5 Things For Starting CAD Drafting in Rhino7

I love Rhino7. In my opinion it is the best CAD program for a designer and solo Engineer. These are the 5 concepts I wish I understood when I first started drafting in Mcneel Rhinoceros 3D.

[narcellius]

Protip:
• in options set the middle mouse button to zoom selected (ZS).
• set an alius or keyboard shortcut for the command !_cplane _o to quickly change /set construction planes. !_cplane _w _t resets the construction plane to default.
• Holding ctrl+shift when orbiting (right click and mouse move) will snap the camera to ortho views (top, right, left, front, back)
• tapping tab whilst drawing a line or moving an object will constrain the direction.
• Whilst the gumball is active on an object clicking on one of the scale boxes opposite to the coloured arrow will give you a prompt to input a scale factor, if you put -1 it will mirror the object on that axis.
• To get the boundary of multiple shapes, instead of trimming each individual shape and joining, use curveboolean then hit 'a' for all ( or set an alius for it ) make sure delete existing is checked.

[smithe]

One trick that isn't commonly mentioned but I learned by watching videos was when you have a list of check boxes, like the snap options, you can right click on one of them and it will select that one and de-select all the others. It's a super fast way to get only what you need for your command. If you right click again, it will go back to your previous selections. This is also really useful in the "setpt" command as I often only want to go in one direction.

[petez]

I’m a designer who has used rhino a lot in the past but I’ve been more on the strategy side for the past 12 years. Getting back into making objects now, mostly in my free time. It’s been awkward, but This has been such a good tutorial. Thank you so much.

[PorscheMonster]

Great software overview! I've been a using Rhino since 2002 (version 3) and have not looked back. I originally purchased it because I felt many of the CAD programs offered (at that time) fell way short in their ability to develop organic surfaces. Today, I use Rhino as front end tool for Creo, but it is my ultimate choice for reverse engineering work. It's definitely not a full fledged parametric tool or even a collaborative CAD tool, but it gets the job done and well worth the money paid for a perpetual license.

[markcrane]

Rhino kicks butt, command line and rhinoscripts are so powerful, when you don't need parametric controls rhino is such a rapid modeller. When you are familiar with autocad rhino feels very friendly, nurbs can handle larger models then other software, which is great for reverse engineering from step files etc
Tip - dragging the command line down to the bottom matches autocad and is also less mouse travel and more speed

[Motorcitymadman-Det]

Awesome video with great info thankyou. I am a model maker/prototyper professionally pursuing a design degree. The company i work for uses rhino, so i am dedicating my own time to learning rhino on top of my work schedule and classes.

Thankyou for the insight, you have saved me hours of time and frustration!

[foremanmachinesllc]

Finally!! I have spent so much time doing tangents between 2 circles! Thank you so much.

[nicktyler]

Great content! Thanks a lot. For me, trying Rhino after working for years in 3ds max, was super useful. As for Gumball transforms, its position and orientation can be easily adjusted with Ctrl. And reset with RMB menu on Gumball button.

[Gichanasa]

Very nice intro video for Rhino. Have been using Rhino(and Grasshopper), Solidworks, and Maya since the early 90's here. For people asking about Rhino's parametric capability and fit for mechanical design and the people responding with Grahssopper offering parametric aspect... CAD parametric and Grasshopper parametric are two different types. CAD parametric capabilities are about being able to create the body case of an electronic product, shell out the internal cavity, and create all the internal electronics and mechanical components referencing the outer body, and after finishing the entire product, change any of the width/height/wall thicknesses, etc., and have the entire assembly of the components receive the trickling updates. Rhino, even with Grasshopper, cannot do that. It will not update the associated parts and components, and they will need to be recreated. Also, mechanical designs such as robotic arms cannot be really controlled and posed with Rhino in a reasonably productive way, as Rhino does not keep XYZ pivot information nor has a way of creating and managing a hierarchy of the XYZ nodes. Those are all best handled with trie CAD software applications or 3D modeling & animation applications such as Maya. On the other hand, modeling organic human-made products like ergonomic handles of kitchen tools, jewelry, and architecture concepts of the likeness of Zaha Hadid are a pure pleasure to create using Rhino, especially at that price point. Hope it helps some of you.

[stefanguiton]

Great video!. Record history is a lot more powerful than you think, pretty much 80% of all rhino commands are supported by it. You could sweep a profile on a rail, then edit the rail with the sweep updating in real time! Super useful when editing complex forms without having to type out the commands again and again. It doesnt work with boolean, chamfer and fillet tools but other than that its great

[jayf]

Thank you for this video. I'm new to Rhino 3d, and this really helps get me on the right path to learning this program.

[davidstafford]

super awesome video. I'm just starting Rhino and I was so surprised to see your familiar face on a Rhino tutorial. Well done, you should consider making a series of these.

[PaulDominguez]

This is your best video. Excellent tutorial, easy to follow, and great teaching style. Please make more Rhino vids.

[bigjeffrey]

Nice you answered all my questions in 4 minutes! I feel Lucky because of you! Thanks.

[avramidisd]

16:56 Pre-Clicking or not on the object, it doesn't matter. You don't have to click on the Command Prompt either, nor using your right hand to type SCA, which are all at the left side of your keyboard. Just type it, press Spacebar, Enter or RMB (Right Mouse Button) are all used as enter in Rhino.

I'm using S1 for Sweep1, S2 for Sweep2. I would maybe put SC1 as an alias and do it with my left hand super fast. SC1+Spacebar.

Nice video, highlighting your workflow. There's always room for improvement. I'm using Rhino since V1.1 and still learning new things, optimizing my workflow from time to time.

[Adamladd]

I get so happy everytime you mention rhino, number 1, everytime I open fusion I get nowhere

[BuildaSkill]

Fun video, I've been learning grasshopper, but I don't really know rhino, so I've been banging my head against a wall trying to do some of the simplest things. If you haven't done much in grasshopper, it's a really powerful tool for 3d automation and certain kinds of designs.

[InspiredScience]

Excellent video, thank you! This video contains one of the most accurate comments that's overlooked in others... That many people who prefer one CAD tool over another -- these are not typically objective comparisons and in many cases they are based on what someone knows, or the first workflow that someone learned. For example, if someone spent 20 years in 2D CAD, they'll think quite a bit different than someone who started in a tool like SketchUp.

[hamps]

Great Presentation. I've used Rhino for 7 years and it's a fantastic program.

[wunwinglow]

Adore Rhino, have been using it since it was a freebie demo disc on Computer Arts magazine! Hints, keep the Osnap Near OFF, unless you REALLY REALLY need it! It can cause really frustrating issues where you think you have snapped to some end or corner, and it hasn't quite... Also, disable Apparent Intersection in the Options, as it will trim and split stuff just exactly, precisely where you have no idea where it is... It has its uses, but for most work, it is much more likely to give you trouble further down the line. Great vid, will point my pupils to it!!