Should Industrial Designers Learn Blender?

[@dylanpierce_]

In my opinion as an industrial designer, understanding 3D modeling software is absolutely necessary. Which software depends on the field of work. Our R&D department has many engineers who have spent years understanding manufacturing processes, tolerances, structural integrity, etc. It is humorous to think I could pick up their software and contribute to the degree they do (CREO has a very steep learning curve). Blender allows me to fulfill my job and provide detailed conceptual work that then can be refined for production through a more suitable means. Knowing your goal when deciding on which modeling software to apply will save you lots of time and unneeded stress. Highly recommend Blender, especially for industrial design.

[@WillGibbons]

Thanks for sharing your specific situation! That's cool. And what you said, "Knowing your goal when deciding on which modeling tool to learn". That's the key. Even whether or not you'll be working on a team with varying capabilities or as a solo designer are considerations that are worth making.

[@Aanaartu]

I agree with you and WillGibbons wholeheartedly. It truly is important to be mindful of what is your goal when choosing 3D modeling software. It can be something like Fusion360 if doing lots of mechanical stuff or tight tolerances. If it's more creative freedom for aesthetics or design needs tend to change from project to project, then Blender is a solid choice. I also encourage to learn whatever software that you need for completing your project. Even if it's learning just a part of the software that gets you what you need to move forward. As designers, we use different tools for achieving different results. I love Blender and it gives me ability to do a lot, but it isn't THE ultimate tool. I have industrial design background, keen interest in entertainment design and concept design, I also have working experience modeling and designing for digital environments only. Lately I've been doing a lot of 3D printing and while certain stuff can be easily done with Blender, it just isn't CAD program. It isn't supposed to be used when something like Solidworks or Inventor is needed. Like with bitmaps and vector graphics: Use what you need and what suits for the end goal. Some times it requires both.

[@xacttoeblade]

@@WillGibbons ok corpo shill

[@PinkMushroomPie]

Product designer here that uses blender sometimes. Blender/Max/Cinema4D are amazing for visual work and even tho they can be precise in some instances, cad softwares are still valuable in their own departament. I once meet a guy when I was in uni that asked me why I do not use max to model and he never understood when I said "well because I need things to be really exact" and he gave me examples of people that recreate guns as an "but it is, u just don't know how to use it" :/ I had the same year to work on a kitchen blender and 1 mm is enough to break a design, because u have circuits and u also need reinforcements when u have something made with plastic and modeling in blender can trick u and there are 10K thing that can go bad in the real world. Also I guess is matters more what kind of designer u wanna be >.> I like both but ik people that just wanna do cool renders and that's fine

[@WillGibbons]

Great points! And sure, you can model with precision in Blender. But surfaces won't ever be as precise mathematically speaking as a NURBs surface. And to me the more important part of modeling for production is the parametric aspect. As products develop, changes need to be made to the model. That's really tough to do in a meaningful, documented and intelligent way in a polygonal DCC.

[@williammonteleone6417]

I’m a mechanical engineer who regularly works with ID guys. They do their concepting in SolidWorks and render in Keyshot. My complaint is that they get really bogged down in SW surfacing which inhibits their creativity, and is a really slow way to work. I’m trying to get them to try subdiv modeling in Blender. Our engineering dept is going to re-model everything anyway. So far, no interest.

[@WillGibbons]

Oh, dang! That's a fantastic point. I can relate to this because unless you have really good instruction, most ID folks don't get taught to be really good modelers. I'm speaking based on my experience. I had minimal instruction and I was slow and inefficient and the surfacing wasn't good. So, yeah. If another team is going to fix all that then that's awesome. I think it's the tendency to love details and a bit of an ego that gets us 'designers' in trouble, haha.

[@DesignEnthusiast83]

Ideally, Power Surfacing is the way to go for sub-D integration in SW, but it’s not free and it’s a bit glitchy. That combo is good enough to cover most project. Just have a fast computer because SW is slow with large assemblies. Blender is good for the crazy stuff and it’s free.

[@statusquoreject]

Rhino is way better for surface modeling than Solidworks. Most ID guys use Rhino for this purpose.

[@Mikakyyrv]

The reason for this probably because many industrial designers were taught solidworks in school and it seems like a lot to start a new program with a completely different framework and user interface. At least that’s what’s slowing down my adoption of blender: I’m trudging along slowly but surely though.

