02-19-2007, 11:57 PM

Hi, I am going to be building a new computer desk soon and have drawn up some plans on paper but would like to make a 3D model of the actual desk on the computer. I know I could easily do this with Autodesk Inventor, BUT they dont make it for OS X :sigh: Is there any program that you know of that I could do something like this? It doesnt have to be able to do textures and everything, but colored 3D blocks that you can cut and shape would work great...

02-20-2007, 12:00 AM

I have never used it but people tend to recommend "Blender" because its free and has some professional features. There is also "Maya" if you want to pay for the software, which is owned by autodesk if you are brand loyal.

02-20-2007, 12:03 AM

Originally Posted by PowerBookG4

I have never used it but people tend to recommend "Blender" because its free and has some professional features. There is also "Maya" if you want to pay for the software, which is owned by autodesk if you are brand loyal.

Alright thanks, I will have to check those both out. I am not very brand loyal as I dont use inventor or autocad much, but i do know that autodesk makes some good products. Thanks for the quick response BTW...

02-20-2007, 12:04 AM

Originally Posted by ste6168

Alright thanks, I will have to check those both out. I am not very brand loyal as I dont use inventor or autocad much, but i do know that autodesk makes some good products. Thanks for the quick response BTW...

No problem.. Good luck!

02-20-2007, 12:50 AM

+1 for blender, great program, just started using it not too long ago so im still learning, but it seems fairly powerful and the price is right.

02-20-2007, 05:31 AM

There is also Strata 3D. It isn't free though.

02-20-2007, 06:41 PM

Originally Posted by MacHeadCase

There is also Strata 3D. It isn't free though.

Wow, thanks for providing me with that link because, although i didnt pay for that program, searching the net for strata 3D brought up some interesting stuff about google sketchup which is the exact type of program I need. Very simple, user freindly, and not extremely detailed like the others. Thanks

02-20-2007, 06:49 PM

Glad you liked it. I tried the Strata demo a few years back and the renders have a watermark on them though so not usable very much. But I like that program and it does radiosity renders that are really sweet.

I didn't tell you about Modo but I think (but am not sure at all of this) that it's a command line modeling app. I've seen renders and they are awesome though.

A place you can check out for news is about CAD and 3D for Mac is Architosh.

02-20-2007, 11:18 PM

as yet another suggestion, i used a program called 'form Z' my first couple of years at college, i think it was a mac program (though i used the pc version) i dont know how widely used it is, but it was a very easy program to work with.

02-21-2007, 05:40 AM

Oh yeah! Good point, Subwall!

form·Z! I had tried a demo years ago but never could get past the interface it was way too funky for me. It used to be developed by a French company now I see auto·des·sys is now developing the software.

Anyway, looking at the interface, it sure has calmed down a bit since I used it.

03-02-2007, 06:44 PM

Forgot about Cinema 4D, solidThinking which were updated today.

On the other hand, I had never heard of Art of Illusion.