Friday, May 12, 2006

The Cult of 3D

Recently I attended an Autodesk User Group International (AUGI) conference, which highlighted Autodesk’s new Inventor suite. I was struck by how many individuals from different industries, are activity using 3D design as a major portion of their design work. What got me was why the Audio Visual Industry was not actively embracing this form of CAD design. I realize that many on the acoustical side use 3D as a reliable tool to lessen design and installation costs, but what about the rest of us?

For a few years I’ve actively lobbied manufactures to provide accurate 1:1 scale CAD based drawings in 2D or even better 3D, to speed up the design and documentation process. Much of it to some success, however many manufactures just don’t get it. Instead they offer CAD drawings with no scale reference, or PDF’s which are very incompatible with CAD. I can’t tell you the hours spent making a usable CAD file from a non 1:1 scale CAD or PDF.

My ranting aside the CAD Industry is making a shift to more 3D based design software. No longer is 3D design relegated to awkward programs, functions, and the realms of movies and video games. Autodesk’s latest version of AutoCAD 2007 shows how far 3D has become by incorporating a new workspace specifically designed around 3D, as well as pulling many design elements from it’s other family of 3D products.

It’s not all too uncommon to find in a project, a room, the building, or even the furniture designed in 3D. This gives a customer a visual representation of what they are paying for. I see on the horizon entire projects designed in 3D. Many factors will lead to this, but I see cost savings and convenience of the software driving this form of design.

So how does the A/V industry meet this challenge, head on of course. I’ve always been fond of the saying “Improvise, Adapt, and Overcome”. This industry will need to choose this methodology in order to join the cult of 3D.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

The AV drafting nation has a dream of one day drawing in 3D but as i sit here and look at my drawings, i aks my self how can this imporove my job aside from a nice visual? I also would like to rant about the NONE scaled drawings and unproper PDF drawings that are scalled to a small size and then killing the scale factor!!!!!!!! I would like to see how this 3D future can come to play in our world aside from furniture layouts.