[@benjaminehrenberg]

I started my career with keyshot after dropping v-ray in 2012. In 2021 I’ve started learning blender when version 2.8 was launched. It was the best decision of my life cause it made me a more productive designer. For everything outside standard product views in studio lighting I’ll use blender to create the visuals since it allows me to be creative in my storytelling. I can quickly iterate on scenes, use particle systems, geo nodes place objects, simulations etc to spice up the realism without moving between software like I would need in keyshot. It makes storytelling so much more fun. Also importing CAD files isn’t much of an issue since most CAD software allows you to export FBX or OBJ files and you can use some plugins to do retopology and get nice quads. Interface is also not an issue if you can navigate Rhino you know about messy UI😅. When it comes to modeling I will use the tool which is best for the job, CAD obviously is where I feel home, but blender can be super useful when you deal with organic surfaces, were you can also use sculpting to play with form in a totally natural way.

[@WillGibbons]

Great to hear about your personal journey here! And yes to the part about storytelling. If one tool helps you work more quickly to achieve that, then why not?

[@nachito108]

The biggest advantage I've seen from using blender in my workflow is how incredibly fast I can mock up a rough model of whatever I'm working on. It's so much more forgiving than traditional CAD, and I can then use those rough models to make final models in CAD or use as underlays for clean sketch renders. On a separate note, I've had great results exporting as .obj from my CAD software (Creo) for rendering in Blender. It comes in as triangles, but the object shading is baked in and looks flawless. Not great if you want to modify the model in blender, although some tools still work like fast Booleans and some deformations.

[@WillGibbons]

Cool! Nice to hear someone using Blender as a 'sketch' or ideation tool. Very cool. And your point about exporting OBJ to render in Blender. That's a completely valid workflow. But yes, if you need to make heavy alterations to that mesh or even just very specific alterations, that OBJ mesh may be problematic as you pointed out. But yeah, if the mesh is fine enough, you definitely can use Blender just for the rendering, for sure.

[@tydl-ee3xj]

@will Try the addon called “stepper”! Also try quadremesher

[@xanzuls]

Very cool video, one of the best things about Blender are the addons, there's alteast 50 addons for almost every hurdle you could imagine in blender, and 90% of them free and rest of them are dirt cheap compared to other software plugins. For examples, if you find the HDRI process to be a bit cumbersome, just use the easy hdri addon, render queue addon. there's also addon for SDF modelling where you just focus on shape and not topology and it will create decent quad topology automatically for rendering, also hard agree on the fact on supporting blender monetarily. Also, small tip on using Blender, if you are looking for something but you don't wanna dig deep into menus to find it, use the operator/menu search, the hotkey is F3 and you can find everything Blender can do in the specific context.

[@WillGibbons]

Fantastic points! Thanks for calling out the specific add-ons. I completely admit that I've not looked closely at them because I wanted to learn the 'vanilla' version of Blender first. Especially when teaching a beginner... I don't love when I find a tutorial and the first thing they do is say, "Okay, now go enable these 4 add-ons." But I will definitely get to the point where I spend time looking at add-ons to make Blender easier for someone who's got experience with other 3D tools.

[@xanzuls]

@@WillGibbons that's totally fair, as a beginner it's better for you to get familiar with the vanilla tools and workflows to get familiar with the software at surface level as most addons in blender are just workflow enhancers which is most time savers when you are doing 3d everyday (especially making money) and wanna get the same thing done faster with less steps and have a better workflow.

[@basilisktv9750]

Modeling in vanilla blender without hard surface addons is boring and time consuming. Shading, booleans on curved surfaces and topology are three main problems in poly modeling vs CAD. Bevel modifier with multiple vertex groups (and hardened normals) or bevel shader work excellent in Blender. SubD with creases without support loops as well. Box type stuff modeling is faster too.

[@frankyphix]

Probably depends on the industry. We don't really have the luxury of spending time churning out multiple concept designs - we usually discuss the design with the client and go straight into cad modelling. Speed and proficiency in this domain allows for functional iterations and means the 3d data is universal - we can print with it, render with it and finally run production with it (usually injection molding). I guess time is limited. So I could jump into a freeform space like Blender and churn out some cool designs, but in the end I'm going to have to CAD those up from scratch anyway and then run into the design constraints of the manufacturing process and really - I'd rather just save that time and jump into cad from the start. Blender is great for animation though. Keyshot is severely limited with its animation tools so for anything more complex and stylized Blender is very nice. Plasticity (design software) has a live bridge to blender so you can edit a fillet and have the model in blender update as well. Haven't used it much but the idea seems cool.

