Short info: Modern cabinet maker, cnc routing, selftaught Sketchupper, schooled to draw analog, not stupid but no programmer either.
I really love Sketchup for it’s intuitive workflow. It’s almost like building stuff in the real world. Atleast for interior architecture were a lot is built from sheet material. My drawings are much more than just a picture to show to customers. They are in-depth and also function as working drawing.
But the limitations of Sketchup are obvious. A circle is not a circle, and there’s no usefull cad output.
Now I’ve been looking into Rhino. As you can imagine I have no high demands for sculpting. Wooden sheet material is my goto material which is mostly 3-axis routing. But I do digitally design and build complete rooms up to the smallest detail ready for manufacturing.
My intention is not to stir up any discussion about which software is better. To me it’s obvious Rhino is far more capable in most aspects. But it seems to lack the ease of drawing Sketchup is known for. One letter tool switch, axis lock with the arrow keys for easy moving around objects and snapping them to wherever in de 3d world, super easy offsetting, push-pulling etc.
I wonder if there are Sketchuppers here who made the switch and have some tips on the subject.
Any other input is also welcome offcourse.
I don’t know Sketchup! But I do use Rhino to model up various hobby carpentry and construction projects alongside using it to solve all kinds of issues in practice as a landscape architect.
If you’re wanting to get a better sense of how quickly/easily you’ll be able to pick up the Rhino workflow - which it sounds like you are - I’d recommend downloading the generous 90-day trial and seeing how it works for you.
Some things to get set up:
Get your snapping options set up. I don’t know of a CAD software with better snapping functionality than Rhino.
Turn on the Gumball and get familiar with its powers.
The command line is your friend. It offers all kinds of options for many commands. For example if you want to draw a vertical line or make your extrusions solid or hollow - these are command line options for the line and extrude commands.
You can mouse click on tool buttons to activate commands but I’d recommend getting fluent with the command line and setting up custom aliases to maximise your speed. More on this below.
Hit space bar to execute a command and to repeat the last command. Hit escape to exit an command or selection. Ctrl+Shift+left click to sub-object or sub-group select.
Some commands to experiment with:
For linework:
Line vs Polyline
PointsOn
ProjecttoCPlane
trim
join
rebuild
Curveboolean
For Linework>Solids:
extrudecrv
revolve
Pipe
Sweep
Loft
For Solids:
BooleanUnion
Boolean2Objects
makehole
inset
For solids>linework:
dupfaceborder
dupedge
General use:
move
copy (including copy in place via the command line)
group
ungroup
Scale
Scale1D
Scale2D
Orient2pt
Orient3pt
Distance (to measure stuff)
solidpton
Array
Arraycurve
Arraypolar
The Rhino interface is very customisable. Over time you’ll be able to optimise for your most used workflows in various ways. I attach custom aliases for many of the above commands and more. Load these via File>Properties>Aliases>Import
You’ll be able to do everything you mentioned it will just take time to learn and adjust. And in some cases you’ll need to use a different (but equally effective) approach. You’ll be able to move objects around effectively you’ll just do it differently. It might (might!!) be slightly slower but with more control. One letter switching of commands comes at a price as you’ll run out of aliases. There’s ways around that of course. Rhino 9 will actually have “instant” aliases or something similar that can replicate that behavior.
I’m also a fan of Sketchup. Comparing Sketchup is a trigger for many but I think it’s a discussion that would be incredibly valuable for Rhino users who do architecture/interior design and similar things.
Limitations of Rhino include things like a lack of content and not having well established workflows. Searching “Sketchup for Architects” on YouTube will help demonstrate. I think these things are fixable however.
Advantages, for me at least, include the Layouts which are similar to AutoCAD’s (and waaaaaaaaay better that ‘Layout’ for Sketchup, basically what made me switch to Rhino in the first place) and the command line which drastically speeds up my productivity. Coming from Sketchup to Rhino isn’t as applicable but if you’re familiar with AutoCAD there are advantages to choosing Rhino over Sketchup.
