Topic awaiting preservation: A Newbie Needs help

Hi guys,

I am an engineer and am currently designing a control system for a crane. We have implemented the control algorithm on Matlab. Now I have to design a 3d model for this crane so that our algorithm can be demo'ed to some customers. I was looking for suggestions on good 3d rendering programs that I may be able to use for this. I have very minimal experience with 3d rendering so ease of use is very important. Also since Matlab can only interface with VRML models it is required that the program be able to export in VRML. The built in Matlab renderer is V-Realm Builder 2.0 and that thing is a piece of junk. I was just looking for some recommendations from the experts. Thank you so much for your time in advance.

vrml...bleah. a standard that never really took off. if its what you need its what you need tho.

my personal choice would be lightwave 3d by newtek. its pretty easy to pick up (as 3d packages go anyway, none of them are too easy), has some great modeling tools and a killer renderer, and according to the product specs it outputs vrml (just checked). its not cheap but it is on the lower end of the professional 3d software price range. hope that helps.

chris


KAIROSinteractive

If your crane does NOT have compound curves then I would suggest SketchUP. Its a easy to learn program which is 1) easy to use, 2) has a 20 hour trial use, 3) costs only $500 if your company buys it and 4) can handle very complex models without any problem. Check it out at http://www.sketchup.com/

Where the program will not work is with complex curves. The program also will NOT work with VRML at this time.

If you need a more powerful program then my choice is AutoCAD and 3DStudio... both have big learning curves but can do just about anything you would want and I believe will interface with VRML



[This message has been edited by reitveld (edited 10-30-2003).]