Mac>>Sketchup>>Cheetah>>Sketchup??
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hi fellow Mac users,
I just downloaded and had a play SU .stl export in the new release of Cheetah and it seem very nice indeed, but you can't export with the trial version so
I'm just wondering if anyone uses it and if it works with Whatts UVtools, it certainly looks like it will and is very reasonably priced...
so any reviews from Mac/SU users?
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Cheetah is absolutely an awesome piece of software; I use it pretty much every day for the last 4 years.
There is a wonderful community forum, and the developer, Martin, is very involved with updates and developing the software. It is soon to be 64 bit, whoo hoo.
It has an excellent render machine; does keyframe animations, and now has a very powerful material node system.
My work flow is almost always sketchup to Cheetah (using 3DS or FBX if I am bringing in materials, or obj if not) and it is very infrequent that I send work back to Sketchup from Cheetah.
I also work with a 3D printing company, so the STL export option is highly appreciated.
Short answer, probably one of the best deals for software out there and definitely one that makes me happy to be a MAC user.
Cheer, Chuck
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cheers for the review Chuck,
I haven't stumbled across it before and just followed a press release for the new version, I put an SU question up on their forum and had a response instantly, very keen to fill any workflow holes. I've been using SolidThinking, SharkFX and Rhino on and off the last couple of years and this seems way easier to get my head around.
can you give Whatt's UVtools a spin and see how it performs?
john
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Hey John,
I don't doubt that C3D is a great bit of software, but my only and rather major gripe with C3D, is that C3D is unit-less, i.e. specify a line as 1m in SU, and you get something very different, and rather illogical in C3D making it almost useless for architecture- unless Cheetah's sole use is that of a rendering application for use with SketchUp. Even then, once you have exported a model into C3D, you are faced with billions of faces that all need grouping, and that's before UV mapping and the like.
I suppose it all boils down to what you intend to use it for. As a straight forward modeller, C3D is great, but personally I'd rather save, and later invest in something a lot more powerful like Cinema 4D. I too have the Rhino beta, and SharkFX, and although I do like Shark (because it reminds me of Solidworks), working with Rhino is like running through toffee! Perhaps it is early days still with Rhino? The PC crowd swear by it! The SharkFX community, although small, are some of the friendliest folk I've ever met online (in the CAD community).
I hope that helps
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@tfdesign said:
I hope that helps
it all helps,
Tim, from SharkFX gave me a fully working demo key so I could transfer a job to ProE on the last Beta release, so yes, very friendly and helpful, but I use SU as a thinking tool as much as drawing tool and I can't seem to do that with Shark or other Mac/CAD software even C4D which I have access to.I think: I'll just try this or that with an idea and by the time I figure out how to draw it I've forgotten the idea, sketchup lets be inaccurate but quick while designing and then pull it all back when I've made up your mind, usually it's for mesh reduction, I like 128 segment circle and 8 sided bezier corners... I hate steps I don't want.
The only reasons I look outside of SU is rendering, mesh repair(for 3D printing) and file transfer, so'll I'll give Cheetah a go before deciding to buy.
BTW what import format was ungrouping SU, I tested a .STL export yesterday and had grouped meshes?
john
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I would never use Cheetah for architectural modeling, as nothing beats Sketchup for that. And I would be delighted if MOI were mac compatible, for NURBS drawings, no doubt about it.
As far as units, Cheetah is actually really cool in that you can scale your model easily and, no matter what your units are, it still gives the correct measurement.
Simply group your entire import, use the ruler tool to measure between two points, and then adjust the global scale of the group until the ruler is showing the correct measurement, whether it is 18.5 mm or 18.5 inch. Ungroup the scaled group and that setting is applied to everything that was in that group.
Both 3DS and FBX bring everything into Cheetah grouped, and 3DS goes so far as to remember your group and component names. It doesn't maintain parametric behavior, though you can pull that off with it's smart folders, so I do all of my editing in Sketchup.
As far as mesh repair, you can manually fill holes (cheetah supports N-gons, which is convenient) but it doesn't have any global automatic tools, such as Meshlab does. It's fill holes and bridge commands can be quite amazing at times, though not always perfect. Being able to adjust your clipping plane makes fine zooming possible, even with large models, which makes small scale adjustments much easier.
As far as file transfer, it works for everything it sounds like you need.
I texture in Sketchup, and then adjust settings in Cheetah for rendering. Of course, I would call myself an UV mapping challenged, and I know some amazing things are possible, based on some of the gallery and forum pictures. I have never really delved into sophisticated texturing, sorry I can't speak more to it's capabilities in that regard.
Most of my architectural renderings are Sketchup native, as a HDRI lit, radiosity rendering of a 5 minute animation at HD quality would takes a very fast computer weeks to render, even with Cheetah's efficient multi-threaded renderer. I use cheetah for a variety of uses. I import svg paths and then use them to extrude into shapes (you can do this in sketchup, too, but Cheetah's modifier system is awesome for edibility, and you don't get that with SU). I , infrequently, do architectural still renders, I make base meshes for use in Zbrush, I render product clips, and for object animation, it is really fairly easy to make some dynamic animations.
Dang, I sound like a fan boy, haha. For the money, it is, in my opinion, a mac jewel.
Cheers, Chuck
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@unknownuser said:
I sound like a fan boy, haha.
Fan boy, and proud, dude!
OT- although nowt connection with rendering, have you folk checked out Sketchers Studio yet?
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