You're an industrial designer. What design software is essential for you to know?

This is the wrong question, rather what types of thinking does one need to be able to fluidly use whatever software is most applicable to the design problems needing to be solved, at the appropriate process stage. At this point in time, AI creative software would be my most recommended.

While the industry may seem to be shifting towards 3d visulizations and digital medium, sketching by hand remains a fundamental skill. It is and will always be an invaluable medium for ideation, problem-solving, and effective communication.

I personally rely on traditional pen paper drawing, for quick Sketching. Among digital platforms for students I'd advise to go for an ipad.

I prefer to sketch on paper with a pencil, it is the most direct and simple start to start giving shape to an idea or project. There are some sketching programs like Procreate for tablets like iPad or SketchBook to use on a computer with drawing tablets.

It depends on what you can afford and your workflow. iPad+ Procreate is a killer combo, but not exactly affordable if you're starting off. If you're on Windows like the most of us and have invested in a Cintiq, I would prefer Sketchbook. If you are a Blender user, I would recommend mastering Grease Pencil. It allows you to stay within the platform and move back and forth between 2d and 3d upping your speed.

In my experience, learning free-form software like Rhino first lays a strong foundation for designing high-quality surfaces. Understanding concepts like G2-G3 continuity, curvature graphics, and Y, K transitions equips you with transferable skills you can apply to any software. While Solidworks is the most popular software among industrial designers, I recommend starting with Rhino to build a solid foundation in free-form modeling before moving on.

Rhino is a popular software for exploring forms and iterations in design, especially with features like SubD and Grasshopper. You can learn it from books like AAD (Algorithms-aided Design) or online tutorials from Cademy by Aman Agarwal. However, Rhino is not enough for freelance designers who need to handle the engineering aspects as well. For that, SolidWorks is a more suitable software. It is also widely used by engineering teams in the industry. Therefore, it is advisable to learn both Rhino and SolidWorks if you want to be a versatile designer. But remember, the software is just a tool. You should plan your design before using any software, and not let the software limit your creativity.

Designers need different tools and techniques for different stages of their design journey. The ideation stage: is where designers brainstorm, sketch, and explore different concepts and possibilities. They need a tool that allows them to quickly visualize in 3D, a tool that is flexible, intuitive, and easy to use, so they can experiment with different shapes, forms, and styles. Hence at this stage, polygon modelling is best suited. Three major softwares are Blender, Maya and Alias SubDiv. The development stage: is where designers refine, optimize, and finalize their design for prototyping or manufacturing. Here, NURBS modelling is better. Key software is Alias. *From an Automotive Design PoV in the industrial design vertical.

Temos usado há anos o SolidWorks. Já usamos o pro engineer, que é um excelente software, na época era mais difícil de usar, por este motivo trocamos pelo SolidWorks. Nenhuma ferramenta vai ser perfeita, mas gosto de pensar que a melhor ferramenta sempre será a que dominamos e sabemos usar.

As someone who is focused on developing products that are aesthetically intentional and also manufacturable, Solidworks is king. The surfacing abilities have developed well over the years to the point where I do not feel limited in what can be geometrically represented (outside of things like character design or concept art). Yet it's parametric build tree allows for very controlled adjustment and refinement as projects get further into engineering. I consistently develop products from visual concepts to tooling ready CAD entirely within Solidworks, making it my top suggestion for any designer looking for one program to invest their time learning.

My experience with rendering says most of the time, Keyshot software is suitable and does not have much complexity, and it can quickly lead you to an acceptable result, but it cannot create a masterpiece. If the rendering output is very important to you, Keyshot may not be enough and using engines like V-ray or Corona is better, but it is definitely more complicated and time-consuming. In a simple case, for example, if you can get a 70% desired output from Keyshot in one hour, you need 3 hours to reach 70% satisfaction with V-Ray. Although V-ray can reach 90% results in 6 hours, it may take much, much longer to achieve the same satisfaction through Keyshot.

I have used Keyshot for 10 years. You can create photorealism using Keyshot & it is great for simpler product shots and animations. It is easy to pick up & fairly intuitive but can be difficult to get really convincing results without delving into the more complex world of material graphs. Interior scenes can be labour & graphic card intensive. I have never used Blender’s render engines but have been very impressed by the results I have seen online. Blender allows you to create interior or exterior scenes efficiently and convincingly from research. The software is also completely free. Cinema 4D (C4D), Houdini and Redshift lead the way in terms of producing VXF.

In my experience the range of the rendering software is what underlies it's usefulness. Keyshot works great with quick drag and drop imports and material application. With just some quick tweaks you can get a real nice representation of the project in real materials. Perfect for internal review or just to get a sense of what a design is looking like. At the same time, if truly impactful visualization is needed for a presentation, or close to lifelike imagery required for packaging, it can be achieved with further refinement on lighting and material graphs. However that final step to true photo-realism mostly seems either out of reach or not worth the time investment. 90% of most designers will have their needs met with keyshot though.

I'm used to rendering in my native modeling software, Form Z. Many of our designers use Keyshot. We work quickly so we want quality renders to sell our ideas, but we balance speed with quality. We adjust based on need. Amp up the rendering to evoke emotion. Lower it if we have to iterate quickly or fast revisions to refine a design so we can get a PO.

All our designers use Keyshot. For years, we worked hard to produce imagery with 3DS Max, but he capability of that program is almost beyond what a design studio needs. Keyshot and Blender are excellent resources which are well priced and capable.

