CAD body design?

Not wanting to clutter up the factory five thread, but I'm curious what is the fastest route to being able to do body design on the computer? I've dabbled in Autocad (overwhelming), Solidworks (not so much, but still no easy pill), and Sketchup (easiest to learn, but more technically limited). I also hear Rhino mentioned a lot, but have no experience there. What do you CAD jockeys have to say?

/- Wow....so much for cluttering! - \

Anyway, I'd vote for Google Sketchup. If you're not keen on the regular version, they have Sketchup Pro (for a fee).

I teach CAD (mostly regular 2D AutoCAD but also ProE and Inventor.....I'm familiar with Solidworks). We don't teach Sketchup formally, but a lot of my students have done great stuff using it. After Sketchup, I'd probably look at Solidworks.

With all due respect, CAD systems don't design. They are drafting and drawing tools to assist the designer in communicating their design.

They take time to learn. There really isn't any "fastest route" to being able to utilize them.

It's more about your learning style- some people learn faster than others.

Most people take years to learn these tools well.

You can do basic drafting straight out of the box with most CAD or drafting programs. But body design is not basic drafting. Curves, dimensioning solids, relating skin to underlying components or details such as glass dimensions, etc. all take a lot of time to learn.

In reply to SVreX:

Rhinoceros 3d is the way to go, You really need a nurbs based program

SVreX wrote: With all do respect, CAD systems don't design.

You are absolutely correct. I work in construction, and can remember when the first CAD-generated residential plans started coming in. - They were mainly crap, generated by junior designers with little savy.

An engineer friend in his 70s recently "mastered" Autocad. So at 48 I should be able to. I want to add some skill sets to my quiver, and if I can realize a lifelong dream of designing car bodys in the process, all the better.

Is Rhinoceros something that you'd use for the entire process? Or is it primarily something that you'd use for finishing out a design generated elsewhere?

You might want to look into Autodesk Alias Automotive. It's designed off of Inventor, but setup more for surfaces. It's free to try, not so much to buy... That's really a niche market. I have very little experience surface modelling, but do know the standard CAD software is not setup for it.

I'm primarily familiar with SolidWorks. I used Pro-E, 3DS Max, and Rhino a bit here and there in college. I've played with SketchUp recently a bit, too. You can do incredible things, but there is a serious time commitment.

I was part of a small team that did a body design for a bodywork intensive motorcycle. We almost exclusively used the surfaces functionality of SolidWorks. Wish I could put up some images of the renderings, but we're still under an NDA.

It will work for what you are wanting to do, but it takes a lot of trial and error to get things as you want them to be. If you want to wrap your head around how SolidWorks, or any other 3D modeling system works, you should find an old school book on boat design and construction. It should explain the concept of "lofting" and "sweeping" shapes, which are critical to body design.

kreb wrote:

SVreX wrote: With all do respect, CAD systems don't design.

You are absolutely correct. I work in construction, and can remember when the first CAD-generated residential plans started coming in. - They were mainly crap, generated by junior designers with little savy. An engineer friend in his 70s recently "mastered" Autocad. So at 48 I should be able to. I want to add some skill sets to my quiver, and if I can realize a lifelong dream of designing car bodys in the process, all the better. Is Rhinoceros something that you'd use for the entire process? Or is it primarily something that you'd use for finishing out a design generated elsewhere?

Good. Glad to hear we are on the same page.

Your original post looked like you were looking for a quick way to design something for the Factory Five contest.

If you are prepared to invest the time, there is no reason you can't learn the tool.

I am a CAD user and have a lot of trouble with Sketchup. It thinks differently than I do. I can't make my brain work that way. Maybe I am just not prepared to invest the time it will take...

Is your primary interest 3D modeling for cars, architectural drafting for work, or other?

What plays well with AutoCad?

Or better yet, what plays well with CAD programs designed to also generate machine code, like MicroVellum?