Quote:
Originally Posted by notjustgraphics
I think you'll find the Second Life design tools a little counter-intuitive... they are exceptional for the environment, but not practical for what you need...
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I would agree with Mike that SL is not ideal as a way of documenting actual designs. Not precise enough, and no way to export what you "build" for use outside SL. At least not conveniently. Also, the vehicles in SL have inherent limitations not imposed on real world vehicles or inventions.
But it might be an intriguing way to further market one's skills as a designer, if you can live with its limitations. Still not sure whether or not it is worth the time investment, though, in terms of learning how to build there well and how to gain maximum control of the environment.
In addition to traditional CAD, you might also want to explore some of the 3D visualization tools out there. Blender, though originally designed mainly for animation, can produce some amazingly lifelike results. And it is free -- though with a steep learning curve and relatively few hardcopy. printed guide books to get you started. It does have a great open source community behind it though.
Blender is
not a proper CAD application if only because precision dimensional controls are beyond its scope. But most traditional CAD renderings will come across a bit hard and stiff to the average, non-technical person looking at your designs if you only render them using the rendering facilities of a precision CAD application.
CAD programs are the real standards for creating real working drawings essential in real-world industrial, automotive or architectural design.
They're not only nice. At this point you had best invest in some training (or at least in plenty of self-tutoring time) to develop CAD drafting skills. I don't know if there's anyone working anymore who still does their finished drawings with pencil and technical pens. If you already have a technical drawing background, you can probably learn a CAD program on your own. But the skills for breaking down objects into component shapes, subdividing geometric shapes and that that fun stuff that used to be taught in drafting classes is all the more essential when it comes to mastering any CAD program.