all my wood projects and I'm planning to use it as a virtual optical bench to design a dichro setup I want to try.

It works much better if you have a 3-button mouse and it has a few quirks, but hey, it's free. The 3-D warehouse is freakin' amazing too.

Cheers, CC

hmm, will give it a go.

I tried using gmax but its so damn complicated...

 

[lazed]

Are there any good designers that can come up with a good 3d model here? I had an idea that if I design my RGY scanner in a 3D program I can see exactly what it will look like and I can change my plans if I don't like it.

So, is anyone good here?

I'm pretty good at 3D modeling. I've done some games before. Nothing complex, but I'm OK.

 

[lamborgini8]

[quote author=Curiously_Coherent link=1207770231/0#1 date=1207770651]
Hi lambo,

Why don't you try Google SketchUp? (check it out here) It's free, easy to learn and lets you do pretty complicated models quite easily. I've used it for all my wood projects and I'm planning to use it as a virtual optical bench to design a dichro setup I want to try.

It works much better if you have a 3-button mouse and it has a few quirks, but hey, it's free. The 3-D warehouse is freakin' amazing too.

Cheers, CC

hmm, will give it a go.

I tried using gmax but its so damn complicated...[/quote]

Well Sketchup is harder than gmax as I cant even figure out how I can make something to scale. How can I make a box thats 300x300mm and 100mm high?

 

[Curiously_Coherent]

Set units to mm and type the dimensions in the input box. Do the tutorials, dude!

 

[rog8811]

Do the tutorials, dude!

 

[lamborgini8]

Does anyone know if Sketchup supports textures? When I sort out the 3d design I hope to be able to design the front, rear and sides in photoshop and put it onto the 3d design.

 

[BlueFusion]

Wow... I was expecting this to be more about complex 3D rendering rather than simple CAD stuff.
I dabble a bit in 3D with a program called POVRay. (Persistance Of Vision Raytracer) It's great stuff, but not for beginners, as models are designed in code, not in a 3D environment.

 

[Curiously_Coherent]

Does anyone know if Sketchup supports textures? When I sort out the 3d design I hope to be able to design the front, rear and sides in photoshop and put it onto the 3d design.

While there are no true textures, you can paint your models with a huge assortment of materials, from metals to cloth, brick, etc. and there are hundreds more available from models in the 3D warehouse. You can also paint the model with images from Photoshop, as you suggest.

Pay attention to the way layers work, it makes it very easy to organize your model and hide things when they are in the way. (ie; hiding your box when you're designing the innards) The Layer spec is a root function of each element, so you have to build components in the layer you want. You cannot move them from one layer to another without going into each element and re-assigning it, so it's important to remember that. (That was the most frustrating part to learn for me, so I pass my wisdom onto you young padwan)

Give yourself a few days with the tutorials, download a few models to learn from and you can design what you need. (Even lenses using the "Follow-Me" tool, then paint them transparent glass)

Have fun with it! CC

 

[Things]

I have a program called "Solidworks" on my computer, freaking amazing sotware, but it quite expensive, about $3000 to register it, but gawd it is freaking awesome!