AutoCAD

I have access to a copy of this, but before I go and start to learn it, I was wondering if it is actually useful for unity. I'm wondering if it does texturing and stuff like that.

 

I use a very old version of AutoCad for my work R14, architectural design. In that version the 3D abilities are very primitive, since it was made around 1996. I dont use it for 3D model making.

In newer versions it might be possible, you need to see if it does UV mapping, which I doubt. Also if it can export to a format that Unity imports, like FBX.

If you need a free modeler, try Blender. Nobody uses AutoCad for game models.
I use Lightwave 9.6

 

I use Autodesk Revit and it works pretty good with autocad ...

 

I already use blender, I was just wondering. Blender is a great program!

 

AutoCAD has too high poly models to be used in unity.

 

Hi there, ivanzaus statement is pointless. I'm generating a full city in Microstation (similar to Autocad) and I do have full control over my polycount.

 

really, i think the opposite.

However Autocad is fine for architectonic model but texturing and details, afaik Autocad does not have a UV Map editor.

 

Autocad is not made for games.

 

AutoCAD is an engineering program, it's used for architectural and civil engineering, and for extreme precision for manufacturing purposes. It can be used just fine for making game models. Then you can move the model into something else for any other work you do.

All you need is something that models in 3D. Even crappy things like Sketchup, Milkshape and Zmodeler will work just fine, if you know what you're doing. It's not about the software, it's about the modeler using it. 3D studio does nothing that Blender won't do. And Blender will run a game engine. Blender will open just about anything that AutoCAD will export to(in the 3D formats). If Blender's good enough for NASA and the guys working on military simulators, it's good enough for Unity games.

I've been using AutoCAD since Version 10 back in 1990, and it DOES do texturing and UV work, and always has, at least since Version 9. And NURBS, Booleans, solids, sweeps and surfaces. It does photorealistic rendering, and if you know what you're doing with the scripting language, you can do animation, too. Just like any other modeler. Almost every feature you find in a modeling program today was done first in AutoCAD. My favorite version is AutoCAD 12 from about '92 or '93.

You are incorrect when you say that it has too high of a poly count, or too low of one. Like any other software, that's nothing but a setting. Change the settings to a lower poly count is all you have to do. It's the most customizable, programmable and generic 3D software in the world, that's how it became the industry standard for manufacturing, GIS, and civil engineering.

You might have guessed from what I have written above, that I am a manufacturing engineer, a trained CAD draftsman, and make my money with CAD and doing systems integration and virtual reality/simulations programming. I'm tired of that world after 20 years doing it, and now I want to work on games. A lot of the skills are transferrable. What is a defense industry flight or tank simulator, really but a big fat game? Every piece of that stuff is done with AutoCAD, Microstation, Solidworks and other CAD programs. And a lot of the guys doing that kind of work are using Blender on UNIX to tie it all together.

Right now I'm working on a driving game, and drafting the car models in AutoCAD and Alias Automotive, just like the real car builders do. That's because I have actually done manufacturing design using these tools to produce real things, so that's what I'm comfortable with.

The terrain and roads are being created with AutoCAD from USGS satellite elevation data, just the way you build a golf course or a highway.

Then I bake the high poly models with Mudbox or Blender, reduce them to low poly with AutoCAD, MAX, Maya or Blender, and then I take it into Unity.

In the end, my recommendation is simple as pie. Use what you know, what you can afford, and what is standard to your industry. None of that counts out AutoCAD, but the likelihood is that it's too expensive, you don't know how to use it properly and can't get good advice, and in the end, it's not the industry standard for games anyway. If you know Blender, just use Blender. It does everything that any of the big packages like Maya and 3D studio will do. And there's lots of advice and support available for it.

I know 3D Studio very well, but I hate it and think that it's far too complicated and overly bloated. So most of the time I just use it for file conversions from MAX to other formats that will let me use AutoCAD, Blender, Mudbox, Maya, or Alias.

 

I'd like to get your take, which 3d lens would you recommend, Oculus or Hololens? I'm reading a lot about Oculus use in Unity but less with HoloLens. Maybe because HoloLens costs $3 grand. Just curious and to see which path I should take to get to what I need. My need is to get AutoCAD files into Unity for expanding a business application into VR. The business creates their work in AutoCAD and I need that information. So I will get it to work one way or another.