Guess Who’s New in the Subd World?

Rhino 3D has been around a long time. Many of us got early surfacing experience on free versions of Rhino that have been available for a lot of years. I’ve used Rhino as a translator or repairer of bad translations. But I have to admit that the last Rhino version I used was 4 or maybe 5.

Rhino 6 is the current version, and it has subd mesh modeling, if you use the WIP (work in progress) version. But I think if you’re hoping to use subd modeling and you have a real license, Rhino 7 WIP is also available, and has more developed tools.

The tools aren’t really production ready, although the demos I’ve seen are a few months old already.

More generally, subd is so much easier than NURBS modeling especially for organic shapes. But we (engineers who design stuff to be manufactured) have avoided this type of data for a lot of reasons. But I think those reasons are eroding. Subd is SOOOOO much easier for complex stuff that it really can’t be ignored. We do have the ability to machine from point cloud data and also conversion between mesh and NURBS is becoming more readily available.

Add to this argument the argument against history-based workflows, and you start to see some writing on the wall shaping the future of CAD and design. For a lot of kinds of work, history really has to go.

The problem is that the difference in workflow and necessary skills is that a lot of us have so much invested in the old, hard way of doing things.

So, “watch this space” as they say. When I get some time, I’ll start playing with some subd modeling tools and post a real comparison, just to make it clear what I’m talking about.

Any current subd users want to chime in?