2021
Real-Time Product Visualization in CAD
Company
Shapr3D
Domain
CAD Tool for Design and Manufacturing
Role
Product Designer
Year
2021
Skills
Native App
iPadOS
macOS
Windows
Figma
CAD
The Problem Space¶
In the CAD world there are two major workflows that are built on the visual appearance of a body:
coloring bodies to assign semantic meaning (eg.: red for wires)
assigning materials to bodies to visualize designs during the design process
The goal was to solve both and in addition to that do this on iPadOS, macOS and Windows. This meant supporting all types of input devices from touch to Apple Pencil and mouse.
The Solution¶
In order to solve both the semantic coloring and appearance use-case, my solution supported both. At start a "Default Material" is assigned to every new body created or imported to Shapr3D.
Smart Fill
To keep editing simple, dragging a material over a body with a bunch of faces that use the same material smartly replaces the whole material with the new one.
Collaboration with the Visual Artist
In addition to the product design I was responsible for the visual curation of the materials shipped with the app. I was working together with a team of 3D artists who created the materials.
Truly Multiplatform¶
Native Navigation Patterns Across All Platforms
The interface adopts to the native standards across all platforms. Complexity is reduced with deeper navigation stack iPadOS, but reduced to simple popover on macOS where there is more space to see materials in context.
