Rhinoceros

Rhinoceros

Rhinoceros is a commercial 3D computer graphics and computer-aided design (CAD) application software developed by Robert McNeel & Associates. It is used for modeling free-form curves and surfaces in fields like industrial, product, automotive, jewelry, and ship design.
Rhinoceros image
cad 3d-modeling freeform-surface-modeling nurbs-modeling

Rhinoceros: 3D CAD Software

Commercial 3D computer graphics and CAD application software for modeling free-form curves and surfaces in various industries, including industrial, product, automotive, jewelry, and ship design.

What is Rhinoceros?

Rhinoceros (typically shortened to Rhino or Rhino3D) is a commercial 3D computer graphics and computer-aided design (CAD) application software developed by Robert McNeel & Associates. It is used for modeling free-form curves and surfaces in fields like industrial, product, automotive, jewelry, and ship design.

Rhinoceros provides tools for creating, editing, analyzing, documenting, rendering, animating, and translating NURBS curves, surfaces, and solids with no limits on complexity, degree, or size. Its focused on the principle of flexibility, accuracy, performance and lack of limitations and makes it possible to efficiently model technically complex designs.

The software was initially released for the Microsoft Windows operating system in 1998. A visual scripting language add-on for Rhino, Grasshopper, is also developed by Robert McNeel & Associates. The Mac version, Rhinoceros for Mac, was released in 2017. There are also beta versions available for Linux.

Key features include: precise and freeform NURBS modeling tools, compatibility with other software, render engines and file types, animation and documentation tools, work with large file support, point and curve editing, and more. It can import and export various file formats like STEP, IGES, OBJ, and STL.

Rhinoceros is used worldwide in commercial and personal projects in manufacturing, architecture, marine design, automotive, prototyping, animation, and other design industries. It integrates modeling, rendering, animation, drafting, analysis, freeform fabrication, technical illustrations, and more in a single package.

Rhinoceros Features

Features

  1. NURBS modeling
  2. Polygon modeling
  3. Freeform surface modeling
  4. Reverse engineering tools
  5. Rendering and visualization
  6. Plugin architecture
  7. Grasshopper visual programming

Pricing

  • One-time Purchase
  • Subscription-Based

Pros

Powerful NURBS modeling

Intuitive interface

Great for freeform shapes

Large plugin ecosystem

Grasshopper visual programming

Cons

Steep learning curve

Not the best for precision modeling

Expensive compared to some alternatives


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