How many people are using the Rhino bundles?

[Rob27]

I am looking at getting Rhino, but I am wondering if I should get the bundle which is Flamingo, Bongo, Penguin, and Rhino. Im not real sure what the other three are with Rhino, but without these, will it limit me in Rhino to do 3D designs to run in a CAM program? I was thinking of running Vectric 3D and Vcarve for the CAM programs.

I have had prevous modeling experience with Unigraphics NX3 and 5, Autodesk Inventor, and some I-DEAS (I dont remember much from it though). How does Rhino compare to these programs? Do they have similar features?

Should I get the Rhino bundle with all four programs, or just Rhino?

Lets hear some thoughts...

Thanks!

[chmillman]

No. Flamingo and Penguin are renderers - for making images - so unless you're doing that, you don't need them. Bongo is for keyframe animation so you can make objects move and create small video clips... If you don't do presentations, you won't need that either.

If you're looking for add-ons, you might want to look at Spaceclaim, which will extend Rhino's 3D modeling capacity to give it real-time solids editing capabilities... Otherwise, you'll be fine with just Rhino for modeling. You also might want to look at VisualMill/RhinoCAM and/or MadCAM for CAM software. --ch

[idtkid]

I agree, just get Rhino for now. Its simple but full featured, easy to learn, but very capable. Solid modeling programs (like spaceclaim) are only necessary for doing large assemblies or designing for production otherwise Rhino will be all you need! Find a kid in kindergarten through college and buy it with there name so you can get the under $200 deal! :x

[Rob27]

Thanks for the replies guys. Well I am a college student right now, and I have seen the student edition, which makes it well within my budget.

Another question, is Rhino a parametric model program or more of a free form program?

[kdoney]

Autocad has a nice student program. I use both but I mainly use autocad for mechanical applications. RhinoCAM is great but I'm just learning VisualTurn. The only true parametric cad I've used is Pro/Engineer wildfire. I never got the hang of it. Of course some people think any programmable cad system (macros, c, etc.) is parametric.