It does need to be stated that Rhino 8 does have a lot of bugs going on. I’m just getting to the stage where I can avoid them. That’s the importance of having the established workflows. Sketchup Layout can be a bit of a minefield too but if you set your templates up and do things a certain way things almost always work. Rhino will be similar I hope.
Thank you all for the replies.
I didn’t mention that I do have some experience with cad. I use Bricscad 2d for creating cnc-routing dxf’s. They have to be very exact as you can imagine. But it’s the 3d part in cad I find quite cumbersome. But I’m determined to give it fair chance now.
Let’s say I want to create these shapes. I drew 2 similar ones to make a point. When I start a project there’s a lot I don’t yet know. So trial and error is the way to go. Every part I draw will probably be altered later on.
What would be an easy workflow in Rhino? Forget parametric for now, I see that as advanced functions for in the future.
With simple objects such as these, direct editing of the solids shouldn’t be a problem. You can sub-object select side faces and move those to resize the object and use commands such as MoveHole to move the entire cut-outs in one go.
-wim
My workflow in Sketchup would be: Draw a rectangle, pushpull it for thickness, offset the face and pushpull for the rabbet/groove. Then draw the holes and pushpull them through. Size changes can then be done fairly easy by just selecting certain parts and move them around, like stretching without scaling the whole part.
In Rhino, you’d need to turn the first rectangle into a surface first or draw a planar surface right away instead of the rectangle. If you use the Gumball, you could pushpull the rectangle for thickness without first creating the surface.
All other steps would be the same.
-wim
I think for what you’re doing Rhino is a really good choice. A lot depends on how much you like the controls and interface. You’re afforded so much adjustment which lots of people underestimate. You have to get proficient at sub-object selection and sometimes with the filters.
People will often direct you towards parametric/grasshopper but I think it can end up being a huge time pit if not suggested in appropriate contexts. I use Grasshopper for my stairs (I draw quite a lot of stairs). But for an object that takes mere seconds to adjust and manipulate…
In the video I’m only using methods I’m personally familiar with. I often gravitate towards familiarity and predictability rather than outright speed as a few seconds saved here and there is really negligible in the long run. There’s many ways to do what’s shown. I find that for most things I’m faster than Sketchup even if some steps are a little slower.
Nice! Sub-Object Selection was a revelation when first exposed for me after having worked with Rhino for a couple years - when watching some of @theoutside’s youtube videos (highly recommended for getting workflow awareness). It’s a total power maneuver when you get into the flow everything just opens up and the structural level of modeling in Rhino starts to become much more reachable.
Also another possible obscurity that isn’t always obvious at first is that marquee selecting, (boxing targets with dragging the mouse cursor) acts totally different if you’re coming in from the left or the right (this can be overridden) - (apparently this is “common knowledge” from some CAD backgrounds, but coming from Adobe-land or such (as I was primarily) - not so much).
In this video he shows many things which look a lot like my Sketchup workflow.
I tried many ways (even had to deal with the hallucinations of ChatGPT) to offset a surface to the inside, like a traditional 2d cad offset. Thanks to his video now I know it’s called inset. Aliased that one directly.
Box edit is the panel you can see in that screen shot - lets you see/change the SIZE, SCALE and LOCATION of the selected object. I’ve not actually seen @theoutside use/show Box Edit in a video - maybe I should fire up OBS and do one. Box Edit is my MUST HAVE open panel in Rhino, I can’t work effectively without it.
Box edit is indeed very usefull! Thank you for that.
The Gumball doesn’t seem to work very well for me. Atleast not for moving obects. When you move an object it’s seems that you already have to know what amount you want to move. It would be perfect if you could drag the object in a direction, read the dragged distance, let go of the mouse, type a value and hit enter.
Luckily the move command let’s you do this.
Btw, one great thing in Rhino is the option to just enter all kinds of calculations instead of just exact numbers. I’m really used to this workflow from cnc-programming. A lot of cad applications, as well as Sketchup only let you use ‘divide’, something I never understood.
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