Big Software purchase imminent, need advice

[Creationtwentytwo]

Hi guys,

 

I'm about to graduate from my Architectural degree and it will soon be time to purchase some CAD/CG software of my own. The problem is, I'm faced with various options and I wanted to get some opinions on which may benefit me most. To throw another spanner in the works, I'm primarily a Mac user and if at all possible would like to remain OS X native, rather than BootCamp.

 

Here's what is available to me;

 

Any AutoDesk product can be obtained at a greatly reduced price. AD run a very generous program where Students can upgrade to a Commercial license for a substantial discount.

 

So; AutoCAD for Mac /AutoCAD Architecture (PC Only)

3DS Max (PC Only)

Maya (Mac/PC)

 

Each of those cost ~£400

 

VectorWorks Designer (Mac/PC) ~£1800 (no upgrade path for Student>Commercial)

 

Adobe apps also have a clause that allows student editions of CS5+ to be used for commercial purposes, although they're not eligible for paid upgrades. I'm fine with that since I've been using CS3 for years and haven't felt compelled to upgrade. Photoshop/Illustrator will likely be staple apps for me so I'd probably go with Design Premium which is ~£350

 

Adobe locks licenses to platforms though so I'd have to choose Mac or PC.

 

SketchUp is an option at around ~£300.

 

Finally VRay (for whichever 3D package I go for) ~£600

 

I'm just not sure which combination of apps to go for. I'm fluent in all of the above apps (before starting my Arch degree I had a childhood dream of being an animator so I learned Maya back before AD purchased it).

 

Primary usage will be small-medium residential projects with visualisation being an important part of the workflow. I can't see BIM being 100% necessary at this stage but of course the way things are going it may make sense to consider it at this stage.

 

Obviously the most powerful solution would be ACAD Architecture / 3DS Max / VRay, but that leaves me well and truly Windows only.

 

Alternative would be VectorWorks, but it's the most expensive option and I'm not sure how happy I'd be to lose the modeling capabilities of Maya/Max.

 

AutoCAD Mac + Sketchup + VRay is the obvious Mac choice, although again I lose any kind of modeling power from Max/Maya.

 

I then considered ACAD Mac + Maya (with a view to using mentalRay as my renderer) but I'm not sure how well Maya handles DWG's, probably nowhere near as well as Max or even Sketchup.

 

As you can see, I'm in a bit of a pickle here so any insight or suggestions from a fresh mind would be much appreciated!

 

Many thanks,

 

Tom

[David Arbogast]

Tom,

My feeling is that software is far more important than software. Meaning software should drive the hardware choices, not the other way around. For architecture I like 3ds Max + Vray (and other great Max plugins like ItooSoft Forest Pack)...on a PC. I don't know about your part of the world, but here AutoCAD is like a dinosaur; my office has standardized on Revit. So, if you can get Revit too, that might really help your skill set depending on what your market is like and what your career goals are.

[Flint]

Whereabouts are you upgrading from a student version to a full version for £400 (3ds Max). I'd be very interested in this but can't see the offer.

[Scott Schroeder]

Whereabouts are you upgrading from a student version to a full version for £400 (3ds Max). I'd be very interested in this but can't see the offer.

 

A lot of the time this is through the license with the University. Where I graduated and now teach, we have a deal with Autodesk where any student can get a 13 month renewable student license of any product for free as long as they are currently registered with the program, and upon graduation they can upgrade for super cheap. However, this is all through the University and the student's account, so I'm not sure if you just have the basic education version if this discount still applies.

 

As far as the original post, it all depends on where you want to apply your degree. Do you want to do more architectural stuff such as elevations, plans, etc? Do you want to do more arch viz stuff? Take a look at the various architecture firms you'd like to work for. See what software they are requiring and really learn those. Also, take a look at other firms and what they are using. You'll get a feel for what the standard packages of software you'll need to know.

 

However, expect to know the Windows environment. You won't find too many Mac heavy architecture firms, unless you are working in the video post departments. Knowing the basics of Linux won't hold you back either.

[Creationtwentytwo]

Thanks guys.

 

Yeah I think it may indeed be a little foolish to limit my choices based on personal OS preference.

 

I'd definitely like to focus on the design side of things rather than just do visualisation, and it seems here in the UK AutoCAD is still the industry standard with VW being popular amongst Interior Design firms. From what I can gather, a large majority of the 'smaller' firms in the UK are still barely adopting BIM, with a lot even using 'plain-old' AutoCAD (Not ACA).

 

Just as a follow up to my original post, and in response to your question, Flint; I spoke to Autodesk yesterday regarding license upgrades and it seems I was partially incorrect. You can get that massively reduced upgrade rate only on the 'Entertainment Suite' packages, so Max, Maya, MudBox and XSI, unfortunately it doesn't apply to any of the CAD/Revit packages. I think you just need to contact a reseller who will ask for your serial number of the student version, and then should be able to upgrade you to commercial. Some resellers do seem unaware that this is possible though, BlueGFX are the company I spoke to who knew exactly how to process it.

 

So with that said, it seems AutoCAD may now be out of my budget, and VectorWorks is ~ half the price, so I think I've made my mind up.

 

My Student licenses are still valid until I 'officially' graduate in June so I have a bit of time to start to get to grips with Revit too to widen my skillset.

 

I also had the chance to check out VRay for SketchUp which quite honestly blew me away, I don't know why but I was expecting a 'watered down' version, but it's the same renderer!

 

Thanks again

[Flint]

Thanks for letting me know guys and sorry Tom for kind of hijacking your thread. I'll have a look into into and give BlueGFX a call.

[beestee]

Modo works on mac I believe, and would eliminate the need of vray. It is only $150 for a one-year educational license. If you can qualify in one year to renew the educational license then you can thereafter upgrade to a full version for $395.

 

This information probably would have been more useful to you a year ago