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Rhino 8 users?

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Dan Dubeau

Ultra Member
I know there are a few Rhino users here, just wondering if there is anybody else using V8? I just upgraded from V5 the other day, and have been tooling away at the new features checking them out, and holy crap what a leap forward in a few areas and I haven't even dug that deep yet. The pushpull feature is wonderful, and the fillets work Soooo much better than 5. I played around with Subd too, but not that much. Will have to delve deeper into that sometime, but having played around with sculpt in fusion for a few projects I'm a big fan. Next up to play around with is learning grasshopper and digging deeper into layouts. Always hated the drafting side of Rhino, and I always did my parts that needed print in Mechanical desktop. I hear Rhino had gotten better with that over the years, so I'll give it an honest try.

I've been dreading remodeling my belt grinder project since losing it in a crash, but playing around a bit tonight after work has rejuvenated that a bit and the task doesn't seem as daunting anymore. Will be a good excuse to learn some new features I think.

For context, I've been a Rhino user for the past 20+ years, and started on V2. It's always been my favourite CAD program, but admit there were areas where it struggled/lacked, like solid/parametric modeling and drafting. Used it a LOT for 3d surfacing over the years though.
 
David said:
Rhino has rhinocam right?
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Yes, but it's a paid add on. I've never used Rhinocam (visual cam), but have used MADCAM, another paid (cheaper) add on. I'm considering buying one of the two, but will hold off a while until I have some projects queue'd up where I can demo them properly inside the free window. Madcam seems pretty dead in the water, which is why I'm leaning toward Rhinocam now. Otherwise I was pretty happy with it. The drilling cycles sucks, but the 3d, and toolpath control were really good. It did not output arcs though, which was a bit of an issue for 2/2.5 d stuff.

I've honestly never been a big fan of integrated CAM for the stuff I do. It has it's pluses for sure, but I like standalone better. Partly because I like to design in metric, but program in Inch, but that's another issue....lol.
 
djberta said:
One of the things I regret doing was tossing my copy of rhino. Doh. Tempted to buy it again.
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Contact them about upgrading. ASAIK they will take any previous version for a cheaper upgrade to current. If you're still on file, you don't even need the physical copy. As cheap as it is at full price (worth every penny IMO), that makes it even cheaper. I took an even cheaper route, and took advantage of having to go back to trade school, and buying the student version lol. If I have to drive into Toronto and sit in a classroom every day for 2+ Months, I'm leveraging that as much as I can :D.
 
Dan Dubeau said:
Contact them about upgrading. ASAIK they will take any previous version for a cheaper upgrade to current. If you're still on file, you don't even need the physical copy. As cheap as it is at full price (worth every penny IMO), that makes it even cheaper. I took an even cheaper route, and took advantage of having to go back to trade school, and buying the student version lol. If I have to drive into Toronto and sit in a classroom every day for 2+ Months, I'm leveraging that as much as I can :D.
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Wow, I'm gonna look in to it. I actually miss rhino, I was never good with it but I could get it to work. I am still struggling to get fusion working. I think I still have the dekstop with rhino on it. Its only about 15 years old.
 
The CAM is basically the same as VisualCAM which is part of the VisualCAD/CAM

Compare Products | MecSoft Corporation

Comparison chart for MecSoft's CAM Products
mecsoft.com mecsoft.com
The CAM portion is what was also embedded into the original AlibreCAD as AlibreCAM.


Looks something like this:
1744689010331.png
 
David said:
Right, that's why it looks familiar. I've seen it in your screenshots!
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Because my brain can't figure out Visual CAD or Fusion360 (never looked at RhinoCAD) I have no idea how easy it is to do CAM for Fusion360. But I like the integrated feature of CAD/CAM rather than loading a STP file.

With AlibreCAM it used to be possible to go back and tweak something in the design and not lose all the work setting up the CAM.

Importing STEP files into a CAM package means a single change to a dimension like making it 0.1mm longer means all 20 CAM operations have to be entered in all over again. The current version of AlibreCAM I'm using often also destroys all CAM information depending on what is changed.
 
jcdammeyer said:
Because my brain can't figure out Visual CAD or Fusion360 (never looked at RhinoCAD) I have no idea how easy it is to do CAM for Fusion360. But I like the integrated feature of CAD/CAM rather than loading a STP file.

With AlibreCAM it used to be possible to go back and tweak something in the design and not lose all the work setting up the CAM.

Importing STEP files into a CAM package means a single change to a dimension like making it 0.1mm longer means all 20 CAM operations have to be entered in all over again. The current version of AlibreCAM I'm using often also destroys all CAM information depending on what is changed.
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Fusion requires the toolpaths to be regenerated if the model changes. I suppose the success/failure would depend on what changed in the model. If you deleted all drilled holes that toolpath would fail I expect.
 
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David said:
Fusion requires the toolpaths to be regenerated if the model changes. I suppose the success/failure would depend on what changed in the model. If you deleted all drilled holes that toolpath would fail I expect.
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I should try it. I know some things appear to work still...
 
So here's an example. I saved as a new filename to make sure I didn't muck up the original. Then I changed the width of the slots from 0.177" to 0.165"

Notice the Slot Pocketing operation is still there with a 0.125" end mill. As are the paths and parameters etc.

1744733394208.png


The path is defined by the control geometry highlighted in blue in the menu. Yet, and I think this broke when Alibre and Mecsoft had their falling out. The machining regions no longer exist. Now how it knows how to show them in blue tracks on the drawing while saying they don't exist is part of the strange thing.

1744733506548.png


Now if I select all the outlines and click the green checkmark.

1744733609310.png


And then click on generate paths it's back.
1744733682312.png


Contrast that with making changes to the original drawing. Save as .step type. Import into the CAD system and that entire list of actions for pocketing profiling etc. is gone and needs to be redone.

