[bjorn.syse]

Hi,

I'm an industrial designer, and I've never used any modeling app but NURBS packages, execept for a tiny bit of exploring in Maya...

If I were to explore what subdivision surfaces might do for me, would any of you recommend that? and if so, Modo or Silo? or something else.. what's the difference between them?

Regards,

- Björn

[Maximus3D]

What you should do Björn is probably start by download the demoversions of both apps and try them out for a while and see which one will work best for you and where you feel most comfortable. I can recommend Modo 301 but Silo comes at a much lower price which might be a decisionmaker for you. If money is no problem, go with the Modo.

Some differences between the two apps are that you have full texturing capability and a animation module in Modo, and you also have a good UV easy to use UV mapper there. Further more it has a good and fast renderengine and IES support if you need that. And last but not least you will get in touch with the Lux team on their forum directly if you need help with anything.

Silo has a nice modeler and sculpting tools and some other stuff...

I know Nico will tell you that you should go with Silo..

/ Max

[bjorn.syse]

Thanks Max,

Well, when it comes to rendering and textures,.. I'll try to use Rhino + Maxwell anyhow, so I guess I'm only after the modeling.

I'll try some..

- björn

[JCAddy]

My vote is for Silo for a couple reasons.

I've got both MODO and SILO at home and Silo is a much friendlier program and easy to get your hands around. Also as Max said, it comes at a much lower price

I love Silo and actually need to use it more often!

Jason

[bjorn.syse]

Thanks Hyper, I've only had the time to try around Silo as for now, but it sure looks simple!

[bjorn.syse]

However, it doesn't seem that Silo 2 has support for my 3d-controller (SpaceMouse thingie).. anyone know if that is planned for?

[JCAddy]

hm......I haven't heard anything about being able to use a 3d Controller like that with Silo.

Why not just get a tablet!?

[Polyxo]

Hi Björn,
I would suggest to use Silo. As a total Subd-beginner you will first have to get you head arround the completely different modeling concept.
I am pretty sure, that for quite a long time you will have enough to do to explore what a "relatively" limited program like Silo can do for you.
Modo with all its powerful but unfamiliar options would only destract here.
I could also imagine, that you as an industrial designer will not need all the bells and whistles of Modo. Quite some of those make it stronger in a field where other Subd Modellers are lacking. This field ("hard surface modeling" as some mesh modellers call it) however is the one, in which also Rhino excels. As it also delivers manufacturable geometry, you will most likely stick to Rhino for such modeling tasks.

Silo is tremendously easy to learn (also for a complete noob) and all commands inside the program are totally customizable. It is true, that Space-controllers are not supported (no sure, if Modo features this).
However, the mouse behaviour and some other things can mimick Rhino very nicely.
On the downside I see some stability issues and also a slightly slower development speed, as Nevercenter is a very small company (two core-programers).

Holger

[bjorn.syse]

thanks for those comments Holger. I get your point.

Hyperballad: I have a tablet, but nothing can beat a 3d-controller. It is the most fantastic tool!