[@WillGibbons]

I'm with you on all those points. If I were working as an industrial designer or CAD modeler at this time, I'd probably just stick with CAD. Though, I'd be testing Plasticity because it does look enticing. And on the animation front, yeah. I prefer the flexibility and speed with which animating with curves and bezier handles are in Blender's graph editor.

[@ruppert5134]

@@WillGibbons You guys heard of CAD sketcher Add-on in Blender ? ....Maybe give it a try.... Specially if you know cad already it should be a breeze for you guys...

[@WillGibbons]

@@ruppert5134 Thanks for mentioning it. Never heard of it. There are a lot of add-ons and I've not really looked at any yet.

[@rajendrameena150]

Actually the deciding points of mesh and Nurbs modelling are- 1. Type of material you want to play with. For RCC concrete structures, mesh modelling is more than enough but for precise metal cutting where even 1 mm can make it break the design Nurbs are only solution. 2. If you need to model very dynamic objects and you are in the conceptual phase then mesh will perform better. 3. When dealing with small details and large details in the same model, it is very hard to control the topology in meshes because they need uniform polygon so it becomes a pain to manage loops every time you have to make some big changes and hence I think Nurbs perform better here because they made of curves which we can extract anytime to make surface out of it, untrim it and we are good to go. However in recent rhino versions, I noticed that rhino divide large surface into smaller surfaces internally to optimize performance in booleans, so when we extract curves out of those surfaces they just came out to be useless to tweak and we have to rebuild them but it loose their precision.

[@WillGibbons]

Thank you for sharing this logic! It seems to make sense and hopefully will help guide someone else who has to make such a decision!

[@Byronx3000]

Is great that you give it a shot to blender! I followed you because I know blender but I wanted to know more about Keyshot, funny that you are now learning blender and you are still doing amazing renders

[@WillGibbons]

Thank you! I think generally, the principals of art and design apply no matter what tools you are learning, right?

[@zuowa]

An incredible coincidence. I just decided to design a product and draw up a specification for the factory. And I've done it in Sketchup many times in the past, but this time I decided I wanted to do it in Blender. I hope to be able to get the functionality I need by installing the plugins.

[@WillGibbons]

Good luck! I've not used Sketchup really, but I believe Blender offers way more in terms of modeling tools and flexibility.

[@ruppert5134]

CAD sketcher add -on in blender and and Precision Drawing Tools PDT add-on... Maybe it will help you in what you want....

[@zuowa]

@@ruppert5134 Thanks, I'll try these plugins

[@webandmedialb]

Thanks for answering my question !

[@WillGibbons]

No problem! :D

[@LearnEverythingAboutDesign]

I really enjoyed the fact that you said you should have to pay for Blender. 100% agree and really hate it when people complain about software that is $100 or $500 when they are trying to make a living with it. Working in the CAD industry if you have a client that requires the use of a software, you have to own it if you want that work. And it becomes a bit of a balancing act to invest intelligently in tools that offer a good return. Tools like Solidworks don't have a great return on their investment for independent contractors vs tools like Fusion. You should be able to afford $500/year for a tool that is essential to your business. Thanks for the video. As someone who uses and trains in CAD, including blender and plastcity it is nice to see a take on it.

[@WillGibbons]

Thanks! Your comment is music to my ears! Cheers!

[@cgpetey]

Blender is a great tool to have in your belt. It's great for concepting and visulization. It will never replace a solid modeler but its a great compliment.

[@WillGibbons]

That's my current thoughts too!

[@3dMistri]

Here is my workflow from CAD>Nurbs>Mesh. 1. for CAD either use Autocad/Rhino or any cad software. 2. For Nurbs work- use Rhino and moi 3d(Moment of inspiration 3d). Rhino is stable but not as fast as easy as moi 3d. both support 3dm file and you can directly copy-paste between them. 3. For nurbs to mesh conversion, dont use rhino. save the file to Rhino 5 version and open in Moi 3d and export from here. the benefit is that it can export the geometry with clean topolgy that you can use in blender. play with settings and you will be amazed how easy the conversion is. 4. Now open blender and import the obj file.

