United3dArtists Archive

Hi guys, I've a few questions and I hope you'll help me make final decision.

First things first. My wife makes first steps in interior design using ArchiCAD (edu license for now) and I need something to be helpful in modelling objects for her. Every time she needs specific model/object she has to find it online or create it herself using ArchiCAD. This software has some modeling tools, but they are very basic and IMHO not efficient, so it's huge waste of time. That's why I came up with idea of helping her by using different tool for modeling and rendering. I'm not new in CGI, but I haven't used any 3D software for almost 10 years. A decade ago I used 3ds and rhino (just for fun).

So, as I said, I think I might need a nice tool for object modelling. Is Modo the one I should think of? I also consider Modo as a good rendering engine. As everyone knows most ArchiCAD owners use Artlantis for rendering purposes. In my opinion it's too simple, however it might be a good choice for people like my wife. Is it a good idea to use ArchiCAD + Modo? Or maybe it would be better to buy upcoming Artlantis 5? It's really simple and made mainly for CAD users, however if I had to spend money on separate rendering engine I'd choose Maxwell Render (v3 to be released soon).

I know there's a lot of questions, but I'd like to make a decision and move on. One last thing, what is the best way to share (import/export) files between ArchiCAD and Modo? Is there any hope for good cooperation between those two applications?

You must have a lot of money to spend !
I go a different a lot less expensive way....
I use Thea as a render engine which is a fraction of the price and gives you 100 % realistic results in all those cases I dont use Vue
and I model in moi3d and Sketchup...(note that Moi3d is from the same person that made Rhino but its much newer and easier..and Sketchup is becoming pretty much a standard in architectural drafting..)
http://www.thearender.com/cms/"
http://moi3d.com/"
http://www.sketchup.com"
Note that Thea can use ther free version of Sketchup and moi3d can give out Sketchup files...
so this is a very coherent workflow....
Peter

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWwA4Q_C74A"

Sketchup for Archicad..
http://www.graphisoft.com/downloads/add ... index.html"

Rayman, thank you for reply. The less money I spend the better

Thea render looks good, I have thought about it, but Modo has really good rendering engine AFAIK. If I decide to spend money on separate rendering engine it will definately happen in some time. Maxwell Render learning edition costs 195 USD. I know it's not for commercial use, but I could upgrade it to full version when my wife goes commercial. However, as I said, Thea looks fine.

When it comes to money Thea costs about 300€ plus 30€ (plugin). It's about 440 USD. Moi3d costs about 300 USD, so in total it's about 740 USD. I'd prefer to spend additional 150 USD and buy Modo (40% off promotion or second hand license). Of corse Thea might be better at rendering than Modo, but as far as modelling is concerned I suppose there is no competition between Modo and Moi3d or SketchUp.

Lesiu wrote:Rayman, thank you for reply. The less money I spend the better

Thea render looks good, I have thought about it, but Modo has really good rendering engine AFAIK. If I decide to spend money on separate rendering engine it will definately happen in some time. Maxwell Render learning edition costs 195 USD. I know it's not for commercial use, but I could upgrade it to full version when my wife goes commercial. However, as I said, Thea looks fine.

When it comes to money Thea costs about 300€ plus 30€ (plugin). It's about 440 USD. Moi3d costs about 300 USD, so in total it's about 740 USD. I'd prefer to spend additional 150 USD and buy Modo (40% off promotion or second hand license). Of corse Thea might be better at rendering than Modo, but as far as modelling is concerned I suppose there is no competition between Modo and Moi3d or SketchUp.

they are just so different... you cant compare them.....
I also have Modo and i didnt use it that much....
Nurbs is nurbs and poly is poly......
But quite frankly each of them has a trial version so that you can try first for yourself....free of charge..
Peter