Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: knowledge Automation (ID:zhishipai), author: Lu Yunqiang

The evolution of the sketch tool environment, the modeling process starting from the sketch, is still the mainstream way. Although some software has been iterated for decades, it does not mean that the functionality of sketches and user experience have met the needs of customers' experience today. From the general trend, the participation of AI technology in the sketching process has become higher and higher.

From the trend of the sketching process, the use of sketches is mainly divided into four parts: creation, dimensioning, editing and reuse. In the process of creating a sketch, the software can directly deduce the shape of the sketch or the shape of the 3D model according to the direction of the user's mouse movement and the outline that the sketch has drawn; the sketching process can be based on the company model database, based on semantic search or the drawing of the basic outline of the sketch, reuse the existing outline. The development of sketching to the end-to-end direction, sketching is associated with features, parts, intentions before and after assembly, and different levels of rapid conceptual design are carried out. Dimensioning is also an important function of sketches, and you can dimension as many dimensions as possible with one dimension command, even though there are still many software that can't do it today. The dimensions of a model will be combined by sketch dimensions and feature dimensions, and sketch dimensions and feature dimensions can be transmitted with GD&T information, thus changing sketch dimensions and tolerances or feature dimensions and tolerances in the analysis of DfAM and DFSS.

Whether the scale of the sketch can unify the nanometer system, the millimeter system, the meter system, or even the larger system. At present, some software sketch lines can only support 500m or 1000 meters at most, the maximum size of a single feature is no more than 1000 meters, and the minimum size reaches the micron level. At present, the designs of these different dimensions and spans are basically completed by independent design software.

Sketching systems may also become more complex or more simple and intuitive for different purposes. Secondly, the diversification of drawing equipment, sketching and 3D structure design have been in the process of participating in modeling at the same time, for example, we see a rotary body, we want to modify the outline, we do not have to enter the sketch editing state, directly 3D editing state, change the outline and create or edit the sketch.

Users are learning the software, and the software continues to meet the new functional requirements of users in the process of using it. Software developers are also integrating different new technologies and methods, hoping to lead mainstream values. This is a double helix iterative process, this process will be more and more direct to the essence.

Interact with the designer's interface an CAD product is mainly composed of 2 parts, product features and user experience. The function of the product is reflected in that it can meet the functional needs of customers. On the other hand, the user experience is reflected in the interaction between the designer and the software, which needs to cater to the customer's cognition and behavior process and understand the user's next action. These experiences will be excellent to establish the communication between the customer and the software, the customer can not only understand the software, the software can also understand the customer very well, the communication process and form between the two are growing with each other, so as to achieve the "unity of man and sword".

Keyboard, mouse and monitor are one kind of interaction, while fingers, keyboard and screen are another kind of interaction. There are also new ways of interaction, such as virtual space, gestures, and voice interaction. Better ways of communicating between people and software are emerging. In the process of realization, you can follow your intuition and move forward. This allows people with non-professional background to achieve design. This is especially important for consumer goods. The demand is generated by consumers, who have already defined the function of the product, but the process of design and implementation can only be translated and realized by the staff. This process is originally a process of information distortion.

With the interactive development of CAD software, there will be a process with the development of CAD software from the front end to the back end, that is, a lot of processes from scratch will be completed by software automation. Secondly, the development and change of software interaction will also change with the development of CAD software from the manufacturing side to the consumer side, everyone will have their own CAD software, such as shadow, understand our needs, help us transform our ideas into a "digital treasure" that can be manufactured, and achieve "the unity of man and sword". VR / AR, touch screen, 3D mouse, keyboard, AI input on voice and image, etc., the way these people communicate with software will change with the mainstream values of society, but no matter which kind of change, the goal is to better understand what we want and achieve what we want.

The blessing of artificial intelligence to design tools in recent years, the penetration of artificial intelligence technology in the field of industrial software is almost everywhere. A software product that does not incorporate AI technology will not be competitive.

In the field of CAD software, artificial intelligence technology is mainly permeated in two aspects of CAD: on the one hand, the user interface UI, which is actually the level of user experience. With the use of the user, the software will learn everyone's operating habits, and the interface of the software will change with the learning of the user's habits; secondly, the reasoning of commands and floating toolbars will also change with the user's habits. this process will make the software interface simpler and more intuitive. On the other hand, at the software functional level, generative design is a typical use of artificial intelligence technology, the introduction of artificial intelligence technology in the modeling level will make modeling divided into two categories in the future, one is called human design, the other is called artificial intelligence design. Even in the process of human design, there will be a semi-artificial intelligence design, artificial intelligence technology has done a lot of work through the automatic decision-making system.

The essence of CAD is a tool to realize human ideas, and the possibility of artificial intelligence technology to make it a reality is getting closer and closer. As the interactive technology becomes more and more rich, CAD software will know more about its "master", everyone will have a unique "private dream realization assistant", and everyone will become a "creator" because of their insight into life.

The change of software users from the emergence of CAD software to today, the user group of CAD is mainly composed of industry enterprises, small and medium-sized enterprises and individual users. However, from the point of view of the nature of these users, they are mainly section class personnel or specially trained personnel. But it does not mean that CAD can only be a tool for professional users, and consumers are also participating in the use of software. after all, sometimes, in order to better facilitate communication, consumers also need to transfer CAD software or other software with CAD functions.

