Quote from MR_B :

I'm using CATIA V5 which i got from.............. somewhere

HAHA! Amazing how many people get it from the same place.

Quote from JO53PHS :

I'm not too sure but eventually something to do with cars

Depends what you mean by something to do with cars. Do you mean for a personal side, say 3ds max modelling and rendering cars or more as a future career. I can only speak from the career point of view with my main knowledge being CATIA V5 (R13 onwards if your interested) Alot of car firms use CATIA, even small companies who I didn't think would. It is a big (maybe even go as far as huge) program with so many options, settings and things to do etc that learning on your own IMO would be difficult but maybe possible.

Quote from tristancliffe :

I'm planning on modelling something complicated over the summer, like a whole gearbox, but that's just for fun.

Oh dear someone needs to get a life

...seriously though I think I might have to go and have a go with Inventor

Well if that's the case I don't have a life either. For the past two physics lectures here, I've been so bored, I modeled a 3D version of the little interactive vote clickers that every student has. I like to do silly stuff like that all the time. Here's my initials in a block of wood!

Quote from tristancliffe :

I'm planning on modelling something complicated over the summer, like a whole gearbox, but that's just for fun.

Don't forget to calculate the stuff too

I did a Differential for Uni last year, and it looked rubbish... dunno if it was me being too stupid or Solid Edge...

So any pics of your final thing are welcome

Quote from mrfell :

Like Dan, ive been using AutoCAD for years, since R10 in good old DOS, and TBH I wouldnt use it for anything much than 2d drawings, the more fancy 3d stuff will hit you hard in the pocket.
AutoCAD can produce complex 3d surfacing drawings but not overly complex 3d solid models. For that you'll probably need inventor or mechanical desktop.....

It will take quite a while to learn the fundamental basics then the 3d stuff....

You've got AutoCAD lite which has all the 3d functionality of full blown autocad stripped out, that costs £500 ish (full autocad is much more)

Bottom line there is no free/cheap option........

I don't use autocad, but I do have to convert .dxf files to other files suitable for production. Is there any way possible to receive those files to where the pieces in the drawing isn't exploded? I mean it's nothing like getting some architects blueprint of a shopping center.
and each and every brick is actually about 6 zillion little line segments. And yeah, I can weld them back together - all 6 zillion of them. And exporting as a DXF... I've been having better luck with using corel vs. illustrator but with close tolerances, things move too much.

I haven't messed with much 3d programs, but from what i've learned, isn't it preferable to have a couple of different softwares to achieve different effects? and i wonder how accurate they are vs auto cad

On a slightly related note, does anyone know of good (and ideally, but not necessarily, free) software package for wiring diagrams?

Not interested in PCB design or conventional wiring diagrams, but more vehicle wiring schematics, to be a little more precise.

I work with older (simpler ) cars, but the wiring diagrams are either small, cramped or in poor condition, which makes solving wiring issues a lot harder.

I would very much like to redraw them at some point, and would like software to assist on this. I know I could use normal CAD to copy the diagrams, but what I'd really like is software that will work out wiring paths for me. I put in a whole heap of components (from headlights to connector blocks), and join them up with straight lines (very messy at this stage), click OK, and it routes the wires into nice simple paths that are easy to follow and annotate.

Does such a thing exist in the near-freeware market? I can't find anything that seems to do what I want on various Googling sessions.

Quote from tristancliffe :

On a slightly related note, does anyone know of good (and ideally, but not necessarily, free) software package for wiring diagrams?

Not interested in PCB design or conventional wiring diagrams, but more vehicle wiring schematics, to be a little more precise.

I work with older (simpler ) cars, but the wiring diagrams are either small, cramped or in poor condition, which makes solving wiring issues a lot harder.

I would very much like to redraw them at some point, and would like software to assist on this. I know I could use normal CAD to copy the diagrams, but what I'd really like is software that will work out wiring paths for me. I put in a whole heap of components (from headlights to connector blocks), and join them up with straight lines (very messy at this stage), click OK, and it routes the wires into nice simple paths that are easy to follow and annotate.

Does such a thing exist in the near-freeware market? I can't find anything that seems to do what I want on various Googling sessions.

Sounds to me like you may have found a niche market. Know anything about the autocad programming language autolisp or VBA?Perhaps you could write your own and make some money..........

Epicmassuberwhammycrapholycrapmothershipstairwaytoheavenledzeppelinbump

Using trusty old Sketchup, I'm trying to make my own model of a Volvo S80 (don't laugh at me :shy. At the moment it's a complete mess, but hopefully by the end it should look somewhat better than my previous attempts at doing a car

If you are just looking for a program to create beautiful shapes and designs which have barely non-existent mechanical requirements you should imho avoid programs like autocad, catia, ideas, solidworks, or even maya, 3dmax or so because you will need a lot of skill and time to create anything that looks like anything you wanted in the first place.

Imho, start with a painting program like gimp, paint shop pro or even photoshop and start creating simple contours and lines and try to create your designs that way. Of course it is possible to create breathtakingly good looking designs with catia, for example, from what I've seen, but it takes bucketloads of skill. Learning to do that by yourself just isn't going to be fun. Engineering programs are great fun if you want to play with some ideas and know how to get them done quickly - it's sometimes just fun to throw some pieces together just for the hell of it. But essentially that is just toying with the program and it gets clear very quickly that toying isn't what these programs are made for.

If you really want to get into some engineering program, buy a book which has examples. Books might be a bit expensive so you should invest some time into comparing the programs and understand what you are going to do with it. From my personal experience, books are the best source for information for learning how to use some engineering program.

IMO, having used most of them, Rhino3D is probably one of the most user friendly and accomplished 3d CAD programs there are.

Quote from MR_B :

Then avoid programs like CATIA and solid works at first because they are huge in their amount of options, and quite frankly it'll scare you off!

I'd suggest ProDesktop to get used to 3D design in general.... The main problem I found with pro desktop is that it only allows you to place a workplane on a flat surface... doesn't like trying to draw things on a curve...... so no 3D lollypops for me

draw a line, new scetch, then draw your creation around the line (the line is center of rotation) then use the revolve tool

Is there any freeware that you could build the exterior of a car, eg. model it?

Quote from pacesetter :

Is there any freeware that you could build the exterior of a car, eg. model it?

Wings 3d

Blender

Anim8or

There are a few more...

get rhino, almost all product design student start with rhino, it's pretty standard. you can use it for simple stuff like rendering graphics, to producing an actual output through a CNC machine, you can even buy 3-D digitizers that allows you to scan real life objects, and create a 3D model of it.

but it's also god darned expensive. even a student version will set you back US$195.

Thank you guys!