A friend of mine asked me if I’d heard of this product, which I
haven’t. I’ve been trying to get him to try Rhino, but he doesn’t
consider himself very computer literate and fears the learning curve.
Whoever contacted him from Monarch claims it’s more powerful and
takes less time to master than Rhino based programs.
Any thoughts?
Jewelcad is easy learn jewelry design program
Having never heard of Monarch, I Googled it. They are supposedly
Monarch Design Systems, Monarchcad.com. They are now Pointcarre, and
it’s textile design software, like for fashion. Perhaps your friend
just likes it or it’s really cheap. I wouldn’t rush out to buy it,
though…
he doesn't consider himself very computer literate and fears the learning curve.
I do not think you should talk your friend into any" cad software".
If someone wants to get into cad they better love it or it will be a
waste of time and money. yes, their is a hugh learning curve.
We have had very good luck with JewelSmith and Art2Part from Delcam.
It’s much easier to learn than some of the other softwares because
it’s not totally 3 dimensional, but rather 2 1/2 dimensions. You
start with a two dimension design such as a drawing on paper, then
use software tools to add depth and textures to the design. We were
able to make saleable product almost immediately.
We chose Jewelsmith after looking at Matrix and some of the other
Rhino based softwares because JS is pretty easy to get started
making stuff and is super with relatively flat object like pendants
and earrings, and especially great with textures and other types of
surface decoration. We did this gorgeous spinel ring last year (after
about 9 months experience) Any CAD software will require you to make
a journey, and will take hard work on your part to succeed, but it is
a truly great and liberating tool.
Jim
Hi.
I will add some comments about JewelCAD. It is really a great tool. I
learn this software in just 2 days, as I remember in Saudi Arabia
and started training about 20 Jewellery Designers immidiatley.
But after about 5 years now with lot lot of practice, I came to know
that JewelCAD has some hidden tresures which comes accross after
exp. only.
At this moment I am working in Australia, and designed very complex
designs and produced on T66. I will sugguest JewelCAD is the best
program is any one would like to design some thing very special. I
even imported some items from other different CAD programs and then
used in my designs very easily.
Rendering capabilities are also best and you can design your own
finishes with shades and reflections etc.
Tusif Ahmad
The advice your friend was given is correct, Monarch is much easier
to use and more powerful than any Rhino based software.
I have been modeling my designs in CAD for more than ten years. I
started off with JewelCAD and converted to Rhino Matrix. Currently I
have 1 staff on Monarch and 2 on 3Design as I could not decide which
was better. They have very similar features.
The Parametric history in Monarch and 3Design has allowed me to
increase production by 40% this year alone. You really need to
understand Parametric history to see the real potential of these
solutions.
I will be sticking with 3Design as the interface is more
aesthetically pleasing and gives you the ability to model in front of
the customer. The learning curve for the software was less than one
month keeping in mind my staff and I have many years experience in
using CAD software.
If anyone tells you that they learnt Rhino or JewelCAD to the point
of being productive in less than one year is a liar, salesmen or an
experienced CAD operator. JewelCAD especially has a long learning
curve. My biggest problem with JewelCAD and Rhino is that they
restrict your freedom, you cant just sit down and start exploring an
idea, you have to put pen to paper first.
All CAD software programs have a step learning curve for the
inexperienced. There is little difference between Monarch and
3Design, they share so many similar features. For me 3Design is two
steps ahead of Monarch and ten miles ahead of Rhino.
Checkout the websites to find out for yourself. Keep in mind a
salesmen’s job is to say his software is better and a user will
always try justify their investment. Keep an open mind and evaluate
which solution will work best for you. moanrchjewelrycad.com and
3design.com
Hi Weldy,
I purchased the 3design software in July and was trained for 4 days.
I don’t consider myself stupid but wondered often, how was I suppose
to learn all this in 4 days. I did not. Next Friday I will be taking
an advance training class so I might be able to use the program. I
think they push the sales with no focus on training or even following
up on current users to get feedback.
I do like the 3design software and am confident that once I master
the features I will be very happy with my purchase.
Good luck!
Elma
Weldy, that post by “Tony Nowles” smelled really bad. As soon as I
read it I thought it had been posted by somebody concerned about the
welfare of another software company. I tried a number of means to
find this person, to no avail. The other software developers should
be running scared from this new Monarch system.
Everybody I have talked with about Monarch are not only thrilled,
but amazed by the advances and personal attention from Monarch.
You are absolutely right. The old timers need to be looking closely
at the Monarch and replacing their older software as fast as they can
get to it.
Regards,
Bill Mull
Zero-D Products, Inc.
precision engineered materials solutions
http://www.zerodproducts.com
At a risk of upsetting all the CAD sales reps, I shall offer my 2
cents.
I have been using computers for a very long time. My first machine
was VIC 20 if anybody can still remember. CAD software was around of
almost that long. Anybody who is considering investing in one should
read this.
CAD package consist of primary 2 components: library of drawing
routines and user interface.
Drawing routines are written many years ago, a lot of them now
incorporated in hardware and they are available for free. There are
excellent libraries in public domain. What makes CAD software
expensive is user interface.
One can use libraries directly, but needs to be a programmer for
that. So some enterprising companies using these publicly available
libraries, writing user interface and selling it as a CAD package.
If interface is so convoluted that it requires you to undergo long
training, it simply means that you have been had.
Do not buy that software. The whole idea of writing a user interface
it to make it usable without having a PHD in computer graphics.
I would suggest if anybody considering dipping proverbial toe into
the CAD swamp, take a look at POVRAY. It is free and extremely
powerful.
