CLOSED - Interested in Generative Design? We want to hear from you!

[Allison.Leach]

This survey is now closed - thanks to those who participated!

We want to talk with current Fusion 360 Standard customers to get your thoughts on a new design solutioning tool that we're developing called Generative Design. Learn more about Generative Design here.

If this sounds like a tool that interests you, please sign up below as soon as possible (interview spots are limited!)

<< SURVEY CLOSED >>

• Sessions are 60 minutes each.
• We'll meet online using conferencing software, so we can share our screen with you.
• After your interview, we'll provide a $50 (US) Amazon gift card. 

Please note: You will only be scheduled if you receive an email confirmation after signing up.

Thanks for your interest!

The Generative Design Research Team

[seanathan]

Sounds awesome! Will there be evening sessions or just during working hours?

[aleach22]

Hi Seanathan, sessions will be during the workday for Pacific Standard Time (US). Specific times are listed in the sign up survey. Thanks!

[I_Forge_KC]

I wonder if I can sign up 

[TrippyLighting]

Nope! No soup for us! 

[Allison.Leach]

If you have a Standard account and an interest in Generative Design you are welcome to sign up. Thanks!

[filipmatyja]

Looks like bionics. Evolution algorithms that learn how to design? Oh boy!

[albertson.chris]

This is something I could use, especially if it could do simple things simply.   I would never build a chair with 12,000 structural elements as in the example but here is a project I  am actually working that could use this:

A prototype robot arm is using a rectangular cross section aluminum beam.  There are two bearings and a motor attached to the beam.  I know the forces applied at these three points.  My goal is to design a more efficient shape that is much lighter, that can resist mechanical abuse and still can be manufactured.    Very simple, just optimize the shape of one part.

Just this one feature would be great.  Let the engineer specify the force, the allowed amount of deflection, the materials let the computer find the best shape.

[TrippyLighting]

What you are describing is shape optimization and that can already be done in Fusion 360's simulation environment.

[albertson.chris]

Thanks for pointing this out   "shape optimization"?    I'm going to have to hunt this down and try it.  Is it automated?.    

A link to a tutorial or to a short write up would be nice.    But in the mean time I'll just look around in Fusion.  Once I know some feature is there I (or Google) should be able to find it.

[seanathan]

Its semi automated. You have to load some input parameters and it will automatically optimize the shape based on your design goals (stiffness, volume...etc).

It does exactly what you've described wanting it to do and f360 has online documentation and examples.

The more common term in the industry is topology optimization.

[I_Forge_KC]

@albertson.chrisDifferent forum, but there is a post there worth reading...

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/inventor-forum/shape-generator-do-you-use-it/td-p/7890260

[albertson.chris]

I just finished watching a video about how to do this.  It covered my exact use case. 

However I've thought about another way to apply this.  Typically a redesigned part is not just the same part with triangle shape holes milled through it.    So I first make the part much thicker then apply the the technique in the video so in the process some flanges might be added and the part takes on more volume but much of the volume made with air.    The feature was right there all along.  Thanks for the tip.

[TrippyLighting]

Very cool post and definitely worth reading! Would make a great into to a book or document that then explains some of these concepts in more depth.

[cekuhnen]

yeah while what they do is more generative engineering

generative design for me as an industrial designer is at a complete different platform

[I_Forge_KC]

There is more art to it than you think. While the current iteration of "AGD" is based on engineering inputs, they aren't the ONLY inputs.

Soon, I'll be sharing a lot of information on how to coax designs out of it that are "tuned" to a specific shape or flow. Unfortunately, it does require a host of software to really make it sing, but it's entirely possible to get beautiful, intentional forms out of it. If you take a look at the image I posted in that Inventor thread for topology synthesis, you'll see that those cell-phone holsters were all generated using the same inputs (aside from a seed - which I think is the wrong term: it should be called something like the vibe, flow, or intent). By intentionally throwing in specific seeds I have the ability to sew chaos or suggestive form into the solver. Once you get a feel for how the solver functions and grasp how the equations are being optimized, you find you can make some really incredible forms with specific (or chaotic) inputs.

The other thing to keep in mind is that this, like any FEA solver, creates lumpy nasty meshes. They serve as fantastic bases to re-model from or as good castings (since they lose all their specified precision in the process). What this means, in the long run, is that AGD can be used as an ideation and inspirational tool. I've done a lot of scratch building from forms that have come out because I wanted to throw a bit of my own flavor onto the final form. AGD has provided me the opportunity to explore thousands of designs within a single design space without ever being concerned with how I churn out those designs.

Much of my time at the P9 Residency was spent experimenting and finding the edges of the system. There is some truly amazing potential on the horizon...

[TrippyLighting]

@cekuhnen and I have discussed this at length. What he is talking about is really more in line with Rhino Grasshopper, and maybe Dynamo and has more to do with procedural modeling. This is an area that really has not gotten any attention and is one of the reasons you won't find for example many Rhino users changing to Fusion 360 because there is really not even a start of an equivalent tool to Grasshopper .

While it is imaginable that these two areas are going to merge together at some point in time it won't be any time soon.

[I_Forge_KC]

I agree. Especially with Rhino 6.

Maybe one day we'll see the Dynamo Cloud engine tied into Fusion...

[cekuhnen]

@I_Forge_KC Don’t get me wrong I love the solver as a design input idea - I am just not sure we can this generative design - but it could be language barrier on my side

[dhanavant.chodavadiya · Accepted solution]

Of course!!!   I am´late here. Can I Register for next Webinar on Generative Design? or If it is Possible, this week or next week, then i want to participate.