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Rotate tool: Rhino Vs Alias

12 REPLIES 12
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Message 1 of 13
sergio_m
4197 Views, 12 Replies

Rotate tool: Rhino Vs Alias

I was a Rhinoceros user passed to Alias in the last year.

 

Alias is great, better than rhino in many things but there is one thing that I always miss from rhino: the precision of its transformation tools and snaps.

 

In rhino the Rotate tool allow you not only to choose the center of rotation but also a point FROM where to move the objetct and a point TO where to bring the first reference point.

 

In Alias instead you can just rotate roughly with your mouse hoping that your hand has been precise enough to bring the object to the point you were wishing for... or of course you can enter a precise angle value... but is quite useless if you do not know the angle needed.

 

Sometime is possible to cope to this lack with the Place tool but in other cases this tool is useless.

 

I am going to show an example of what I mean so that you can give me tips on how to achieve the same result I was having with Rhino.

 

Moving CVs I will create a soft Hexagon starting from a Cylinder Surface

INTRO.jpg

 

In Alias when I have to bring the closer couple of CVs back to a position that is centered to the middle of the previous wider couple of CVs I will never be really precise because the movement has to be made by hand.

The only way to be precise would be to use a locator but it is quite annoyng to use this process every time.

LOOK AT THIS IMAGE FOR BETTER UNDERSTAND:

http://img69.imageshack.us/i/aliasg.jpg/

 

With Rhino instead I can simply choose a center of rotation (like the pivot in Alias) then I select the first reference point (the middle point between the two CVs I want to move) and then I select any point on the line that I know is passing throught the center of rotation and the point I want my CVs to be. It is as quick and precise as it is difficult to replicate in Alias.

LOOK AT THIS IMAGE FOR BETTER UNDERSTAND:

http://img163.imageshack.us/i/rhinoh.jpg/

 

How is possible that such a high level program does not allow to do such a simple operation?

For some kind of work a rotate tool like rhino would make me save loads of time and it would make me reach a better precision.

 

And the same thing happen with the scaling tool. The problem is solved with curves thanks to the Transform Curve tool but is not enough.

12 REPLIES 12
Message 2 of 13
pfylim
in reply to: sergio_m

i'm considering rhino now.

Message 3 of 13
donest
in reply to: pfylim

It's not exactly clear to me what you are trying to do. Sorry. You can grab your CVs and, in this case, rotate 60 degrees. Then, to move them back, rotate them -60 degrees by typing that value. You can also rotate the original CVs with the informatiom window open to see exactly how many degrees you are freely rotating them with your mouse. Then, just pick those CVs and type in the information window "0" for each one. Also, you can rotate them as you did originally, and then just "CTRL Z" to undue that rotation. If you zoom in somewhat while rotating, you can be as accurate as 1/10,000 of a degree.

Message 4 of 13
anonamice
in reply to: donest

I understand, He is exactly right, the snaps in rhino are a much better solution to this type of problem and much nicer to work with.
Message 5 of 13
ravenzep
in reply to: anonamice

Looks like the only issue here is not alias, but people's lack of knowledge about surfacing, and i will not delve deeper into it.

Trying to compare anything between Rhino and Alias is quite absurd. Wouldn't be fair on Rhino.

Simply put, Alias is a state of the art professional free surface modeller, whereas Rhino is not professional at all, and cannot even closely achieve the surface quality of Alias. Comparing them is just laughable, sorry.

 

Regarding this snapping thing, I assure you, that you can do anything rhino does, in alias. You just do not do it in the same manner. Rhino is nice for getting started and starting learning basic nurbs, and that s it. Have you ever wondered why not a single car company uses rhino? It costs 1000 euros, not 50 k + euros like alias automotive. Why spending 49,000 or more euros ? Hmmmm....There must be a million reasons, no?

 

But the part I liked best, is the user considering the move to rhino. I think this summarizes everything really.

We should not confuse software with the ability or knowledge to model Class-A surfaces.

 

Personally, I find Rhino atrocious for quality surfacing, because it can´t do it and it does not have the tools. I could go on and on and state a thousand reasons, but I will leave that for the interested people in figuring it out.

 

As a side note, there are more professional apps, CAD oriented, that will do this kind of constraint snapping in a thousand different ways rhino cannot even dream about, for example CATIA, or NX.

Each application is developped with precise objectives in mind, tailored for the job it is supposed to perform.

 

Sorry, rhino does not deliver. It s only good for people who cant really model professional 3D surfacing, because it does not have the tools. Simple. And wasnt developped for that. It s just a general free surface modeller.

