Computer 3D design courses for caravans

[allfix]

Hello to everyone,

I'm looking at any courses that can lead me to designing caravans' structure and interiors by using computer 3D programs.
From my understanding there is nothing specific (I hope I'm wrong) so most probably I'll need to look at generic house 3D design and then specialising on caravans?
I do have good understanding of caravan manufacturing (have experience in mechanic as welder and fitter, aluminium/wood windows, doors and light structures and computer skills) as I used to work directly in the field and I like working on computer.
Could anyone please advise me?

[malb]

The general 3D House Design software seems very limiting from my recent attempts to get it to do what I want. Issues I encountered included;
"Simple Room arrangement interface". They supply resizable blocks for the generic rooms that might be found in a house, you resize them to requirements the arrange to suit. Issue, step size for layout or room size is 0.5m in metric or 12in in imperial mode, could not find a way to adjust grid size in this mode.
"General drafting interface", get there by bypassing the above, then get in and start tweaking grid options etc to be able to size things to your requirements. Get into the guts and set wall thicknesses etc only to find that when you draw a wall, it adds half the thickness of the adjoining walls at each end. Measure how long a wall is, but the room size is not the same as the wall length, right PIA if you have a dividing wall that doesn't end with an intersecting wall.
These programs tend to want to develop pitched roof and concrete slabs as well, hardly caravan territory.

I suggest you look to generic 2D/3D CAD like Turbocad. I suspect that you will find the basic "Deluxe" package capable of detailing all aspects of the structure and layout. Use different layers for different purposes, possibly different colours for different layers etc. That way you can toggle displaying things by hiding layers and then turning them on again when you want to refer to them again, or distinguish between internal fixtures and wall skins etc. Whichever way you go the learning curve is fairly steep, but with a well known package there will be a lot of Forum and video support. For TurboCad beginners paulthecad.co.uk is a good resource, and a some of his stuff is on youtube.

[allfix]

I suggest you look to generic 2D/3D CAD like Turbocad. I suspect that you will find the basic "Deluxe" package capable of detailing all aspects of the structure and layout. Use different layers for different purposes, possibly different colours for different layers etc. That way you can toggle displaying things by hiding layers and then turning them on again when you want to refer to them again, or distinguish between internal fixtures and wall skins etc. Whichever way you go the learning curve is fairly steep, but with a well known package there will be a lot of Forum and video support. For TurboCad beginners paulthecad.co.uk is a good resource, and a some of his stuff is on youtube.

So what you say is that I do learn by myself?
I know that I can find plenty resources on internet and even free software but I'm looking at a recognized course.
Anyway, the idea of practicing on my computer is good though.

[DSEL74]

Solidworks would be the current industry standard. You can get tutorials online easily enough. There is also Revit.

[allfix]

Solidworks would be the current industry standard. You can get tutorials online easily enough. There is also Revit.
I believe they're good software but I need to focus on a course or something like that.
There must be programs either courses.

[DSEL74]

Your looking at Industrial design, which is a 4yrs university degree. I designed a caravan for Jayco as a project in my second year of study.

[allfix]

Your looking at Industrial design, which is a 4yrs university degree. I designed a caravan for Jayco as a project in my second year of study.

I think that is the right route, could you please give more information regarding specific course name/institution?
In my opinion most caravans being built in Melbourne area (the same caravans are sold to VIC, SA and NSW) are the copy of each other so I wish that you made something that distances from others. :)

Some caravan manufacturers have started "importing" already build caravans with the purpose of copying the ideas or to personalise them, you can see that there is a HUGE difference with the local models.

[DSEL74]

I think that is the right route, could you please give more information regarding specific course name/institution?
In my opinion most caravans being built in Melbourne area (the same caravans are sold to VIC, SA and NSW) are the copy of each other so I wish that you made something that distances from others. :)

Some caravan manufacturers have started "importing" already build caravans with the purpose of copying the ideas or to personalise them, you can see that there is a HUGE difference with the local models.


"Industrial Design" Is taught at both Monash & RMIT Universities in Melb. I imagine you can study it in most states. Griffiths Uni and University of Western Sydney.
Just google it.

[allfix]

"Industrial Design" Is taught at both Monash & RMIT Universities in Melb. I imagine you can study it in most states. Griffiths Uni and University of Western Sydney.
Just google it.

Thanks for information.