[@WillGibbons]

Thanks for sharing! This isn't too far off from what I've heard from many others. Unfortunately, telling someone that they're going to need licenses of two other software just to get your CAD into Blender is quite a buzzkill, haha.

[@peterlaverty9397]

Interesting. So you save the rhino file as 3dm and then open it in moi 3d to save as an OBJ. I see you mention speed. Is that the main reason you dont just save out of Rhino as an OBJ? I have had a lot of issues. I had considered getting stepper. A blender pluggin that allows easier integration of CAD.

[@3dMistri]

@@peterlaverty9397 this workflow is adopted to get rid of triangulaion. Also, the problem is not of blender but the export mechanism of CAD software because they decide whether to export the mesh as triangle or ngons/quads.

[@peterlaverty9397]

@@3dMistri I understand that but why not export from Rhino as OBJ or FBX? Why do take it into Moi? I am just trying to understand your reason for the extra step. Thanks

[@3dMistri]

@@peterlaverty9397 to have better control over how the topology of the exported mesh will be. Moi 3d have option to export ngons that we can futher tweak in blender. It even have option to subdivide the surface in U and V direction so we can add details further in blender without having to ruin the curvature in any direction. Actually poly modelling is like pixel working where you treat polygon as pixel to change its look. we first define our base shape and then subdivide further to work on bigger resolution for finer details.

[@YrOnimuS]

I wish you could do live linking from your CAD program to Blender. Then I would stay in my CAD program and make the appropriate changes and simply update the file without having to start all over again in Blender. To be honest, I'm surprised that this Keyshot-like solution doesn't already exist. Rhino+Grasshopper+Blender or Solid+Blender would be such a powerful combination. (Has anyone had any experience with Speckle? It looks like live linking. But the workflow seems a bit rough somehow.) I think you really hit a nerve with this topic. Personally, I'm not happy with the direction Keyshot is taking and I'm already looking for alternatives. But many thanks for your assessment. I loved following your journey on Instagram.

[@WillGibbons]

Thanks for your thoughtful comment! Right now, there's no live linking CAD solutions for Blender yet. I'll admit, I've not spent a ton of time researching the topic. And with all the add-ons, there's probably someone out there who's tried making something like that work. I know Plasticity has made a Blender bridge... so I'm thinking that in time, that they may be the combo worth diving into. Of course, Plasticity is so new and only being developed by one person or a small team. So, it'd likely be a very long time before it was adopted into professional workflows at design studios.

[@cgpetey]

Currently you can use Plasticity which has a Blender bridge that is live linked. It's pretty awesome. Plasticity is not a full featured as the more mature offerings in the space like SW, Rhino, Fusion, Catia, etc., Its super fun to use. You have to pay for the software to get the blender bridge ($149) but that live link is really awesome.

[@YrOnimuS]

@@WillGibbons Oh. I didn't know that about Plasticity. But heard a lot of good things about this application. Thanks for the info!

[@pierregagne1998]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jWaqf6eFm8amndUsi=35rRALm7V2-qsw0r

[@georgefernandez1643]

Very well said and explained. I am trying to learn C4d now and have tried using blender in the past. They are equally challenging but provide so many tools that it can be overwhelming at times. I applaud you for taking the time to go through it and share the journey.

[@WillGibbons]

Thanks! Good luck with Cinema. It’s a great too as well!

[@dannyjevriend]

Awesome video, Will! Many are curious about this. Blender is more than just an industrial design tool, it offers design, animation, rendering, post-effects, and even some video editing. For industrial designers, deciding if these features distract or broaden their view can be tough. This video can definitely assist with that decision 🙏

[@WillGibbons]

Thanks. The good news is that I'd argue you can choose to only focus on using parts of this software that you really need to and ignore the rest.

[@ganapathym3664]

There are some people specifically making ships and boat using nurbs of blender.

[@WillGibbons]

That's cool! Would love to see a link if you have one. Of course, NURBs does exist in Blender in some very limited ways, like curves and splines. But the surfaces will be made of polygonal meshes. Whether or not you need NURBs data for manufacture depends on the method of construction. In the cases of 3D printing and such, no need for NURBs I don't think.

