I hope this is the correct place to post this. Please let me know if it is not. I apologize ahead of time if i am wrong.

The company that I work for is wanting to purchase a 3d program to help them make plans and has tasked me with the research. I have 3d modeling and animation experience in 3Ds Max and some Maya. I think high end animation programs like these may be over kill for what they want to achieve. I also feel AutoCAD is overkill as well.

Basically I want to build something to pretty exact dimensions. I will then need to put it into an exploded view of it (think I built a bookcase and then pull it apart so i can see all the pieces) This will then be exported out and used in the plan as a parts diagram.

Any help or suggestions would be extremely helpful! Thank you.

If you need rendering then modo 3d, cinema 4d or even why not blender 3d.
If you don't need rendering then silo 3d, wings 3d, hexagon 3d will do the job.
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Andyba, 3d artist
skills: 3d modeling, texturing, rendering, 3d character animation, compositing
3d software experience: 3ds max, Maya, Softimage XSI, Deep Paint 3d, Body Paint 3D, Wings 3D, Z Brush
2d software experience: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe After effects, Macromedia Flash, Freehand

I think that blender will also be overkill since the learning curve is quite big.

Also when it comes to building things in exact dimensions is more difficult in Blender because you have to use Blender units instead of real measures and to do that you have to keep that in mind all the time and turn the Blender units into equivalent measures.

The caliper script helps with that but it is still easier in other programs. Now in the new version 2.46 I believe that you can use real measures like inches and centimeters but that version is not out until summer.

Anyway you mentioned that you think that Blender is an overkill so that begs the question of how complex are the things that you want to create in this program because if they are relatively simple then you can do just fine with Google Sketchup with the free version which is quite capable and if you need to expand later on you can buy the commercial version which is $495.00.

Also you mention exact dimensions and that seems to suggest that you are asking for CAD like features instead of 3D modeling features so you could be looking in the wrong place to begin with cause you may need a CAD program instead of a 3D modeler but with the sparse info that you provided is kinda hard to tell.

What exactly are you trying to build? What kind of jobs will you be doing with this 3D program?

It is true that the learning curve in Blender can be quite steep but that is just like in many other 3D modelers and many 2D and/or 3D CAD programs and that's why I mentioned Sketchup cause is one of the easiest to learn of the 3D modelers and it is also kinda CAD like and not just a 3D modeler.

Sketchup is in that respect similar to Rhinos, both are kinda hybrid 3D modelers and CAD programs all in one but Sketchup is easier to learn and Rhinos is more capable. So what are you going to create with this program?

You mentioned plans but what kind of plans, house plans? furniture plans? mechanical parts plans? there are plans and there are plans you know. And would you be needing animation and rendering capabilities with that and if so how sophisticated would those rendering and animations have to be?

If you say something like: "Oh well I only need simple line renderings of the designs and I don't need photo-realism and I only need walk-through kind of animations and not complex animations like those that Blender or 3D Studio Max produces" and then you say the kind of plans that you are going to make then people in the forum can have a better idea of what you need.

Try to be more specific, give more details.