*Yawn* Alternatives to SketchUp

toxicvoxel

Kwist, last time I checked Sketchup did not do any rendering. I personally don't want a jack-of-all-trades application and would rather rely on individual specialist applications within my workflow that I can 'glue' together through customisation. That way I can choose the technology I want and will not be reliant on a single company for developing the technology.If my primary concern was rendering there would be better platforms to build my workflow arround.

I think my post was a valid response to the original question. The issue of rendering support is not entirely relevant.

kwistenbiebel

I understand.
It comes down on what you use Sketchup for I guess, and there is probably more than 1 type of SU-user.
I would be the one that considers having the major render engines as important.
But God forbid, Sketchup should NEVER have a built in PR render engine of itself, it should be 3td party software.

I presume you are talking about alternatives for Sketchup purely as a 3D modeler.
In that case, I would settle for having Sketchup and Rhino to complement it.
Sketchup can do an awful lot as a modeler and I think it is just Nurbs, booleans etc... it misses. And that is where Rhino is really good at.

If rendering,presentation and animation is important as well (for me it is), than C4D is a good candidate to go along with Sketchup.

toxicvoxel

Kwist, I volunteered the two applications in answer to the original thread question for the sake of comparrison because of some very obvious simmilarities for the purpose of his paper, rather than as serious alternatives at this stage.

In fact our approach is simmilar - I use Rhino in conjunction with Sketchup and use it as a rendering platform for VRAY when I need it. A notable additional aspect of Rhino is that it offers fairly good CAD functionality on top of the modelling power it provides. (Although I would not use it if I was doing CAD production as my central activity, it is a very viable AutoCAD replacement for generating CAD data during the design stages.) There is also a BIM plugin system for Rhino coming on stream and Rhino is directly supported by Paracloud.

An under-reported fact about Rhino is that many of the functions have the same names and params as in AutoCAD, making a transition easier than one might expect. (Loads of differences too but many simmilarities.)

-Anyway we digress from the topic of the thread.

kwistenbiebel

Ok, getting back closer to the subject.

@tim danaher said:

The question is apps that work like SketchUp.

To be honest, I don't have the feeling that there are real alternatives to SU.
3DVIA and Bonzai clearly aim to be Sketchup, although I doubt they have the same quality.
Concerning Bonzai, I think it is too soon to comment though as it is not out yet. But the fact that it derives from FormZ does not really give me the feeling that it will be as intuitive as SU is.

I think the best real alternative for the moment, in terms of really being able to put it in a workflow, would be Spaceclaim.
Very Sketchup like, more modeling capability than SU (Nurbs), but just a little less intuitive and less focused on architecture I think.
@Tim, It is worth downloading the Spaceclaim trial version so you can judge for yourself.

numerobis

bonzai3d beta released...

(www.bonzai3d.com)

Edson

@kwistenbiebel said:

@Tim, It is worth downloading the Spaceclaim trial version so you can judge for yourself.

Judging from the videos, spaceclaim seems to be a very intuitive modeller. perhaps a good alternative to skp. there is plenty of tutorials too. the company seems to be of the "difficult" kind: no pricing on their site (they direct you to a vendor site). and it is windows only which is something that does not make any sense these days.

however, whenever i check another software and compare it to skp one thing comes to mind immediately: no app has a support base as sketchup. i do not mean the official google support, which is not bad either, but the forums, the script developers, the written user guides, the companion apps, etc. somehow i feel that, should i move from skp to any other modeller, i would feel like someone on a scarcely populated island.

fakircho

Downloading Bonzai 3D, lets see if Sketchup has some competition

Tim Danaher

Bonzai's out? This I must see!!!

kwistenbiebel

The download is very slooow.
They should make some mirror downloads.

Tim Danaher

^^^^^^^

Agreed. Maybe their server is getting hammered?

fakircho

Well i download it, looks a lot like Sketchup. Was having all sorts of display problems because i had other programs running, once i quit the its a bit better. Finding the interface a bit awkward, i think that is why i did not like FormZ

Need to explore a bit more ...

Tim Danaher

Gaaah...

D/L time has swollen to 3hrs, 47 min.

I vote we start a new thread to post observations.

numerobis

...

toxicvoxel

I think Autodesk has taken some cues from Spaceclaim:
http://www.inventorfusion.com/

Edson

Google watch out!

fossa

For a modest mid figure 4 digit dollar amount (not including training or subscription), it can be yours.

sketch3d.de

nothing really comparable because more complex and thus diffcult to use but even though maybe interesting too:

Punch! ViaCAD f. OSX/Win (> U$ 100.-) : more CAD related w/o rendering stuff but w/ NURBS faces and volumes, bools, features & feature editing, history tree, model 2 sheet, 2D drafting, all common CAD interfaces, space mouse support, SU import and intelligent snaps as well as refering construction lines, upgrade path to more powerful product line. btw, formerly licencsed by IMSI for TurboCAD versions on Mac platform.

AutoDesSys Form•Z f. OSX/Win : mesh based editor incl. rendering

hth,
Norbert

sketch3d.de

@plot-paris said:

but there are some things that look pretty impressive. when I look at certain 'reshape' tools, like the 'round-edges', the 'twist' or the 'bend function...

can be done w/ ViaCAD (ACIS kernel) w/o any probs too (and more)... but w/o any crashes.

jm2c,
Norb.