What does generative design do?

Autodesk has been a pioneer in a rapidly evolving field of ​​so-called generative design for many years - of a new design process in which you only enter the input requirements of the design, not its particular shape and material - and the computer then designs different shapes, analyzes them, creates and recommends the optimal shape of the designed part, meeting the given requirements (e.g. its strength, power transferred, load capacity, etc.).

Combined with additive manufacturing (3D printing), generative design represents a revolutionary path for accelerating innovation design processes and for a significant leap in improving performance of existing products and creating entirely new product types of unprecedented, organically-looking shapes.

The influence of generative design on the changing world of engineering design and menufacturing, including examples of its real deployment in the world, is described in a managerial overview of what's next in manufacturing (future of making things, FOMT) - see the series on our Czech blog Inventor guru and see the page cadstudio.cz/jaksemenivyroba (what's next in manufacturing).

Autodesk has been offering generative design tools (do not confuse with just a plain shape optimization) for a long time - from "technology previews" like Project Dreamcatcher to real-life products like Autodesk Within, Autodesk Netfabb, and the recently released Generative Design (GD) for subscribers of the popular CAD/CAM/CAE application Autodesk Fusion 360 Ultimate.

Customers are often asking us to test and verify capabilities of generative design in their design practice - and here are some of the results we have helped them to produce from their supplied traditional 3D models.

Take a look at the computer-generated designs in an interactive 3D viewer - all shapes come from Fusion 360 Ultimate:

Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
Option 4

Or as an interactive model which can be embedded in any web page (for WebGL-compatible browsers, like Chrome):



How you can increase your innovative capacity by generative design - a practical example:


More on Generative Design (in Czech)