 

Good luck with rhino.

 

 

Message 6 of 13
anonamice
in reply to: sergio_m

Nonsense , this discussion is not even remotely about surfacing its about the implementation of transformations and usability. Say whatever makes you feel superior. 

 

Rhino is extremly usable. I use it for architecture product desgine  and in combination with grasshopper for parametric desgine and love it. I also use ad software and rhinos treatment of transformations is just generally better implemented in my mind.

 

Looks like the only limitation is your understanding that people use cad for more than just auto surfacing, so maybe we don't all need 50k software. But that also raises the question of why a simple transformation is more useable and accurate in a 1k package. And if you want better surfcing capability in rhino you can purchase the vsr add on for an extra 500.

 

People use rhino because its great, not because we are all stupid. Get over your self. 

 

 

 

Message 7 of 13
ravenzep
in reply to: sergio_m

This forum is about real surfacing, not kiddies stuff like rhino, which I happen to know inside out, by the way.

 

And yes, rhino is great for making walls , rectangles, and simple stuff like that.

And everyone is entitled to his own opinion, and I expressed mine. Apparently , you are a socialist, and you are probably used to a collective mentality, and I m not of that kind and believe in freedom. We are talking about software, not me.

 

Have fun with rhino making cubes!

Message 8 of 13
anonamice
in reply to: sergio_m

Thanks for proving my point...lunatic!

Message 9 of 13
ravenzep
in reply to: anonamice

Nobody proved your point, and you dont have a point. You are just ignorant, and you are not supposed to understand.

You are just stupid, and you think is cool to use alias because it s what all professionals use. The problem is, you don't have a clue about what you are talking about. Don't waste people's time here, idiot. Keep trying to learn real stuff from the torrents you dowload.....LOL

Message 10 of 13
pfylim
in reply to: sergio_m

alias seems to have a lot of low level nurbs granularity if you need it. i initially tried to pick up alias as i was designing a watch, spend countless hours (about 2 weeks) learning and trying to model a biomorphic surface (everything surface is curved from drawings) and i have given up. believe me, i have tried many surfacing/nurbs modelling strategies and it is f***cking hard to ELEGANTLY get fluid shapes.

 

also my concern is that if i do manage to achieve the surface i'm after i think i will not be able to EASILY make drastic changes to it without breaking the model. i'm not into having countless versions of something, the amount of time i have spent working with alias has totally put me off. perhaps if i had put in 6 months of work it'd be different but i have other things to do.

Message 11 of 13
donest
in reply to: sergio_m

Alias is not a simple program. I have been using it for about 19 years now, and there are tools that I never use. Perhaps some, I SHOULD, but I am not familiar with them. My company depends on me to be productive, so I have little time to learn new things. It may be that for your watch Maya may be the route to go.

 

It is a mistake to think that for any high end program, you will spend a couple of weeks, or a couple of months, using it and Presto! You are an expert! It doesn't happen that way. It is only through familiarity with the program that you determine the best way to go to create what you are aiming for. 

 

It was hugely beneficial to me to have a couple of Alias users that the company hired to work with, and teach me what we needed, in order to produce the desired results. They were not at our location, but a phone call was usually all that was needed. Plus, the machines that we had to use were Silicon Graphics Indgo2's. They were Unix based machines, so were at times difficult for me, but the GUI was nice.

 

You can compare learning Alias to learning Karate. You do not walk into a Dojo and within a couple of weeks, or a couple of months, become a black belt. You have to learn the basics first, and practise all of the punches, kicks, and moves to progress through each rank until you earn that black belt.

Message 12 of 13
pfylim
in reply to: donest

thanks for the feedback and for confirming my suspicions. essentially alias requires me to break everything up into square surfaces at the same time ensuring elegant amount of besier points. allowing the program to make nurbs decisions for you is rolling a dice. you need to be a bit of a master to be able to do that well and quickly. i have since been looking at zbrush, modo and poly based modellers as i think they are best for initial biomorphic work especially at initial stages of conceptualisation. alias would be fine if in the final phase of ensuring correct specs for moulds for final production (no gaps in model, etc). 

 

i think alias should more like a weapon augmenting the warrior's capabilities rather than a full discipline in itself, as my "karate" is the pencil (ie. design).

Message 13 of 13
donest
in reply to: donest

@pfylim.....

It would be helpful if you uploaded a sketch of the surface that was giving you trouble. There are a couple of other modelers in my company that use Rhino, and my biggest complaint when I have to work with one of their files is that each object is broken up into multiple parts, where, in Alias, I create the same thing, and it's ONE surface.

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