I want to make some 3d drawings so I can get a better feel for what the case will look like and so I can change my designs on the fly and not have to try and keep the image in my head and then lose it. I want something that I can try first and buy cheaply later and it has to be easy to learn because I have played with like 2 cad programs and both were pretty confusing to even try to make a little box. Thanks for the help in advance.
So far I like that sketcup program but its a little to costly for me. Its very easy to learn though so if I can get something like this but for like a fifth the cost it would be great.
warez talk removed, i dont care if you were joking or not, and i dont care how subtle it is, NOT in these forums -Mister_Tad
Well I am going to play around with the trial version of sketcup. I was able to get a rough outline of the case done with a few of the modifications in about 30 minutes while learning the program (took me about 20 versions before I could make something I liked). I seen on the site they offer a student version for 99 bucks so I might look into that since I am still in highschool. I will porbably use this program for more then just computers to since I want to get into robotics, people always asking me to make them a small piece of furniture, designing my air cannons and my electromagnetic gun and such (not as devestating as it really sounds though so don't freak out ). I am going to download the 3dsmax trial and play with that though because it offers more then just 3d modeling. Me and my friend make amatuer films so the character modeling and animation aspect make it more appealing. One thing that I would love to know is where do I get prerendered components like fans,harddrives,cd-roms,motherboards,etc? It would be nice to do the complete mockup so I can see if there are any potential problems with the designs.
Yeah I am liking skethcup much more so then 3dsmax because it has way to many options for what I need to do. In sketchup I am able to pickup on things alot quicker. I think I may just buy the student version of it and be happy. This should make my gundam seed project go a little easier since I will have a model to look at and try new things in cyber space first.
I wouldn't call Sketchup excessively expensive. Not if you compare it to professional 3d packages like Autocad, 3dsMax, Maya or Lightwave. Try Truespace. ZapWizard uses it for his models, and the older versions are free. Never used it so I cant vouch for its ease of use. Or (if you are totally insane) you could give Maya PLE a go. Its free for download, but it leaves massive watermarks on all of your renders and work areas...and its Maya, so its far from easy to use.
or if you are more insane you could use...MSPAINT!!! he he he just kidding i think that i am going to look in to truespace, and no joking i have been using mspaint!
I find truespace to be incredibly clunky and I could never really get into it. Sketchup is very good, but like you said, $500 is a bit pricey. As for the student version, I assume it's heavily cut, due to the -$401 price tag. Can anyone clarify this?
-$401 ? Bargain. So you get the software and they PAY YOU ? I'd say it must be seriously cut down for them to be doing that. Probably you install it and your house explodes or something </semi drunken spam>
ANything with MS is pure evil... including that little software title winblows (oh I mean windows)... I use lightwave for some of my stuff but sketchup is easier to get ideas down so I use it most of the time...
