Official Luthiers Forum!

I've noticed throught my searches that some people are using design programs that let them layout the general guitar design but also accurately represents different types of materials, finishes, woods etc. I've even seen inlay designs that reproduce different inlay material.

I'm assuming its a cad type program but what programs are you using? Are there templates or patterns or finish/material add ons that you also use?

Thanks!

Autocad 2007 to create the 3d solids (the shapes), Autovision to create the skins (materials that get assigned to the shapes) and 3D Studio Max for scene rendering. (the final output or picture)

I guess I should explain briefly for those that don't have experience with 3D modeling and rendering.

I first model each component (create the components shapes in either mesh or solid format and assemble them together). Then I create the skins and assign their relationship the components. This gives each component the appearance of a specific wood or other material in relation shiop to the component shape. Then when that is done I set the scene for the rendering by assigning camera angles light types and locations. There is much more to it, but that is pretty breif idea of how it works.MichaelP39079.7528703704

I used DesignCAD 3D (about $100 new, or under $25 for an older version) to draw my guitar design. I only used the 2D capabilities of the software, but found it invaluable.

DesignCAD 3D has 3D modeling capabilities, and can add textures/materials to surfaces. I have no idea if the recent versions have higher quality 3D rendering capabilities, but the older versions (like I have) have pretty crude 3D rendering. However, DesignCAD will allow you to save or export as a DXF and DWG file, and those files could even be exported to something like trueSpace or maybe Rhinoceros (Rhino) to create very realistic textures. (trueSpace 7.0 is about $600, but older versions are considerably less. Rhino 3.0 is about $900, but older versions are less.)

MichaelP creates some really awesome 3D renderings, but I think he would admit that the price tag for his graphics toolbox is way more than the average luthier will ever want to spend. You could either get an inexpensive CAD program, and use it to help make full scale, scaled drawings of guitar parts or entire guitars (like I did), or take it to the next level and render 3D parts. If someone wanted to create beautiful 3D renders of guitars, for the least amount of money, I would send them to Ebay to find a copy of DesignCAD 3D MAX v.14 for under $20, and a copy of trueSpace v. 6.0 or 6.6 for under $200. Note that there are also academic versions available for most software at greatly reduced rates, if you can meet the criteria of student.

Dennis

{edit} I should say that trueSpace or Rhino could do the job alone, but it is easier to create exact scale drawings in CAD programs.DennisLeahy39080.8047222222

_________________
Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Thanks for the replies and info. I had a feeling there was a high cost to utilize these types of programs. The prior version idea might mike it feasible, I'll have to look further into it.

Thanks!