Can I draw a spaceship using Autocad?

Forgive me for posting here, but I posted elsewhere and just only now saw
this important newsgroup. If I've broken some internet protocol, please
forgive me.

Hello...

My husband is writing a science fiction novel, and he knows I've been
wanting to take a series of Autocad classes at the local college.

Intro to Autocad (Level 1) starts in 2 weeks.
They then move on to intermediate
and finally advanced, where they deal with 3D modelling and rendering.

Each class is 4 hours long, and each Level lasts 9 weeks.

My question is this:

Assumming I do all the course work, home work, etc., would I be able to draw
the
curves and unusual 'exterior walls' that are the norm for a science fiction
spaceship?

If I modelled it properly from the ground up, would I be able to provide
details inside? Furniture, etc?

I'd love to do a 'skeleton', like they do in those "How do they do it"
books, showing the hull barely there (5% or 10% opaque) and the decks and
ribs of the hull, so forth.

Thanks very much and I appreciate everyone that replies.

lucyh at dhimaging dot com dot au

 

HiHo;
Go to www.mcneel.com and checkout Rhino and Flamingo.
Both have a student price and while your there look at some
of the drawings and renderings done in rhino with flamingo.
The class in AutoCAd will help you understand some of
CAD basics and rhino is a easy 3d program.

 

Lucy, it CAN be done. But to quote an old auto mechanic, "yuh need the
right tool for the right job". AutoCAD is not the best tool for the
job, no matter how you approach it -- whether from the
aesthetic/artistic or the technical standpoint. A solid modeling
program is a bit more likely to give you the kind of results you would
want, but even that is probably not the right tool for what you're
thinking about. Now, to be sure, AutoCAD has solids. And CorelDraw is
capable of doing drafting. But I wouldn't want to do solids in AutoCAD
or drafting in CorelDraw. And I wouldn't want to do use Pro/E or
SolidWorks or Inventor or Alibre by themselves to do graphic
illustration, although it can be done. You'd have to be pretty darn
accomplished in AutoCAD to be doing furniture inside a spaceship and
trying to render it for a realistic or even quasi-realistic effect.
There are all kinds of 3D software that sort of combine the capabilities
of 3D solid modelers and graphics illustration and rendering. I'm no
expert on those, however. Take the advise of "bestafor" and take a look
at Rhino3D (www.rhino3d.com) in combination with Flamingo. And at Maya
(www.alias.com) and Lightwave 3D (www.newtek.com) and 3ds max
(www.discreet.com/3dsmax/), etc, etc. These applications are not to be
sneezed at, and are not for the faint of heart (or light of wallet), but
I think they may at least give you a better conception of their purposes
relative to AutoCAD.

Mark 'Sporky' Stapleton
Charlotte, NC
www.h2omarkdesign.com