Advice: best app for PRECISELY reconstructing real structures

ushumgal

Hi everyone, I'm just starting out learning 3d modeling, and I'm still rather unsure about the best program to use for my needs. I'm an archaeologist and would like to be able to make very accurate reconstructions of structures or ruins.

I would typically be working with 2d site plans (the site viewed from the top) and the occasional section plan (side view). I imagine there is a way to, for example, trace in the lines of the walls from the site plans and then extrude it upwards, but I really have no idea how to accurately enter the plans into the modeling app. Do bear in mind that the walls are rarely completely straight.

I know the underwater archaeology dept at Texas A&M uses Rhino and Blender, though I imagine they use Rhino since they model ship hulls a lot (all that NURBS stuff I still have to learn about), and I don't know if Rhino would be equally useful for land archaeology. I've been learning Blender, though it seems to be having some issues with my Win7 laptop.

Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!

EDIT: I should also add, if at all possible, I'd like it to also be an app I can model fancy spaceships in...

Melak

Hehe, welcome.

You might consider using a proper CAD program, especially because of the "very accurate" part, but from a pure methological point of view theres nothing keeping you from using any other application.
In theory at least, every app should be capable of doing what you want.

The more important variable though is which application appeals to you in the workflow,
because that will most likely determine how much effort you need to put in to get "exact" results.

So you might want to have a look at some of the "3d newcomers suggestion" threads,
but essentially what they are saying is: Try out a couple apps, follow some tutorials, see what appeals to you.

ushumgal

Thanks for the tips, Melak!

I've switched to Wings 3D for now, since Blender is being a bit quirky on my system right now. But I take your point about a CAD program - my brother in law has offered to teach me AutoCAD (he's an architect), so that's probably a good start, though he has never worked in 3D.

I guess what I really wanted to know, on reflection, is how one makes an object to a precise measurement in a 3d app. I guess there must be a way, since people have been making highly accurate reproductions of spaceships, and they certainly didn't do it all by just eyeballing the measurements. Perhaps by using the built-in program units? But I suppose I will learn that as I go along...

thanks again!
J