One exciting future of CAD

I just now stumbled across an older blog post of Daniel Davis entitled CAD's boring future and Why it's exciting and I only recommend reading this article. And I would like to tell why I think he is right and what will be one exciting future of CAD in my oppinion.

A short intro to the article: The author believes the future of #CAD is not made of brand new technology like #ML, #VR, #IoT, #AI, #AR, #generative #design, #digitaltwin , #3dprinting , #bigdata or whatever. He believes that real impact on building industry will be made by two trends.

1. bringing sophisticated computational design tools on regular, mundane architecture
2. bringing vertical market to the AEC business

High-end tools for the long tail of the market

I totally agree with his first thesis: We at Imagine Computation GmbH have been working for almost 11 years now within the "Long Tail" of the market (the unique buildings of the world with its main criteria: "the harder a building was to model in CAD, the harder it was to construct, the more unique it was, the better.")

the long tail ? Daniel Davis

But during all those years we failed to bring our cool stuff we developed into down to earth buildings where automation and digital fabrication would have a way greater impact.

But as Daniel notes there is a shift going on to focus to the middle of the spectrum, the so called Fat Middle. He mentions TestFit , Archistar.ai and Spacemaker AI that now focus on delivering great cutting-edge tools for ordinary projects!

the fat middle ? Daniel Davis

And what shall I say? I like this development! And it is exact the same direction we are heading to for some years now. Instead of developing tools for the unicorns we started developing tools for the ordinary. But unlike the aforementioned we have a little bit different approach...

Automation and the human impact

We do not believe there are many problems or tasks within AEC industry that can be fully automated by software.

At Imagine Computation GmbH we automated 3D-design highly detailed models for fabrication of bespoke facades and interieurs. And we NEVER had one single project where we could automate 100%. Thats just like this industry is: full of exceptions and irregularities and a super complex set of rules (just the opposite to the often precedented aeronautical or automotive industry).

What we believe in is the use of a set of custom tools that will help you doing 80-90% of the job better and faster. And for each new project, for each industry, for each practice you will define a new set of tools to reach your goals. And if you are lacking a tool? Develop it.

That is the second main difference to the aforementioned companies: We are missing the humans in their approach. It is all about machine learning and AI etc. I am absolutely not against this technology, not at all. I think they have great potential and we need those technologies! But in my oppinion they can only assist humans in their daily work. And best solution-developers are and still will be humans.

Therefore our approach is: Empower users to develop great tools and allow them to share. This is one of the many futures of CAD.

Ecoverse of custom tools

And this directly leads to Daniel's second assomption on the vertical market. I disagree little bit here. I believe neither in a horizontal nor a vertical market. We believe in a ecoverse of the market where you have endless variety of tools and you can pick and use them wherever you'll need them. No matter which industry, no matter which stage. YOU define your needs and your solutions, not the providers.

the ecoverse of CAD ? Dominik Zausinger

This touches as well two other statements of Daniel:

• UI over AI : Although he focuses more on the interface it is important to keep in mind that success of tools will be ultimately be dictated by humans not machines.
• Made-to-measure over mass-manufactured : time is over for one-size-fits-all products like most current CAD-systems on the market.

the horizontal and vertical market ? Daniel Davis

Start of an journey

As already said we started developing tools for the fat middle 2-3 years ago. Beginning 2022 we started our new company Rhenso which will focus on our vision for the future of CAD as Imagine Computation GmbH will continue working on the long tail of projects with our great clients.

Our first tool is AdaptivePartsEnvironment: Build AdaptiveParts with almost any complexity with Grasshopper for Rhino. It is our first small step to foster user development of tools. We have plenty of usefull features still in mind on how to make it more powerful so you can create even better tools.

What do you think?

• Will humans play a role in CAD design and engineering in the future or will all be done by machines and AI?
• Can users play an important role in developing tools to share with others or shall this be done by large CAD-suppliers?

If you like the idea behind #AdaptivePartsEnvironment just download and test it. And start developing your own tools and share them.

If you have any questions feel free to connect , drop me a message by mail or comment below this article.