Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
“The future of design software is to make it easier to move back and forth
between reality and software, software and reality,” said Gonzalo Martinez, a
vice president of Autodesk's consumer products division. “Our goal is to speed
the process. Now we have tools that can capture an object's physical details
in as many as a billion data points. Our goal is to make it easier for people to
manipulate that data to understand from a human point of view, to answer
the question, 'What is that object?'”
“We're exploring new ways to design and fabricate things” said Gonzalo.
“Last year we built a state of the art fabrication lab. Now we have the biggest
collection of 3D printers on the west coast,” he joked.
If capturing the design details of physical things becomes a quick and
painless process, then everybody can become a designer. Once 3D printing
becomes as ubiquitous as 3D printing, everyone can become a manufacturer.
“My 11-year-old son will design a complex object that once took me 3 years
to learn how to design,” laughed Gonzalo.
This 3D printed skull was captured in digital
form with 123D Catch.
Gonzalo continued, “The long-term goal is to generate parametrics [shape
libraries] from point cloud data. This is good for reverse engineering and to
speed up the design process if we want to duplicate the object exactly in digital
form or change it. In a nutshell, the next generation of design software will
bring fast reality into the computer.”