[@user_xyz948]

I want to say something about the second question which mentions the problematic topology when exporting from CAD to Blender. Yes, the topology is messy, but not problematic if your model does not require quad topology (and no, you don't need quad topology for every model). If you need quad topology (for example for subd or deforming your object) then yes, retopo is needed. Yet I think that for models that don't need quad topology (static game assets, models for concept rendering, etc.) a CAD -> Blender workflow is superior due to its insane speed. You make your model in a CAD software like Plasticity (which even has a Blender bridge), export it to Blender and then texture and render it there. Super fast and easy since you don't have to deal with the problems of polygon based software while modeling. Just a little side note. Cheers.

[@WillGibbons]

I completely agree... the tricky thing here is explaining when topology does and doesn't matter to those who are unfamiliar with the subject. Thanks for adding your summary here!

[@Hustle_Russell]

Hey Will - I haven't yet migrated to Blender, but I have been using subdivision polygonal modeling for Industrial Design for 12ish years. I find it invaluable as an early exploratory 3D modeling tool - it even is super helpful to bring in as a reference for various engineering and prototyping purposes. Also, I don't modify CAD in a sub-d program, but I do heavily reference CAD (as an exported STL) for cross sectional references, basic engineering hard points/geometry references, etc.

[@WillGibbons]

Cool! Thanks for sharing! And yeah, makes sense to use SubD for exploring early stage concepts.

[@Romain_Guimbal]

Great to have your opinion on the question ! For me the answer is YES, because I'm currently developing a full class A parametric NURBS modeling addon for Blender called SurfacePsycho, and it could change the game ! (And it is openSource) 🤩 Also most cad software do have EDIT MODE and MODIFIERS. In SolidWorks it is everywhere, you enter the edit mode of your sketches and parts all the time, and the modifier stack is your tree view. It is really just a different naming !

[@WillGibbons]

It's so cool you found this video! I was at the Blender conference in LA a couple of weeks ago and someone did mention your addon and it piqued my interest. I really want to make time to take a look. And while you're completely right about edit modes and modifiers in CAD, my point was that the way the UI presents them in Blender feels quite different to me than in CAD. Thanks for your comment and I look forward to looking at your addon!

[@Romain_Guimbal]

@@WillGibbons Oh nice, I see information goes fast ! Indeed Odilon Loeïz had a slide about it on his talk. I hope they will put the recordings online soon

[@WillGibbons]

@@Romain_Guimbal Yeah, I really enjoyed his talk. I'm hoping they get uploaded soon as well so I can revisit a couple of them.

[@joe_fabricator]

I really enjoyed this video. Great questions with very accurate and sensible answers. You mention about having a good teacher, and I absolutely agree. There are a lot of resources and tutorials out there. I suggest buying a course or two as well. They are usually more structured and focused on specific areas. I think if you are fairly computer savvy and are curious about the 3D world and industry, don't focus on wondering how long it'll take to learn it. Just start learning and put in consistent regular time. You'll see results and be encouraged. Don't give up. Thanks for this video Will. Well done.

[@WillGibbons]

Thank you! And I appreciate your take on it as well!

[@CodenameStudios]

I would say Plasticity might be your answer for a CAD-based software to work with Blender. Plasticity is a paid standalone software that works with Blender (via Blender Bridge) to get your CAD products/engineering projects going smoothly. And to me, Plasticity is affordable ($150/$300 for a one time payment). The one part that sold me with Plasticity via Blender Bridge is that whatever change you make in Plasticity will automatically update in Blender...uber cool. And I appreciate your statement on "paying for tools to master your skills"; once you get Blender and it makes you money, pay Blender devs. They are working hard to help you keep you good at your job and get paid for your creative ideas. Thank you for that.

[@WillGibbons]

Thanks for your comment! I really enjoyed reading it. I'm well aware that Plasticity is a great tool and I'd really love to learn it. I just really can't make any more time in my schedule right now. But I agree, it has great promise. However, if you're working with larger teams who use CAD for products, there's a near-zero chance they'll be using Plasticity. But if Plasticity can ingest native CAD and then let you edit it a bit more freely and then convert to Blender, that's great!

[@CodenameStudios]

@@WillGibbons Yeah totally agree. I just know that I can work without thinking about topology and then works with Blender was a big selling point (although I don't own it yet lol; just played with the free trial version). But I didn't think about the "team" aspect of it. If I'm not mistaken, I think with their $300 plan it comes with team support but don't hold me to that. I just remember they had a "multiple/corporate" license custom option thingy about that so I'm not sure if that's for team-based workflows.

