With the continuous improvement of digital design tools, the process of developing highly appealing aesthetic products has become easier to attain. However, the demand placed by today’s consumers requires powerful and flexible design tools that not only allow for the creation of product designs that satisfy expectations and follow trends but also eliminate restrictions usually imposed on designers and styling engineers.
In this blog, we will delve into how the Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE® platform empowers designers to quickly create and explore product concepts with a unified creative design workflow, increasing innovation as designs are advanced without limits. This is crucial to ensure rapid product development and acceptance of late modifications as newer designs are constantly introduced. The net result is the production of best designs and fewer physical prototypes, reducing time to market to drive business success.
With a collection of superior creative design modeling tools and an accelerated design-to-manufacturing workflow environment that allows the entire enterprise to maintain a competitive advantage, 3DEXPERIENCE enables designers to:
Share and collaborate with ease
The 3DEXPERIENCE platform facilitates communication within the organization so that all team members are well connected. During all phases of a project, it is possible to collaborate in social communities for effective exchange and sharing of ideas. Users can also interact with suppliers and consumers to bridge the communication gap across the complete chain. As consumers become active participants in the process and ideas are generated, feedback communicated across the platform can drive better designs in less time.
Generate native freehand sketches during early product conception
Although not necessary, an initial idea or inspiration can sometimes originate with a photo or an externally drawn sketch. The information conveyed within these photos and/or sketches can easily be transferred through the dedicated creative design tools to define the original design intent. Once available on the platform, these sketches and images can be used as single elements or in combination to generate native 2D and 3D sketches where users can proceed to modify them further to quickly explore design alternatives before finalizing the sketch geometry details.
Sketching on surfaces also ensures no hindrances, so designers can communicate their full creativity as 2D ideas begin to be transformed to 3D reality. Additionally, connecting to an external stylus pen computer enhances the overall experience with complete access to the same design tools.
Easily transform 3D and 2D sketches to high-quality surfaces
A seamless transition to a surface modeling environment allows users to build high-quality, curvature continuous surfaces supported on their 3D wireframe sketches. Using these easy-to-learn and intuitive design tools, the derived subdivision surfaces can be quickly manipulated and sculpted into desired shapes to produce different design variants. Without delay, the management team can review these alternate designs to arrive at an acceptable virtual prototype before additional refinement can be performed using other 3DEXPERIENCE applications.
Design in the context of the human
The inclusion of the human factor in product development is an invaluable aid that provides additional insight into the key variables driving design changes. To that extent, users can model realistic humans based on gender. In addition, there is total control to define the body proportions, posture, and behavior. Accounting for the human element leads to less need for physical prototypes, ultimately shortening the development cycle.
Create real-time photorealistic renderings to properly visualize the final product
As the design progresses, a photorealistic rendering can greatly enhance the product perception in the virtual environment. By controlling various facets such as surface textures and finishes, colors and trims, material selection, background environment, and sticker applications – separately or in combination – even non-specialist users can produce interactive visuals set against a preferred ambiance dependent on the product type and associated industry. This helps the team to better communicate to customers the concept of the finished product.
Easy generation of this physically correct product visualization leads to the most effective validation and decision making. This rendering capability is not limited to finished designs, it can be leveraged in all stages of the design process and provides guidance in the preparation of the actual physical product. It can also be further enhanced when coupled with AR/VR headsets that are integrated within the design environment on the platform.
Boost design creativity and innovation in a single integrated environment
The power of the creative design tools available in 3DEXPERIENCE unlocks endless possibilities to express full creativity. The seamless integration with other traditional modeling tools or with analysis and manufacturing tools further enhances the user experience, increasing productivity through a unified workflow and highly collaborative environment. By keeping the entire design-to-manufacturing network well connected in a single integrated environment, the organization is fully supported in reaching the target of improved product quality and shortened production cycles.
Creative design and styling in action on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform:
Questions?
If you have any questions or would like to learn more about creative design and styling on the 3DEXPERIENCE platform, contact us at (954) 442-5400 or submit an online inquiry.