It’s user interface is scripting language which make take sometime
to master, but by doing that you will learn about CAD and
mathematical internals which required to create designs on a
computer.
If later on you decide to go with commercial package, at the very
least you would know more about CAD that any sales rep heaving at you
globules of “kaka del toro” trying to sell you stuff.
Personally, I am using POVRAY for many years. I looked at many
commercial packages, but POVRAY beats them all and all the info is
online for free.
The website is www.povray.org. If you are using window machine, there
are modelers for povray at a very reasonable price. I am a mac user,
so I am stuck with scripting.
Leonid Surpin.
Hi Leonid,
I took your advice and tried to download POVRAY but unfortunately it
won’t work as I am running Mac OS X 10.4.10 and Macs of this era
apparently won’t work with it.
If anyone knows of any decent free (probably a contradiction in
terms) CAD programme that will work on a modern Mac comuter please
let me know.
Thanks.
Helen
Preston, UK
I took your advice and tried to download POVRAY but unfortunately it won't work as I am running Mac OS X 10.4.10 and Macs of this era apparently won't work with it.
I am using g5 processor, I wonder if your mac is intel based. If this
the case you can install windows via bootcamp and use window version.
Leonid Surpin
Hi Bill,
Yes, not only by “Tony Nowles.” There are actually several entries
like this in the forum. You are right, there’s just no comparison in
terms of the software’s capability, quality of service and training.
THERE IS NO SOFTWARE LIKE IT OUT THERE! Many users of Matrix,
3Design, etc recently switched over to Monarch. GET A DEMO & DECIDE
FOR YOURSELF!
Hi,
Just waking up and haven’t followed this thread too closely, but if
you are looking at POVRAY you might try Autodesk’s Maya Personal
Learning Edition:
It’s free for non-commercial use. Not sure what the limitations are,
but I’m sure there are some. I’ve never known Autodesk to give
anything away “free”. I used to sell and work on AutoCAD (their
original product) for the mold and die industry in another life. I
downloaded Maya to my Mac Mini running OSX 10.4.10. Seems to work
fine. Just haven’t had the time to get into it. It looks pretty
overwhelming, but if you looked at POVRAY it should be about the
same learning curve (straight up!). If you do play around with Maya,
keep me posted. I’d like to know how it adapts for jewelry design.
Google also has a free program called Sketch Up -
http://sketchup.google.com. I don’t think it’s on the same level as
Maya, but again, it’s free. I haven’t played with this one either.
They all have a learning curve which I just don’t have the
inclination to climb right now.
Let us know if either of these work for you.
Ramona
I’d be interested in hearing about any CAD program for Macs.
Everything I hear about is just PC.
Janet Kofoed
http://users.rcn.com/kkofoed
Regarding POVRAY, and later MAC OS. There is an online Mac User
Group, yahoogroups.com/iomug
I suggest any Mac User, interested in pursuing this topic, post a
question to these fine folk. They are extremely accommodating, and
there are many advanced users amongst them, and there will be some
very pertinent answers. ALA Orchid.
Hugs,
Terrie, I only go back to the TI99/4a, 1990, a Mac afficionado since
1991. No not into cad/cam.
Leonid,
Have you ever tried to convert a.svg say from Inkscape to povray? Is
it possible? How about a bitmap file? I have used open source
software
for some time, but haven’t tried a CAD program yet, although I am
always considering adding a CNC to my two pantograph. How do you go
from Povray to a file for a CAM program and are you limited to
certain machines?
Dan
Daniel Culver
POVRAY you might try Autodesk's Maya Personal Learning Edition:
POVRAY has been around as long as there have been computers. I don’t
know it’s history in detail, but it’s one of the first. No doubt
it’s been upgraded many times. It’s also pretty old technology (as
is Rhino). The latest parametric modelers are way farther out there.
Maya’s PLE is a complete version of Maya Standard. The only
limitation is that it watermarks all output - it plasters “MAYA PLE”
or whatever across your work, all the time. The estimate most people
use is that it will take two years to learn Maya (that’s from people
who use it), but that also includes animation, which is it’s
strength, and dynamics and such, too. Modeling with it isn’t so hard
to learn. Again, though, it’s a mesh modeler, not solids. If you
want to play around with a mesh modeler, I’d suggest Z-Brush or
Mudbox. They are 3d sculpting tools - make a sphere and then you
model it just like clay.
I have never used POVRAY files as an input to CAM, but it should be
possible. POVRAY has a very wide support on the web. Someone
somewhere have done it. Check on povray website. They have a lot of
links.
I do not want to create a wrong impression about povray. It is a
great software to understand CAD principals, but it is not a
commercial software. It can be adopted, but requires work. I simply
mentioned it as a comparison to CAD packages which requires you to
take course after course to become proficient. That is junk. If CAD
package requires steep learning curve, my advise go with POVRAY. At
least you learn some real graphics. If you can find CAD which you can
be an expert after 1 week max, then go with the commercial
implementation.
Leonid Surpin.
Hi Helen,
If anyone knows of any decent free (probably a contradiction in terms) CAD programme that will work on a modern Mac comuter please let me know.
There don’t seem to be many free cad systems for Mac but how about
using an emulator program so that you can run one of the many windows
cad programs? I think there’s one called ‘Q’ which is free but as I
don’t have a Mac I don’t know much about it. QEMU might also do a Mac
version or maybe VMC - try googling those terms.
Best wishes,
Ian
Ian W. Wright
Sheffield UK