which program to use?

[d.eder]

Hi!
this question may have been asked a thousand times already but i couldnt get an answer by the forum search.

which of the programs (indigo exporters are available for) do you use for architectural purposes?
i've been working with sketchup a lot but i think i almost reached the limits.

although it would be nice to know in which program the gallery images were modeled. (a little suggestion to the developers to make the gallery even better).

thanks a lot in advance

david

[StompinTom]

Blender, FTW! I pretty much exclusively use Blender for all my arch. modeling and scene setup.

The stuff at tomsvilans.com is all done through Blender.

[Doug Armand]

+1 Blender. Great program. Takes a bit of getting used to but is pretty well featured and gives even the 'pro' software a good run for tis money.

As for Archi use - no persoanl experience but Blender does have pretty good imput for measuremnets etc so should be ok.

[Silmä]

Blender is great because it's free.

3dsMax does the same job (I guess) and probably has better integration with other Autodesk software, like Revit or Autocad. Most of commercial models (plants, furniture...) are also often in 3ds format.

I'm a blender user myself, and I've done most of my school projects (architecture) in Blender. I haven't encountered any unsurmountable problems yet.

[Zom-B]

The question is how your future plans in 3D are (work vs hobby) and also the money you plan to spend...
Are you a student, freelancer or plan to work in a special field like ArchViz?

With this informations we can suggest some App, but Blender is a great choice for sure

[Headroom]

+1 for Blender. However, if you are not used to polygon modeling Blender is certainly different to use.

If you do intend to look into Blender, currently the stable Blendigo exporter only works with Blender 2.49b.
There is a beta version for 2.5 but I doubt it works with the newest Blender beta, which is 2.5.6a.

[CoolColJ]

I don't like Blender, hard to use, not intuitive IMO

[d.eder]

hey! thanks for the answers. it kinda looks like i should get into blender soon.

The question is how your future plans in 3D are (work vs hobby) and also the money you plan to spend...
Are you a student, freelancer or plan to work in a special field like ArchViz?

im an architecture student but im always the guy responsible for the nice visualizations (plans, drawings [and now 3d models])
i spend quite some time with indigo already. this is because i appreciate the quality of the images you get, its just way better than the cad build in renderengines. you see where im going... for now its a hobby but i have high expectations and big ambitions.

I don't like Blender, hard to use, not intuitive IMO

which program do you use instead?

greetings
david

[CoolColJ]

I use C4D, it's definitely the easiest one of use out of the box, but it does cost money

[Silmä]

hey! thanks for the answers. it kinda looks like i should get into blender soon.

The question is how your future plans in 3D are (work vs hobby) and also the money you plan to spend...
Are you a student, freelancer or plan to work in a special field like ArchViz?

im an architecture student but im always the guy responsible for the nice visualizations (plans, drawings [and now 3d models])
i spend quite some time with indigo already. this is because i appreciate the quality of the images you get, its just way better than the cad build in renderengines. you see where im going... for now its a hobby but i have high expectations and big ambitions.

I don't like Blender, hard to use, not intuitive IMO

which program do you use instead?

greetings
david

As a student you'll have access to free educational versions of 3dsMax. If you don't have any previous experience with modeling software, I guess 3dsMax will be easier to learn (better tutorials and possibly a course at your school) and offer better integration with various cad-software. It's also more widely used by professionals.

I myself learned Blender before I became a student, so I haven't felt any reason why to not to stick with what I already know.

[Zom-B]

Since you are a student there any some nice offers from some 3D apps with educational licenses.
Even Indigo has one: http://store.glaretechnologies.com/educational/

Being a student in I would do some heavy thinking about your future. where are you in 5 years, and what is the major 3D app used in this area!?

[Headroom]

As a Blender user of many years I'd have to say that I actually agree with CoolColJ!

For me Blender is not intuitive to use but more an acquired taste. I am comfortable with it now, but it took a while. The lack of a central place of comprehensive, cohesive and coherent documentation of the softwares features have ben my biggest frustrations.

I have eyed C4D and modo myself but as a hobbyist I have so far shied away from the expense (aside from the fact that there is no exporter available for modo).

If ArchVis is your hearts desire for your future I'd recommend that you follow the excellent advise you've been getting so far. The student/educational versions available are a good deal to get to know the industries standard software packages.

[CTZn]

I won't put one application ahead, it's always the user wich does the magic. The application comes when it's a matter for the user to be at ease to do what he wants to do.

Try them out !