Robert McNeel and Associates headquartered in Seattle offers Rhinoceros 3D (or Rhino 3D), a 3D modeling and design application. Rhino can create, edit, analyze, document, render, animate, and translate NURBS curves, surfaces and solids, subdivision geometry (SubD), point clouds, and polygon meshes.
$995
one-time fee
SOLIDWORKS
Score 8.3 out of 10
N/A
Dassault Systemes offers SOLIDWORKS, a computer-aided design (CAD) system for education and manufacturing supporting 2D or 3D design, electrical design, simulations, and product development with collaboration tools.
Rhino3D was built to excel at modeling complex, freeform surfaces with excellent continuity of shape. Rhino3D's large community, robust plug-ins and generative modeling with Grasshopper make it unique. Rhino3D is very affordable providing excellent value for the financial …
Rhinoceros 3D is an excellent tool for quick concepts, as are programs like SketchUp and AutoCAD. However, Rhinoceros 3D excels at being flexible in terms of file exports and the capability to work with other software easily like Adobe Creative Suite, Revit, and more. It is a …
SOLIDWORKS has all of the features and functionality needed for nearly any engineering and design task. Onshape is catching up and will work for many tasks, but SOLIDWORKS still has the edge. SOLIDWORKS is easy to pick up and use and, with a wide reach and large install base, …
Rhinoceros 3D is very well-suited for buildings with repetitive bay layouts as a design can be quickly be updated (span, number of bay, height etc) simply by updating a couple numerical sliders. It is also well suited to quickly update one model (for example Revit) based on the changes in another model (either another Revit model or an analysis model). Rhinoceros 3D is not well-suited for teams that are not interested in learning GrassHopper as most of Rhino's value is in GrassHopper.
As a mechanical engineer, it is one of the best tools to just start modeling and engineering with. The UI tools are intuitive and engineering analysis such Mold Analysis, FEA, are great! Other 3D CAD modeling tools have a longer learning curve to master. All in all, if you're not planning to design an entire airplane with large assembly files, then Solidworks is your tool!
The collaborative work environment is a cool and useful feature where groups of people can work on the same model at the same time, and SOLIDWORKS ensures that you don't overwrite each other's work.
The ease and amount of customization options are very useful for creating a personalized and intuitive user interface, whether SOLIDWORKS is your native CAD package or not.
It is very easy to quickly edit a model you have already created. The software allows sketch and feature editing without having to take the time to actually enter the sketch/feature environment.
The use of configurations and configurations-specific dimensions in the same sketch is very useful for creating different forms of the same part
To date, the baked in surfacing tools lack power compared to dedicated surfacing software.
In a similar vein, the core modeling kernel is not owned by SOLIDWORKS themselves and so there exists limitations with regards to implementing certain modeling/math.
SOLIDWORKS is playing catchup to other online vendors of CAD (notable OnShape); instead of being the once leader, they are being forced to compare themselves. This, however, may work to their advantage and in turn allow them to produce a better on-line CAD tool.
I have been using SOLIDWORKS for around 12 years as of writing this review, so have learned where most things are and how they work. When first starting out it was quite daunting, but the interface is well laid out with like functions near each other which made finding new functions relatively easy.
A majority of the support for Rhinoceros 3D does not come from the company itself, but from online forums and boards where other Rhinoceros 3D users outline their issues and solutions. The Rhinoceros 3D website does not offer much in-depth support and just outlines general how to's. At the same time, online forums allow for more specific issues to be addressed and solved by the Rhinoceros 3D community.
We have an unusual arrangement. We don’t pay for support, but we’re partnered with a VAR for second-tier support.
I work with other users if I have questions but when we’ve had to ask the VAR, they always have answers. It appears that all of the VARs have access to a support platform from DS SOLIDWORKS that helps them answer most questions.
Rhino is a generic platform. For BIM, you can combine it with Revit or ARCHICAD or look for extensions, such as VisualArq or the GeometyGym extensions for Grasshopper. Due to its good interoperability, I often use it for reviewing AutoCAD drawings or converting 3D models. That said, the most efficient and fast mesh modeling for non-organic geometry is still SketchUp, due to its many smart approaches to automatic mesh cleanup.
Onshape is a direct competitor. It has great entry level pricing and it is easy to access with no installation required. Being a web based app there is sometime some lag being based in NZ. Management also have concerns over where the data is stored on the cloud. With SW we can control where it is stored
Personally a lot of really cool designs have made it into the real world thanks to my good friend Rhino. Being in the architecture, the ROI is elevated design through giving talented designers the right tool to pull it off.
Hard to answer directly. Given our customer's needs, we absolutely have to have SW to open their file types.
Given the relatively limited use we need at our company, it would be useful to have a cheaper option that was more stripped down but still had some capabilities. Something in-between SW and eDrawings, for example. SW is very capable and expensive, eDrawings is free and super limited. Would be nice to have a middle option.