For example, Shapr3D has made it easy for non-class users to use its tools to realize their own ideas. The picture-viewing king of Suzhou Haochen software, although it is 2D software, is rich in functions. It can not only be used to view 2D drawings, but also developed commands based on consumer user habits to create and edit drawings.

Even in the professional user market, with the increasing number of customers, the customer industry is becoming more and more abundant, which makes the demand of CAD users more and more, and the application scenarios become more and more abundant, thus building a perfect long-tail curve, which means that those enterprises with their own strengths have their own living space, large enterprises have their own mainstream market coverage, and small enterprises have their own scene coverage. Now many companies are planning the future of their products based on a broader user space.

CAD users continue to use the software at the same time, value will also infiltrate into different areas of different departments of the enterprise, thus constantly generating new functional requirements, new product requirements. This means that the software is just like the types of skin care products and manufacturers, in the case of roughly the same basic materials, the skin-based region, time, and functions are constantly enriched. The same customer will also be buying more products to meet their more needs. Like photo enthusiasts, this one has a lot of cameras and lenses.

For consumers, enterprises need tools to serve consumers directly in order to better serve consumers. Users of industrial software will include consumers themselves. Perhaps, on that day, industrial software will no longer have to use the word "industrial".

At present, the industrial software is still a software based on heavy graphics interaction. The performance, stability and robustness of the software all affect the user experience. The current geometry engine is mainly based on the single-threaded limitation of CPU. In addition to improving the performance of large assembly management functions, companies are racking their brains in more efficient technology research and use.

How to use modern graphics API to achieve better 3D performance and advanced functions such as GPU ray tracing is also the direction of the future. Currently, some CAD software companies have invested in developing their own visualization engines for many years.

The way to update 3D CAD software: install or update automatically over the past few decades, the process of installing software patches and designing new versions of software has not become easier and simpler, but as the software gets bigger and bigger, the experience of the process is not as good as possible. Of course, software vendors do a good job in the service, enterprise IT personnel management ability, the end-user experience may be smaller, but these are through the service to change the experience, not the CAD software technology itself to change. Now the installation disk of a 3D CAD software is easily dozens of gigabytes in size.

The process of software update and upgrade is insensitive, and you don't even have to pay an obvious fee for upgrade. today, this goal has been achieved through the process of software cloud, which is now mainly through two ways: one is that the software is redeveloped into the cloud native; the other is through the software AppStream (private cloud is called virtual desktop), both of which are used in large industrial software companies. This makes the software no longer have an obvious sense of the upgrade process, and even customers will forget that there is such a thing as software upgrade. Downloading and installing software is just a business model derived from technical means. Even today's Windows desktop-level software can also achieve no effect in the upgrade process through the use of software modular refactoring, micro-service services, containers and other technologies. But it also depends on whether it conflicts with the business model.

Here, I would like to mention a little bit of the changes brought about by the cloud of software. The cloud itself is a kind of computing power that can be everywhere, and a simpler understanding is a very flexible leased "cloud" computer. The cloud of software also turns the software into a "cloud" software that can be rented. The emphasis on "cloud" is because it will change the competitive landscape among software manufacturers, and users will completely address data security concerns as hybrid clouds move between public ownership and privatization. But in the future, the cloud of software can solve at least one problem: if an account uses all the software owned by a company with the same traffic fee or monthly rental fee, does it mean that the larger the industrial software company, it can actually make customers feel because of the strength of the product line. Even cloud providers integrate the product lines of different companies into one account through the services of the industrial software cloud market, and the same monthly fee can use any software you want.

Future new technologies in the future, CAD is expected to use many new technologies that will help users better create and manage designs.

Artificial intelligence will play an important role in CAD, helping users to complete the design faster, provide better design suggestions, automate the design process, improve design quality and reduce errors.

3D scanning is also a rapidly developing technology. 3D scanning technology will help users convert physical objects into 3D models quickly and accurately, and can be used to reconstruct historic buildings, repair mechanical parts and so on. It plays a good auxiliary role in the initial stage of the establishment of digital twins.

Virtual reality and augmented reality VR / AR will speed up the application. Virtual reality and augmented reality technology will help users better understand the design, simulate product performance and user experience, and interact with the design more intuitively.

3D printing is more suitable for prototype testing. 3D printing technology will help users to quickly produce designed samples and parts, and can be used for rapid prototyping testing, small batch production and so on.

Cloud computing is everywhere. Cloud computing will help CAD users store and share design files more easily, access and run software faster, synchronize work between multiple devices, and collaborate with teams more easily.

Big data's analysis plays a role. Big data will help CAD users better analyze design data, extract more useful information, and improve design quality and efficiency.

These technologies will play an important role in the future of CAD, helping users to better create and manage designs.

A brief introduction to the author

Author

Lu Yunqiang: research fellow of Nanshan Institute of Technology

Compilation and examination

Lin Xueping: general Manager of Beijing Lianxun Power Consulting Co., Ltd.

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