Possible Transition?

I need an opinion here. I'm a 3d artist (AKA not an engineer), I do models, animation, 3d printed works, etc. My company has run into the world of CAD because we're changing production method and my boss seems to think "well since CAD is 3d and you do 3d stuff you should be able to learn CAD programs" Specifically, he wants SolidWorks.

Cost of the programs aside, is this even vaguely realistic? I know it took me years to get good with my 3d programs. I watched some video tutorials on SolidWorks and it isn't even slightly similar to my programs outside of the fact that there's a 3d model. It seems good for designing blocky or mechanical objects, but it really isn't very free-form. It seems more like 3d wood-working than sculpting.

Is it even slightly realistic to expect a 3d artist to transition to SolidWorks or any other CAD and be making production-quality work of complex models (like art models, figures, etc, not blocks) within a matter of months?

What programs are you currently using?

I'm sure you could probably learn Solidworks. I wouldn't expect you to be proficient and productive in a matter of just a few short months, but over time you could learn it. The bigger question is whether you will be able to take off your artist's hat and put on an engineer's hat. If your boss is expecting you to suddenly just become an engineer, I think he has unrealistic expectations.

...., but it really isn't very free-form. It seems more like 3d wood-working than sculpting.

Check out the Form tool in Autodesk Fusion 360. Take a look through their gallery.

https://fusion360.autodesk.com/projects/editor_pick

Runs on Mac or PC.

I have never even looked at solid works, but that aside, looking at it from the other side, I am currently studying 3D printing and the course gives just a quick look at various modelling techniques/programs I come from a woodworking background and the sculpting programs even the simple ones just leave me lost (I wouldn't even start trying to draw a cabinet in a sculpting program they just don't have the tools for it), there is a world of difference between technical 3D and artistic 3D and I doubt that any program could be truley proficient in both. So no it's not realistic and I would say don't even try, maybe you could find 2 programs that are fairly compatible with each other if it's a question of money, but you need a sculpting package and not a cad package.

Just to give a bit more info, the stuff I do now is similar to this image if you can imagine it in 3d.

http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs35/f/2008/311/6/f/Police_MECH_by_KaranaK.jpg

Timeline for each model: 1 week.

I can do this kind of stuff in "artist" 3d programs. JD Mather's examples are quite a bit simpler that what I need to do.

I have no interest in engineering, degree in engineering, or future plans that have anything to do with engineering. After this job it would generally be pointless to have Solidworks know-how without the engineering training and experience to back it up.

I don't see any reason at all to use Solidworks for creating the sort of stuff you're showing in the link you posted. Unless you're designing that sort of stuff for real world applications where you're going to actually be machining, fabricating and building the stuff for real, you're just going to waste time and money buying the program and trying to learn how to use it. Stick with the programs you're already using.

As cool as it would be to design real war robots, that's not the case. They're just going to be plastic.

The boss want's it in SolidWorks because draft, undercuts, and flow has to be checked in Solidworks. If something is wrong in Solidworks that means I have to go back to my 3d program, change what's wrong, and convert it from a polymesh into a solid that will work in Solidworks. The engineer doing the mould will only take a 100% ready model. If it's not 100% ready he sends it back.

^^^

exactly.

i know nothing of SolidWorks, but referring to AutoCAD:

some very experienced & talented people can draw photorealistic objects in AutoCAD, but in essence it is a precision engineering tool.

I can't think of any 'free-form' commands it might have. You can't draw 'roughly' or 'about'. AFAIK it cannot draw anything that is gemetrically incorrect.

It's good to know that I'm not just being uncooperative at least. It won't change my boss's mind though, he's certain that I'm being inflexible. I've tried to do some CAD work, but it seems completely incompatible with what I normally do.

So what is the normal process here then? Does an artist generally design a free-form model and then hand it to an engineer who adds draft, removes undercuts, etc? Or does a specialist engineer do the entire project from the ground-up?

IMHO, I would think the engineer should take your model and do the next steps needed in Solidworks.

Perhaps, you could just use Solidworks to check and finalize the model before sending to the engineer and still do most of your work in the other programs.

That would be a much faster learning curve for you.

Ok, I didn't realize you were actually going to be producing physical models of your creations. I thought you were just building 3D models for the purpose of generating artwork.

Has your boss considered 3D printing as an alternative to the whole mould making process? Here's a tutorial series showing how to send your sculpted model from ZBrush to a 3D printer: http://pixologic.com/zclassroom/homeroom/lesson/prototyping/

Otherwise, I agree with SLW210. I think the engineer should be getting involved to help determine the draft, undercut, etc.