Are (or were) 3ds Max and Rhino a part of your LA curriculum?

3D programs were in their infancy when I was in school, so they were nowhere to be found in the curriculum. I had a gov’t job that sent us for MicroStation training and then a while later a few of us got to take a 3D class, even though we never got to use it in practice. Ah, government inefficiency, where are you when we need you? I think the 3D stuff is pretty cool, but can also be quite time consuming. I looked into 3Ds Max training and found a local class for around $1600. I could see myself playing with a program like that for hours on end, so maybe it would be a good investment in my mental health as well. I’ve been noticing it called for in a lot of job ads as well. Seems to be the way its going. I saw one recently that asked for Revit, which is more popular among architects.

In my very humble opinion, there is more opportunity to be taken advantage of by learning how to think and draw than there is being a 3D modeler.

Sure, I feel a little taken advantage of lately being given 4 hours to plan an office park, but I wouldn’t have any opportunity to practice if all I could do was make really radical 3D models. I think it’s important in these times to think about the ROI for an employer and what you bring them in your skill set. Like someone else said. 3D modeling isn’t always needed. Being able to sketch and illustrate ideas in an efficient manner make it possible for managers to make a lot of money off you.

I think the job postings requiring 3D experience is at least in part a way for the firm to filter responses. Those who haven’t opened Max will still reply because they know they’re smart enough to learn and make the managers money when they’re not modeling–which certainly cant be all the time. Same thing with the Masters requirements.

You saw recent job postings? Did you see these open job postings while pigs were flying and hell was freezing over? I have not seen viable job postings in this industry for months.
As far as 3d is concerned, it is not taught in school because instructors don’t know how to use it or teach it. Most don’t even know Autocad. From what I have seen in most firms, the high end 3d work is done by a graduate of the local Art Institutes. They are not paid well and know next to nothing about landscape architecture.

I have never heard of these programs. Just remember that not all places hiring LA’s do all of the fancy modeling. We have 7 LA’s in my office(municipal work) and we almost never 3d model. We frankly don’t have the time to invest in it or the money to purchase it. In our world a strong knowledge of the standards, ACAD, GIS And ADOBE products, is a better selling point. I have been out of the private side for a few years, so it may be different there.

OTOH…if you are able to get a job in this market by learning these programs, I would go for it. Don’t worry about being labeled a “Cad Monkey”. Sometimes the most important thing is to get a job by promoting any skills you can and building on that experience down the road.

@UVA the school transitioned from Form Z to Maya to Rhino while I was there. SketchUp was introduced along with AutoCAD and Rhino early in the program to give students a variety of tools to work from (Microstation was also req’d earlier). SketchUp is free and Rhino’s educational copy was $99 for us, so relatively affordable (considering prices of textbooks anyway).

I’ve used a variety of programs at work including Microstation/AutoCAD (primarily for 2D work) and SketchUp/Rhino for 3D exploration/representation. Hand drawing and modeling are useful too, but for some things its quicker on the machine and some clients are more easily convinced with computer renderings (I find this medium useful for more object level designs).
What I remember of 3ds Max, it was useful for animations, and walk-thrus, something I haven’t seen a whole lot of in the landscape architecture and as much – it can easily be outsourced, so may not be a “must have.”

When I was looking for work last fall, many firms asked that I have 3D skills, Rhino was commonly asked about but many firms use other software – particularly the add-ons to AutoCAD.

I know many firms will cover training sessions – rhino can be easily picked up via the tutorials as well as the online forums, it’s easy learning curve is one of the draws for schools.

I think it’s cool to learn 3D programs like Max and Maya in school, but think it’s kind of a waste of studio time to ‘teach’ to it after looking back a little over a year out of school.

Several reasons:

1) The more intensive the 3D program, the less time there will be allocated to thinking about design (ie fundamental design).

I would liken the surge in 3D as a design medium to the development of ACAD in the 90’s–Everyone THEN thought ACAD was a cutting edge DESIGN tool. We know now that ACAD is mainly a ‘DRAFTING’ tool. Look at ASLA awards from the 90’s and you’ll find cad plans, yes cad plans.

2) I think our medium (landscape) is inherently ‘loose.’ 3D is great for thinking about objects, and I realize there are ways in advanced 3D software to mimic living organisms (the added dimension of time as some put it in previous discussions), but it’s still too precise imo for conceptual design, which is really what I think students should be thinking about.

What happened to the notion that school is about learning how to think and see?

Otherwise, I’m glad it’s becoming the trend for students to learn 3D..more support staff ; ) kidding.