Rhino 3D – Modelling Software For Engineers and Architecture

Rhinoceros (typically abbreviated Rhino, or Rhino3D) is a commercial 3D computer graphics and computer-aided design (CAD) application software developed by Robert McNeel & Associates, an American, privately-held, employee-owned company founded in 1980.

What is Rhino 3D?

Rhinoceros 3D, or Rhino 3D, is the world’s most versatile 3D modeller. It can create, analyse, edit, animate, render, document and translate polygon meshes, point clouds, solids, surfaces and NURBS curves. Apart from the size of your hardware, there are no limits to the complexity you can produce with Rhino 3D.

Rhino 3D offers the precision needed to design, prototype, analyse, engineer and manufacture anything from an airplane to jewellery. Its uninhibited free-form 3D modelling tools are usually only found in products 20-50 times more expensive, meaning you can model any shape you want.

Rhinoceros has been designed to be compatible with a range of design, drafting and CAM software, as well as engineering, analysis and rendering programmes. It can also be used with animation and illustration software, presenting a range of new possibilities to your artwork. For Windows users, Rhino 3D functions as a development platform for many different modelling products, making it even more versatile. Rhino 3D has the ability to read and repair meshes, including IGES files, which can be extremely challenging.

Rhinoceros geometry is based on the NURBS mathematical model, which focuses on producing mathematically precise representation of curves and free-form surfaces in computer graphics (as opposed to polygon mesh-based applications).

What are NURBS?

Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines, or NURBS, are simply the mathematical representations of 3D geometry that accurately describe a shape, from the most simple 2D line, to the most complex 3D free-form solid or surface. NURBS models are often used in many processes such as manufacturing, illustration and animation due to their immense flexibility and accuracy.

Application Of Rhino 3d

Rhinoceros is used in processes of computer-aided design (CAD), computer-aided manufacturing (CAM), rapid prototyping, 3D printing and reverse engineering in industries including architecture, industrial design (e.g. automotive design, watercraft design), product design (e.g. jewelry design) as well as for multimedia and graphic design.

System Requirements for Rhino 3D

Rhinoceros is developed for the Microsoft Windows operating system and OS X. A visual scripting language add-on for Rhino, Grasshopper, is developed by Robert McNeel & Associates.

The Rhinoceros file format (.3DM) is useful for the exchange of NURBS geometry. The Rhino developers started the open NURBS Initiative to provide computer graphics software developers the tools to accurately transfer 3-D geometry between applications.