You’re looking to get into automotive design. What software tools should you learn first?

The standard tool for digital 2D sketching in automotive design is definitely Photoshop. A student who wants to get into automotive design should start here.

Gravity Sketch (VR): An innovative tool that allows designers to sketch in 3D space using VR. This is especially useful for understanding the spatial relationships in a car design.

Personally, i like Photoshop a lot. It has a lot of 2D and 3D abilities and is a pretty versatile software. You can go from simple fast sketches all the way to full-blown high quality renders. Even if nowadays there's a lot of AI and other tools making life easy, i think having the knowledge of how to create high quality renders and sketches by hand is an invaluable base to build off!

Forget about any software, learn to sketch by hand first! Way too many young designers can't sketch by hand and must rely on the computer to do it for them. Don't even get me started on the use of A.I. - You don't even need any talent or skills to have the computer render images for you!

My first software "Microstation", used for sketching, modeling and visual effect of scooter parts design on behalf of LML Limited, Kanpur.

I would suggest the young gen to have an understanding of all the software's mentioned below and plan the usage of software's according to their timeline. Photoshop (Sketching and quick renders), Blender or SUBD (quick package understanding and proportional level), ALIAS (finest level of Surfacing and details), Vred (visualization). Being a Senior designer, I mostly do quick sketches on paper get it to blender and take some good shots and finally render it on photoshop for a quick real-time feel with good amount of clarity on the volume. Then depending upon the selected concepts, I would get it to next level of details in blender. If the project is for a production version I would go for alias in class-A surfacing and renders in Vred.

Blender has to be the first! The ability to visualise your designs in 3D helps you understand proportions better. Having this skill at hand really provides a very dynamic design process. You go back and forth between a quick SubD 3D model and 2D sketching to refine the details. Gravity Sketch is also great for the same reasons! I would still suggest Blender for the convenience it provides for a fast ideation process and shape your future products.

For me, Alias is my go-to software when it comes to modeling. It has a lot of great functions that were actually developed in collaboration with the car companies and their modelers. You can go all the way from quick sketch models and sub-D to class-A production data in one and the same software. Plus it works well together with V-RED, which gives the ability for a very streamlined workflow.

ICEM Surf is one of the main tools used in the automotive industry to draw class-A surfaces, with in particular a seamless data exchange with CAD modelers, and advanced rendering capabilities.

Alias and ICEM Surf are probably the standard tools for 3D surface modeling in automotive design. In some cases also MAYA for interior polygon modeling. Blender has become increasingly powerful and important too. Especially in the early explorative phases of a project.

V-red is fairly easy to use and let's you import a variety of data formats pretty comfortably. Plus, it has pretty good VR capabilities as well

If you're looking to get into automotive design the first software package to consider for renderings is probably keyshot. I'd argue that it's the easiest to get into. Having said that it also depends a lot what you're using for 3D modeling. If you've started off with blender it might be a good tool here too. Unreal and V-red definitely have their place, but they are more complex to master and focus on real time visualization.

For Styling: Alias, ICEM For Rendering: Keyshot, V-Ray For Engineering: CATIA, Siemens NX Bonus points: ChatGPT, Midjourney

SolidWorks: While more commonly used in mechanical engineering, SolidWorks also has strong capabilities in surface modeling, making it a good choice for detailed design and engineering-focused tasks in automotive design.

Entre os softwares existentes de modelagem 3D CAD os mais populares s?o o CATIA V5/V6 e Siemens NX. Junto com estas ferramentos deve-se acompanhar um gerenciador de banco de dados TeamCenter (mais popular) e uma ferramenta de visualiza??o rápida VisMockup. Outro ponto importante é o conhecimento de moldes de inje??o e estampagem para o desenvolvimento das pe?as se for produto. Se for dispositivos é outro caminho longo. Após muitas horas de treinamento e dedica??o você esta pronto para iniciar a sua carreira.

