Why use Rhino? - Rhino Tutorial

- [Dave] You may be wondering, why use Rhino? It's actually a very good question. I've been using Rhino for almost 20 years in my industry design practice, which is one of Rhino's strongest areas. We've also discussed in other videos that it's a great fit for architecture, jewelry, vehicle design, and a few other categories. But it can be confusing, since there's more than 30 other 3D apps and file formats to choose from, including some which are completely free. I'm gonna try to cut through the clutter and give you Dave's top five reasons to use Rhino. The top of the list is what I called creative freedom. Rhino provides kind of a non-structured workflow where you can do a lot of experimentation inside the interface. Some software doesn't offer this, it's very structured and linear, which I'm not a fan of. Also, Rhino is very focused on 3D modeling, allowing you to add extra features, only if you want them, with plugins. In fact, it's so well-written, I feel that you can run this on much older computers than other software. Next, Rhino is great for the full range of design services, from the initial blackout models, all the way through rendering, prototyping, and manufacturing. Other competeing software may work in some of these areas, but I like the fact that Rhino can take me from the beginning to the end of the process. Rhino works really well with other file formats. In fact, it's kind of nicknamed the universal translator, and I've had a lot of clients purchase Rhino just to open up files in other formats. Not only will Rhino open a wide-variety of file formats, it can also export an equal number of file formats. So that gives you kind of a leg up on some of the other software which is a little more restrictive. And finally, support and community. So besides great courses like this one you're watching right now, McNeel has a lot of support, including their excellent website, which we're gonna talk about a little bit later in this course. To help understand why Rhino could be the best software for you, we're gonna talk about the competitors and how these guys are organized into two distinct categories. Lot of beginners aren't even aware that the separation between the two different file types, so they will propose using a polygonal or 3D visualization software instead of a precision NURBS modeling software, which is what Rhino is and you probably will need if you're interested in industrial design. So some examples of this first category is Studio Max, Maya, and Modo. Now the reason I call them polygonal is that's their primary way of working is a lot of straight faceted edges. This is great for special effects and video game characters, but it really breaks down when you get into the prototyping and manufacturing phase, which is why you want to be into the second category, where Rhino is, a precision or NURBS modeling software. One of the big players here is SolidWorks, this is the one I mentioned earlier where it's kind of a very linear and structured workflow, which I don't care for. But you can always start in Rhino and go to any of the other software packages, if that's your preference. Now you can see in the penguin down below on the far-right, that's a much higher quality, smoother surface. So anything you'd be concerned about in prototyping or manufacturing, like exact wall thicknesses or specific-size fillets, that's not a problem, and why you wanna be with a NURB modeling software. That's not particularly easy or even possible with the polygonal modelers shown to the left. All right, it's always fun to take a look at some cool examples to get excited about learning a brand new software. These are three projects I've worked on in the last few years. This first one is a concept computer I did for a competition. And this was designed in Rhino 5. I did the rendering with one of those plugins called V-Ray. Next project is Luna. This is a prototype robot, which actually was functioning, about five feet tall, and worked fantastic. And the final project is called Triple Flip. This is a concept mobile phone. Also, designed in Rhino 5 and rendered with V-Ray. We also used another plugin called Bongo, which gave us the capability to do some limited animation as you're seeing right now. If you're interested in additional product examples, you can go to the McNeel gallery page, or my website, both listed here on the screen. So if you're working towards a new job, or a better job that is 3D intensive, whether it's for designing, prototyping, manufacturing, you're gonna be in great shape with Rhino 6.