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Re: Surface Tools... What's Really Needed

> > Are you advocating buying a software package without learning it first > > to see how it works and what it's pluses and minuses are ? > > Nope. But sooner or later you do have to decide to buy something, otherwise > it's just an exercise in futility. > > > > > Does one have to purchase Rhino or Concepts to use their forums ? :>) > > Nope. They are among the enlightened ones. However it seems to be the > tendency with more expensive CAD/CAM that the mfr. sponsored forums are > reserved for the exclusive use of their purchasers. Personally, I don't > have a problem with having non-purchasers post, as long as there is some > general means of control to keep the spammers, OT-ers, nutcases, etc. off > the forum - for as a buyer of the program, coming to the forum for answers, > I don't want to be bothered with that crap. > > > BTW, do you sell Rhino ? > > Yep. For a little over one year now. Although in principle I am allowed to > sell in all of Europe, in practice, I only sell in Switzerland, and even > that pretty much only in French-speaking Switzerland. Selling also means > support, so I provide e-mail and telephone support to my clients if needed, > as well as the occasional training session. > > The Rhino sales aspect of my business is pretty minor in terms of numbers - > pretty small market as you might imagine, only about 1 million people total > in French Switzerland - but the fun aspect of it is what counts. I started > it as a way to continue to put my support behind Rhino, as there was no > French-speaking rep here, and people kept calling me anyway with questions. > I don't really make any money at it, but I do have fun, and get to meet a > lot of design-type people, which sometimes even leads to modelmaking work... > > --Mitch > >

FWIW: McNeel made a fairly decent effort with their Rhino Level Two training manual when it comes to explaining surface continuity, creating decent curves and a bunch of other stuff.

This Level Two training manual is far better then anything I have ever seen from any CAD/CAM vendor but it still leaves a lot to be desired / covered.

Does McNeel have any plans to offer a Level Three training manual with Rhino 4 ?

Too bad that no one can post this manual but I guess McNeel wants someone to buy Rhino to see it. While I can understand this, I do think what is in the Level Two training manual would greatly benefit quite a few people in both newsgroups

jon

Reply to
jon banquer
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Jon, Where, EXACTLY, is this level two manual found ?? Is it a seperate purchasable manual, on the CD or what ?

Thanks, Chris L

Reply to
datac

Chris,

You get it when you buy Rhino. I believe it was first offered with Rhino V2 but I'm not a Rhino expert... other than knowing what I do and don't like about it. As long as someone purchases Rhino they have access to it on CD or with their serial number which allows one to download it from McNeel's website.

IMO, the Rhino Level Two manual contains far, far better explainations of what C2 curves and surfaces are and how to create, modify and check them than have ever been discussed in either alt.machines.cnc / comp.cad.saladworks. ;>)

A lot of what is in the Rhino Level Two training manual can be applied to other CAD/CAM programs that offer NURB surfacing.

jon

Reply to
jon banquer

You can actually buy the training manuals if you haven't purchased Rhino. The cost is $50 each.

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Cheers,

--Mitch

Reply to
Mitch

Thanks Jon, I'll have to dig up my CD and see whats on it. The main manual you get is pretty intensive.... We'll check out the one(s) on the CD. Thanks again, Chris L

Reply to
datac

Feel free to e-mail me if you can't find it, Chris. ;>)

jon

Reply to
jon banquer

The $50 is money well spent.

For those who want to understand the basics of creating quality curves and surfaces I would highly recommend reading Rhino Level Two training.

jon

Reply to
jon banquer

uhm... i don't use icem software, but since it's that famous and well-known, i guess they'll hardly well me their .com domain... :)

have a good day :)

Reply to
Gianni Rondinini

LOL

Perhaps it's time for your company to change to ICEM Surf so your material handling equipment won't look so box like and will have really slick curves ?

I checked out your website :

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It looks like an American car from the 70's ! :>)

If you can't cope with ICEM sharing your name then I have just the thing for you, Gianni....

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I say time to make the switch to VX..... NOW before it's to late !!! ;>)

On a serious note.... I understand thinkDesign is very big in Italy. Have you seen thinkID / thinkDesign ?

jon

Reply to
jon banquer

well, actually it's a matter of costs and robustness/toughness more than ability to design something looking beautiful. if we produced coaches/buses --like officine padane or neoplan or setra or whoever else--, it would be far easier: those products are 300k+ euros each and nice designs are more compatible with very expensive products than with cheap ones. in our market --electronic pallet trucks, stackers, vert./horiz. order pickers and so on-- you often loose a selling for 30/50 euros and producing "nice" products is hardly compatible with low costs. what is more, we're specialized in producing customized products

--longer or shorter, wider or narrower, thicker or thinner forks, wide or narrow bodies, high capacity (up to 10 tons)-- and since we often produce unique machines it would be impossible to adopt nice covers/bodies.

and we cannot even use plastic covers/parts, because if you buy a toyota or linde pallet truck and you break a plastic cover every 2 weeks, you pay for the spare part and are happy with it. if you buy an icem pallet truck and you break a plastic cover after 6 months, i receive a letter from your lawyer :)

oh, i *love* american --muscle-- cars from late 60's / early 70's ;)

but, joking apart, my products must be, first of all, functional, reliable, robust and, as much as possible, cheap. i'd love to move to beautyful looking bodies, but they're so expensive that we cannot afford them.

i'll do my best to improve our products design :)

and one more --and last-- thing: at the moment the website isn't very nice, but it's temporary, we're working on the new one.

i've never heard of it, but i stopped reading/following the cad/addons market in late 1998, when we started using swx. it may be very popular nowadays, but at that time i can't remember of it.

cheers!

Reply to
Gianni Rondinini

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