Let's break down the approach to 3D modelling software in levels. The user interface, designability and basic to advance growing up will happen in the below software. Level-1: SolidWorks, Autodesk Inventor, SolidEdge, Fusion 360, Creo (formerly ProE). Level-2: CATIA V5/V6 and UG NX. Additionally, Autodesk Alias is a great software for Class-A surface design. For drafting: AutoCAD and DraftSight. Analysis: ANSYS, HYPERMESH, ANSA. Hope the above information helps.

CAD is a combination of all three Sketching 3D Modelling And Rendering While ideally being able to draw your ideas on a piece of paper is the most fundamental trait i would see while hiring someone, knowing a CAD tool becomes the primary requirement for anyone looking to be a design engineer.

There are many CAD tools used in industries. In which few are highly used like PTC creo Parametric CATIA UG NX All these 3 has unique capabilities and used in many leading companies and having huge job demand as well.

CATIA: Developed by Dassault Systèmes, CATIA is a multi-platform software suite for CAD, CAM, and CAE. It's known for its sophisticated surface modeling tools and is widely used in the automotive and aerospace industries for designing high-end, complex structures.

I strongly disagree with the idea that you can simply learn any simulation software without a minimum theoretical background. Even the usage of the generic 'simulation' word is questionable: there are so many types of simulations: crashworthiness, aerodynamics, acoustics, EMAG... Each software has its playground: Fluent for CFD, Abaqus for Structures etc. So basically, if you want to become proficient in that domain, you should first study some theory in your field of interest, and finally learn one of the few software that can efficiently cover that area. As a former support engineer in a major automotive OEM, I saw so many mistakes done by Designers who had access to simulation software but had absolutely no idea of what they were doing.

If you're really looking to get into automotive design (or any field of creative design) I'd not dedicate time to learn a simulation software. In my experience the tool set of creative/automotive designers does not include this part at all. It is a different profession.

Learning simulation tools without the proper fundamentals and knowledge of theoretical and practical concepts is useless. Without the fundamentals, it is usually garbage in and garbage out. It is important to remember that these are just tools. It's very important to understand how, when and where to use tools. It is important for anyone going down this path to learn such tools along with fundamental theory and practical experiments to correlate their simulations.

Siemens NX: Known for its integrated suite of tools covering the entire product development process. NX offers advanced solutions for conceptual design, 3D modeling, and simulation.

Learning to collaborate is more about having the right attitude to ask questions, inform people of concerns and decisions, and keep cross functional teams and stake holders informed. Learning to communicate effectively is what needs to be developed as a skill. Tools just help you and i personally don't believe you need to learn these tools specifically. But being computer literate and having the acumen to get familiar with the tools is what is important.

O mais gratificante é ver as pe?as que você desenvolveu e projetou no veículo cumprindo sua fun??o estética e seguran?a veícular sempre respeitando os requerimentos da empresa.

I would first of all say there is big misunderstanding/confusion about Automotive Design being sketching or 3D CAD the terminology is being quite generally used without realising the actual usage or functionality of it . - Analyse what do you want to get into - Sketching, rendering surface modeling are more to do with aesthetics of the product or component - 3D CAD is more to do not only with the Form factor and aesthetics but also engineering considerations for fit and function Those two factors highly differentiate weather to start with - Rendering sketching software or - 3D CAD I would say , the Whole Idea of simulation has got way different stream and functionality to learn and think about from the Automotive Design perspective

I partially disagree. In my experience, just a personal opinion, I observe tools and technicalities are too often, too overrated, specially in 3d concept modeling, where design knowledge is needed. Likewise I have never met a car designer who paid too much attention to design softwares. They just simply use and learn the tools needed to visualize their design proposals, but that is just a part of the work. Just as a surgeon must know much further than the simple use of his operating room tools, no matter the role and specialization, a designer should also go much further beyond the simple use of design tools. Design knowledge is more important than mastering design softwares even at expert level. Tools are just simply tools.

Becoming a car designer may seem difficult at first. However, it is a process of persistence in pursuit of your dream. Be persistent, always improve your techniques, always be up to date on design, seek out a network, and don't forget to have a very well-made portfolio that speaks for you. With calm and persistence, everything is possible. Follow your dreams!