However, as a mechanical engineer who has worked mostly in a machine design field you may struggle to find justification as to why you would need it. Due to its powerful toolset Rhino CAD is ideal for iterating over multiple designs in the product development process. It is used primarily by industrial, automotive and product designers. Rhino CAD is first and foremost a surface modelling tool. This does not mean that Rhino CAD cannot be used for parametric modelling, as this functionality can be turned on or off, it is just not the primary focus of Rhino CAD. This is known as NURBS modelling or non-uniform rational basis spine modelling. Rhino CAD is not parametric but rather a freeform modelling software where models can be modified by editing and moving nodes and splines. This is essentially a modelling paradigm where the model is made up of features that follow a timeline, where any feature can be modified after the fact.

If you’re like many other mechanical engineering undergrads then you would have been exposed to parametric modelling software. So where does Rhino CAD fall in amongst all this uncertainty? What is Rhino CAD?Īn engineer’s preference towards specific packages is often determined by what software was used during university.

However, in some cases both disciplines are blended into one package in an attempt to create more functionality. Some are better suited for machine design whereas others are better suited for product design and prototyping. Making the task that much more daunting is that fact that not all packages are equal. When deciding whether or not to invest the time and money into learning a new CAD package, the sea of choice is often overwhelming.

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