John Dollus

The new Npower translator is supposed to solve the translation problems bewteen Max and Rhino.

Fran

I use Power Translators to open Rhino .3dm files in VIZ 4 and Max 6. I had practically given up on VIZ, but gave it another try after I found PT. I have found the brep surfaces to process radiosity and render faster than the max native nurbs or imported IGES files. They also processed and rendered faster than meshes of comparable detail. Once you get your Rhino nurbs into max via PT, you set the tesselation level and nothing is lost in translation. I model 98% of the props in my scenes and demand a high level of detail. With breps, level of detail is view dependent - stuff far away is automatically tesselated less than things close up. With a static mesh, the mesh is there no matter how far you are from it.

Of course, there are tricks to learn to get optimal 3ds files from Rhino for architectural viz. Split surfaces around windows and doors to avoid "web" meshes that cause shadow artifacts. Things like that. Efficient modeling is easier for me with Rhino than it was with AutoCAD.

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- Fran
If you must reinvent the wheel, remember that it works best if it is, like, roundish.

Ernest Burden

As a side note, Fran, can I convince you to offer your great 'props' on the CGA eSTORE?

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Ernest Burden III
AcmeDigital
architectural rendering

Fran

Hi Ernest,

I'll see what I can come up with. I looked at the model selection in the eSTORE and it's a little sparse on furniture and accessories.

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- Fran
If you must reinvent the wheel, remember that it works best if it is, like, roundish.

bwilson

Hey Steven,

I first got on board with Rhino starting about 6 months for both v2 was released for nautical engineering/production and recently architectural concept design and visualization. It is easy to adapt to, has very powerful modeling features and is extremely accurate and affordable.

As far as integration into software like AutoCAD it works very well. I typically work one on one with project manager in the architectural firm I work for to develop conceptual studies. The Make2D command is one of my favorites for integration with ACAD. Once the architect finalizes a design we developed in Rhino, I generate 4-views in rhino and export the paths to DWG. From there the others working on the project simply plug the block directly into their production AutoCAD drawings. That process saves us tons of time rather then having drafters figure out some of out complex designs.

I started out using ACAD for 3d modeling, and I find it to be time consuming and cumbersome, and I'm sure others here will agree with me on that.

To comment on some of the posts here that state that the mesh generation is mediocre, I disagree. I have had great success with rendering meshes imported into Max. Simply adjust the polygon slider quality when exporting to 3DS to the quality that is fitting and then optimize the mesh in Max on complex geometry such as arcs, extruded splines, etc. As long as you have an efficient model to generate meshes from, you will have great results. If your models are not efficient, you meshes can really get out of hand during 3ds conversion. A tip would be to convert your complex meshes independently of the simplistic square meshes. Convert your square meshed at the lowest polygon setting, and eye up the more complex meshes for best results and lowest polygon counts.

Rhino is without question a valuable tool to have in your skill set.

[ February 22, 2004, 02:20 PM: Message edited by: bwilson ]

STRAT

this is ultimately the bottom line. the better a rhino modeller you are the better the mesh will be.

but as i said, even given you become an ace rhino modeller, you still dont get total mesh control. you cant predict EXACTLY the mesh structure, or explain it's 'randomness' when you see the mesh previews.

but as long as ur a good modeller, and systematically export meshes in optomised stages you'll get good results. to a point.

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3dp

hmm two post in 1 day from me....
as a occasional rhino user (i love it i just wish more projects would suit it)
i've always tened to use it to model componets and then assemble them in max (this applies more to my hobby projects of cars and bikes)
by planning ahead and being comfortable with the program you soon find ways to optimise models but bottom line is it's nurbs and really not the best tool for primary architectural model work (then again iuse max as my main tool and that usually get a reaction too)
i point out how much nurbs in max sucks and it's very easy to overblow a model @ rendertime without some serious woking up surfaces

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can i have everything louder than everything else please

Ernest Burden

One problem with the current versions of Rhino--symbol/block support. You will read that Rhino supports blocks. It does, but the part that isn't made clear is that it cannot import blocks from another program. It can only make its own.

I use instancing of symbols/blocks quite a lot. An example is to make a low-poly version of a chair used many times in a restaurant for early view studies, later, I will swap in the final version, or the 'new' version (client changes). With blocks, all instances simply 'replace' themselves in exact position/rotation. But if you cannot IMPORT a file with blocks in place you could only get the most out of that Rhino feature by building native.

I assume v4 will allow importing blocks, but for now, its an incomplete feature.

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Ernest Burden III
AcmeDigital
architectural rendering