Im new to blender and just wondering if blender’s renders are superior to: Autocad/TurboCAD/Inventor etc?
Does blender import from any of the above CAD programs as imported files?
Is/are there a best import file format?
Does blender recognize layers and blocks from the above CAD programs?
( if not then do all layers & blocks need to be included in the main drawing alone)
FYI: most of my design work is done in the above CAD programs, rendering is well just ok but not great without significant time invested in rendering whilst trying to get the material, lighting, shadows and luminance spot on. Just hoping that I can learn to use blender to accomplish what is a mission and then some in the above!
Blender vs. AutoCAD: Blender, hands down.
Blender vs. TurboCAD: not sure, but I’m betting on Blender.
Blender vs. Inventor: even money*
Rendering through Inventor is good (good enough for most purposes), plus there isn’t any need for translations. For high quality work you need dedicated software like Blender. However, there’s some gymnastics involved getting objects from one (AutoCAD, Inventor, whatever) to the other. Its easier to get Autodesk content directly into 3DSMAX, which many users already have access to.
Note that rendering in Blender isn’t necessarily going to be faster, especially if you are looking at higher quality. There’s a lot of optimizing to be done to keep render times reasonable.
There’s been some discussion here in a few threads about using cad models for rendering in Blender. In general, cad systems do not mesh very well. There are some exceptions, such as Moi3d, which is inexpensive and has the best mesh output (quads, or mostly quads) from a cad model according to many users.
Typically spending some time with the mesh to get the smoothing and hard edges looking the way they should is necessary. With a complex model with lots of filleting, the time could be significant.
There is a Blender DXF importer for AutoCAD. However, it does not support solid modeling embedded as ACIS (SAT) format. Most cad apps will use ACIS to export a solid model. If the model can be converted to a mesh first before exporting to DXF, then the meshes should be imported. Its best to export to DXF v12 ASCII format.
I can’t comment on how multiple layers transfer, I’m dealing typically with single layers. If blocks are an issue, try exploding them before export.
Blender doesn’t import CAD, but theres a freewareprogram called ‘HeeksCAD’ which can import IGS and STP and can output a good STL file for import into Blender.
disclaimer:
know goals, be aware of intent, then you can choose your superior app:
CAD - computer aided design / industrial, mechanized reproduction
DCC - digital creative content / visual & interactive, artistic representation