Suggest a software please

[lamborg]

I am a student and I am looking for a PC software for Car designing and modelling.
Which software compared to others is easier but doesn't compromise on features. I'll be learning the software independently so, it should have tutorials, ebooks and magazines available for it.
I was having a look at Autodesk Alias Automotive but a quick search did not give me any tutorial, other than 1 or 2.

Also, it would be great if the software is widely used in the industry so I can have a plus point on my CV rather than a software which is barely recognized. BTW I will be starting off with learning the software besides the regular studies. So, not a professional yet but have interest in this. I have some experience in Adobe Photoshop and I have never used any programs like 3DS MAX, 4D Cinema etc.

[wizard509]

Welcome to TG lamborg,
Many of us here prefer Xara products such as Photo & Graphics Designer or Designer Pro. You can download free trials here.

http://www.xara.com/

this Software is vector based and not like rastor graphics produced by other programs such as photoshop, or Artweaver for example in that you can make the image quite large without getting the "jaggies". Depends on what you are doing though because some of the effects are bitmaps (such as shadows made with the shadow tool).

Look at these threads to see what can be done with this software.

http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...pencer-Gallery
http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...?58409-Mustang
http://www.talkgraphics.com/showthre...evrolet-Impala

If you want to go 3D, give Blender a shot. It is free and open source with lots of tutorials and information. Learn this and the others might be easier to learn but I don't know.

A long time ago I spent quite a bit of time learning to use Anim8or, it is still available and will run on my windows 7 machine, but help is almost nonexistent.

Photoshop seems to be the industry standard and widely used but it is costly, as are Maya, 3D Studio MAX, Cinema 4D.
Any 3D application has a steep learning curve so expect that.

If you want to get into a professional environment using 3D tools perhaps 3D Studio Max would be a good bet.

I do not know what software car designers use, you might see if you can locate one and ask, but I suspect they use something like Autocad.

[Mike Bailey]

I am a student and I am looking for a PC software for Car designing and modelling.

Autodesk has student editions.

Check out http://www.carbodydesign.com/
lots of useful info.

http://www.cardesignnews.com/site/ca...ign_positions/
Look at the automotive designer jobs and see what software skills you must have to qualify for a job.

[Barry Wilde]

well, if you want something that is free, Blender would be a good choice. though it is quite tricky to use. on the other hand, if you want something that is more in the line of CAD, then you have to go with the free version of Google Sketchup.

[pauland]

lamborg, try and find a company working on car design and write to them asking if you could pay them a visit.

If your lucky, they'll say yes and you can visit, have a fun experience and get good advice.

Far better than guessing.

Paul

[gidgit]

Hi, and welcome to TG... I think that artistic ability is the key component here, while the software requirements vary some, from company to company... from what I am able to gather, most auto designs end up within Alias, and or, Catia, etc... this said, the concepts are done via either freehand sketching, and or, with your fav 2d graphics app, or/then are sculpted with real clay, and/or are designed primarily within a nurbs app... however, with the modern subd toolsets now available, many auto concepts are designed within most any fav subd app, then converted to nurbs, then are imported into main design app such as alias etc... hope this helps some

[edm3]

Not sure it exists. I mean, sure, lots of 3D software exists that allows you to create 'class A', 'Degree 5+', 'curvature-continuous' nurbs surfaces. Some parametric, some not. Some $20k+, some < $1k. Some painful to use, and some a delight. I'm sure you can gather this much from a simple google search.

What comes to my mind though, is that these are all tools that allow a person to create things that are good, or things that kinda suck - like cars! I'm always amazed at the mypic perspective of folks (usually younger males) that can't get their minds off cars, and they'll spend their days sketching them, modelling them in 3D, etc. I think it's high time that these folks pull their heads out of their butts and recognize that car design isn't serving anyone other than their own childish egos. Really, I mean, yeah, I 'get' the notion of "mobile sculpture" - but that's kinda like calling the barrel of a tommy gun "elegant in it's simplicity".

Pardon my rant

My recommendation - don't use something that costs you so much that you then have to compromise your ethics (via toxic projects) to pay for. As has already been mentioned, there are open-source packages for both 2D and 3D. The windows version of Xara is good, fair, and doesn't force you to compromise your ideals (should you have them). And it's a total pleasure to use when compared with illustrator. Inkscape is a great open-source vector program that I have very limited experience with.
- 3D? I would recommend that you steer clear of software that is so closed that you need to pay ~ $2k/yr just to talk to the community who uses it. To get service releases, support - it's a trap, a nasty little trap that they placate you with the belief that it's the only software that can create such geometry/topology - absolute horse manure. As a student, you have lots of options - but again, look out for the traps - subscriptions/once you become pro, the price becomes 'ethics compromising', etc.
- If you're looking to do sculptural forms (i.e. cars if we were still in the 20th century), I'd say check out things like Alias (trap?), Rhino (good humans), Moi (good human), or anything that you can work with subD surfaces and get them into manufacturable data (i.e. modo, silo, etc.)

If you're here, thanks for reading. Sorry about the rant, but I'm always a little disheartened when I see potentially helpful designers sketching objects that kill us.

[gidgit]

Hi edm3... While I totally agree with the idea of starting out with most any tool set that does the job, as in apposed to just diving right into the deep end, with big expensive solutions, I found the rant about cars and ego's a tad offensive towards any artist pursuing such. We could debate the pro's and cons of auto's and the planet, or people's interest's etc, all life long, but this is probably not the place to do so.. just saying

[edm3]

Hi gidgit,

It's unfortunate that you found my statements offensive. It wasn't the intent.

On the bright side, I feel much better having said it