I also changed the diameter of the hole in the middle. It too no longer has any machining regions. However what I can do is do as before and "Select Curve/Edge regions", Flip back to Design Explorer (AlibreCAD) and click on the sketch that defines the circle (or whatever complex shape that might be and then back in CAM window click on Generate and bingo. The paths with the original tool are back.

1744734015861.png


I suspect that RhinoCAD/CAM will behave the same. That ability was lost when Alibre could only output STEP drawings to be imported into VisualCAM which is AlibreCAM without the embedded linkage.
 
It's really unfortunate that MecSoft and Alibre had that falling out. The EZ-CAM product that they are looking to as a replacement does not look as good as VisualCAM.
I admit that I have not given EZ-CAM enough of a test drive to really tell.
 
I started with a parametric deign course at school and it involved some text programming (not just visual coding with Grasshopper). For one assignment, I coded a way to align any object, with any reference points, across any line or any two points (if I recall correctly). After my brief presentation in class, another student pointed out that it was actually a hardcoded function, pointing me to an icon on the toolbar.

I was embarrassed but learned a lot. My prof was impressed with my reinventing of the wheel :p

It's been awhile now since I had to use Rhino at work, which I think was V5. I'd still play around with it if I had the time. Instead, I'll just follow these posts and live vicariously through you all! :D
 
Under Alibre I exported the motor plate as a step file. Then imported into VisualCAM. Had to select two half circles rather than a single round one as the step files all seem to be more fragmented. Chose a 6mm cutter, 2500 RPM etc. set up depth of cut and a spiral internal profile. And there's the tool path. However, without a valid license I cannot save or export to G-Code. Sadly my Alibre License isn't valid for VisualCAD/CAM even though the software is virtually identical.

1744738113291.png
 
I have not used it since v3 or so. I did a lot of work with it back in the day, but it lacked a lot of what I felt I personally required for more mechanical applications. It was not parametric, Grasshopper was a separate purchase plug-in, But looks like they have fully integrated. Drawings were very weak compared to most CAD apps. I'm not sure how it presently addresses assemblies (collections of parts using defined mates). I recall it could be done in kind of a rudimentary manual mode, but maybe they have spruced that up too. The CAM side was never in my focus but people were 'somehow' doing some good work by exporting files to different compatible CAM apps, both at a large scale (CNC router/mill) and small scale (CNC jewelry). In terms of creating & modifying complex 3D shapes I'm guessing Rhino is just as powerful or more-so than ever. It would make a good choice for 3DP for example. But I think it was 1000 USD back in the day for a full seat & like 200 for student version. The support forum was awesome. But my comments are probably wildly out of date.
 
Peter, your comments are still very much in date. Rhino is still around those price points, and for the most part, the core of the program is still the same as what you remember from V3. Just way more refined and capable since V3, but It's still a dumb solid modeler, with Grasshopper being the only way to control things parametrically. And still no mating assembly constraints. I would much rather it have a built in table/variable based parametric functionality, but I understand that's not their focus. I've heard grumblings about it on forums for years, but nothing ever makes it into the next release. That and actual "paper space" drafting would really take it to the next level and take a lot of market share. That plus BOM support would be great too, without having to use the blocks hacks, and plugins.

The new PushPull feature is a gem though, and will certainly change the way I approach modeling. Not 100% in love with it, but it could just be me, and the way I'm using it. Some re education no doubt required...... I'm glad I didn't upgrade to 7 when they added SUBD. I almost did, but I didn't think it was that big of a feature I needed to get off my wallet for at the time when I could use sculpt (which Ironically is built off an old subd plugin for rhino called t splines, that Autodesk did Autodesk things with......) for free in fusion. I got a lot of good years out of 5 though.

When it comes to cad/cam, everybody's brains work differently. Some programs are more intuitive for certain people than others. Rhino/Autocad/mechanical Desktop are what I started in industry with, and what I'm the most proficient with. Solidworks, and those types of sketcher based modelers have their place, and I like them too, but for me and how I work, I'll always want access to a quick and simple program like Rhino. It's like a pocket multiool. Not always the best tool for every job, but you can do a lot with one, and it's always cheap, quick and ready to go when you need it.

I wish alibre still came with Visual CAM, as I'd go that route for my parametric 3d/sketcher modeler (plus rhino, I'll never be without rhino). I do not like the current Meshcam pairing, and that's what steered me away from them. They're tagline says it all "CNC Software for Non-Machinists". Yeah, no thanks.....I suffered enough with Edgecam for years. Another CAM program not for machinists.....
 
djberta said:
Wow, I'm gonna look in to it. I actually miss rhino, I was never good with it but I could get it to work. I am still struggling to get fusion working. I think I still have the dekstop with rhino on it. Its only about 15 years old.
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I still have an xp workstation from 2006 in the basement with old V3 on it I think. It's been years since I turned it on, now I'm curious if it'l boot up, and what's still on it.

It was a 2 year old $5K computer back then (with $2500 Quadro card) , and I bought it from the company auction when they went TU for $100, and it made me some decent money with it before I too went TU with my little side design venture. Maybe it's cursed and I shouldn't turn it on, life's been pretty good for the last little while.... lol.
 
Dan Dubeau said:
I wish alibre still came with Visual CAM, as I'd go that route for my parametric 3d/sketcher modeler (plus rhino, I'll never be without rhino). I do not like the current Meshcam pairing, and that's what steered me away from them. They're tagline says it all "CNC Software for Non-Machinists". Yeah, no thanks.....I suffered enough with Edgecam for years. Another CAM program not for machinists.....
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MeshCAM was very underwhelming to say the least.
But Alibre is working on a partnership with EZ-CAM so I'm waiting on those details.
 
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