For quick prototyping, I will always recommend the Sharp 3D software, both iPad and PC versions communicate perfectly, gives you a quick render, even have tutorials for you to learn everything about the system, easy to use, fast to export to whatever you need.

These recommended prototyping software (Arduino, Figma, Unity) are used for different purposes. Depending if you need to check the code (Arduino), run a designed application (Figma/Adobe XD), or check your modeling assets (Unity). Some modeling software like Rhino or Fusion 360 can check the physics behind your model (furniture).

En mis estudios fabricaba las piezas en 3d y las hacía funcionar con arduino o PLC de schneider con el programa Zelio. Además creaba una ensamblaje en inventor y el renderizado del video para la presentación.

En mi trayectoria realmente, no use ningún software para tal función, de hecho como lo digo anteriormente, el modelo lo debes hacer para que a la primera sea funcional. Realice simulación en mismo AutoCAD manualmente, me imagino que que si existen software como tales, igual dependerá de un modelo correcto.

Miro is my favourite collaboration tool. It lets me record all the ideas and progression and facilitates real-time communication and collaboration with my team. With the addition of a 3D visualizer and advanced sketching tools, it could become an even more powerful platform for industrial designers

Microsoft Teams, period! No one got fired for signing up on Microsoft products. In my experience, customers have been wary of coming on collaboration platforms such as Slack etc, but not on Microsoft. Used rightly, it can work as a cheap PLM too.??

There are many communication applications. Using one depends on who on the team and how the team needs to collaborate: Miro- Everyone can work together on the board Slack/Discord/Teams - Talking and sending files Google Drive - Large file collection Naya- Hub of all applications and documents

Desde la concepción hasta la materialización, los softwares juegan un papel vital en mi proceso de dise?o. Utilizo herramientas de boceto para explorar rápidamente ideas, y programas como SolidWorks, Rhino y Fusion 360 para dar vida a dise?os tridimensionales detallados. El renderizado, con KeyShot, V-Ray y Blender, aporta una dimensión visual impactante. La creación de prototipos se facilita con SolidWorks y Fusion 360, mientras que la colaboración efectiva se logra a través de plataformas en tiempo real como Fusion 360. Además, las herramientas integradas para el aprendizaje continuo me mantienen actualizado. Estos softwares son aliados esenciales, optimizando cada fase del dise?o de manera eficiente.

I've always used discord, it seems like the easier way to make whatever you may need with people, whatever you need is just perfect to collaborate and keep open communication channels

Never base you entire learning on one software. Learn the skillset instead. There will always be new companies, new tools. If you know why something works in one software, then new software/ tool will always be an aid for you.

I think this part needs to be phrased as learning platforms. In my opinion, you can learn from: 1. Lemanoosh: Diverse and in depth courses from experienced tutors. 2. Cademy: For Rhino and Grasshopper 3. YouTube for everything else.

I cannot attest to using any software for learning other than the internet, YouTube, social media and trial and error. The most important skill you can learn is how to assess your weaknesses and obtain the correct knowledge and skill set to improve. None of this requires specific ‘learning softwares’.

El aprendizaje continúo es crucial en la profesión de dise?ador sobre todo cuando la tecnología avanza tan rápido, cada día surgen nuevos programas, nuevas funciones y herramientas. El dise?ador industrial debe tener como primera fuente de formación las mismas empresas de software; Autodesk y Dassault Systems tienen en sus páginas web todo una sección dedicada al aprendizaje de sus productos. Luego como segunda fuente de aprendizaje están las plataformas e institutos autorizados por las casas de software que desarrolla el o los software que más usas en tu práctica profesional. Coursera tiene convenios interesantes con Autodesk dónde puedes aprender a manejar el software gratis y obtener el certificado a bajo costo.

Considero que para aprender, se pueden usar múltiples herramientas en internet. Una de ellas puede ser Udemy, también disponemos de YouTube. En este último podemos hallar diversos canales enfocados a ense?ar acerca de los diferentes software para dise?ar.

PowerPoint or Keynote. You'll likely end up spending a ton of your time on these softwares. Why? Because these are the tools you will use to communicate your designs - and effective communication is key. Mastering these tools will help you to quickly and effectively explore, compile, discuss, and even defend your ideas. PowerPoint is an essential software in my arsenal and i constantly try to push its capabilities. Do not underestimate the power of an effective presentation. These humble tools will become your best friends in the long run.

There are many important tools. They all serve a purpose, but the underlying through thread is that they aid in serving your intention. This is a fairly obvious point, but one that is often overlooked as we fall in love with the craft aspect of a tool. AI tools are redefining the way we work. In my opinion, these types of tools will be essential in the future of design workflows. Our goals remain the same, but the way we get there will change significantly over the next 5 to 10 years.

It’s important to remember in this fast paced evolving world of design, that there lots of creative tools out there that can be used to convey good ideas. But there are no shortcuts to good human- centered design and they need have their place in the design process without compromising good thinking amongst teams. The process of ideating still needs to be done methodically as its process of distillation and asking questions that lead to innovation that has depth and wealth to the end user.

Photoshop enables you to sketch, manipulate images, and design presentation sheets effectively. The software's robust features empower industrial designers to bring their concepts to life with precision and creativity, making it a valuable tool in the design process.

I believe that every designer should have basic knowledge of 2D design programs such as Illustrator and Photoshop, since for any project we carry out, presentations, graphic pieces, photographs, and images that require a certain composition, development, and design must always be made.