[@tiborkemeny8644]

Yep, I have the same problem - hard-core CAD background (Solidworks and for 4 years, Alibre) but making explanation animation is a missing skill set.

[@tydl-ee3xj]

Best is to learn one NURBS modeller and one polygon modeller. You need to learn to model in polygon modeller and import the polygon model into iinto CAD and build a precise CAD model with it as underlay and vice versa.

[@jbucky1678]

Great video, good points and good advice

[@WillGibbons]

Thanks! I really appreciate that.

[@kalpit3d934]

talking about CAD/Nurbs to Mesh conversion. Moi is very good sofware to work & convert Nurbs topology to polygon topology with total control over Ngon vs Triangle vs Ngon-subdivided (It is a myth spread over the industry that Nurbs to mesh conversion always need triangulation). You should definitely try it. Another option is to use Plasticity which is very fantastic tool to work between CAD and Blender together.

[@WillGibbons]

Yes, MOI is a tool I've heard many designers use for conversion and mesh prep. Oh, I'm aware that NURBs can be turned into a quad mesh, but none of the CAD software I've used seem to support that output for whatever reason. Also, seems like Plasticity will be helpful in this arena too.

[@kalpit3d934]

@@WillGibbons This seems like conspiracy to seperate CAD worker and mesh worker because mesh modelling software also have triangulation feature so there is no need to triangulate during export but it is done by those software software user loose control when export to mesh software. People didn't raise their voice because mostly people finish their work in Nurbs/cad software and use those software just for texturing and rendering. They don't need deformation, simulation or any dynamic animation. Autodesk FBX export is the biggest culprit of it which even triangulate geometry when exporting from mesh modelling software like 3ds max.

[@kalpit3d934]

@@WillGibbons actually I like plasticity because it work on surface level and export those surface which can later converted into finite mesh faces. This way user get very clean topology to work further and even not needed much effort in retopology.

[@jpleavit]

This is great! I’ve used Blender and imported from CAD the topology is terrible for UV mapping so if you just use programmatically created materials you can ignore the ugly mesh and make nice renderings with interactive elements like particles or geometry node effects. Without retopology of the mesh you will not be able to bake good shaders for exporting (think Sketchfab or VR) and deforming the model may also create really ugly geometry because it is not quads or dense enough polygons. There are some retopology plugins that help save time but it really depends on the complexity of the model you’re importing and how precise you want your surfaces.

[@WillGibbons]

Thanks for adding all these to the conversation. You're right on point with these!

[@eobet]

As an industrial designer for 10 years… for renders, sure. For actual industrial design, learn Rhino (and Grasshopper).

[@WillGibbons]

Cheers! Thanks for your input!

[@BrainWave08]

12th point and last point i loved it ...just talk about realistically possible grate brother

[@WillGibbons]

Cheers! :D

[@mallias2683]

Great insight for Blender. I think whoever considers himself an expert on an engineering design software will have a much more difficult time learning it from an absolute beginner.... The square on the startup scene that I could not even rotate the view still hunts me.....😆 (I obviously gave up on day one). On the other hand, my transition from Solidworks Visualize to Keyshot was a matter of days....

[@WillGibbons]

Yes, for sure. That muscle memory runs deep. But like I mentioned in my last video, I'm confident that anyone can learn Blender if they wish, so long as they have a good instructor. I think that part is key. Because left alone to just try to figure it out is way too inefficient. Nobody has time for that! haha

[@mallias2683]

@@WillGibbons And you get frustrated seeing someone create a hole forest with a wooden cabin in a 5 min. video on youtube using keyboard shortcuts that you can't even write down to replicate... There is a huge benefit learning Blender if your modelling relies on ex. Solidworks.... I had to create many environments to visualize products in Keyshot and because I hated the process of learning a new software I ended up getting much better in modelling even organic parts like plants, or cloth geometry in Solidworks (for still picturew only). That was a side benefit....

[@dialac1]

I can’t wait for the day we can get quality software without paying an arm and a leg annually

[@WillGibbons]

You think software is going to get cheaper in the future? I'd be willing to bet it's only going to get more expensive. I'd be shocked if any company that's currently on subscription model would ever revert to perpetual licensing.

[@StevenWhite-w6p]

Spot on about people making too big of deal about Blender being free. Blender is only free because a small number of us pay for it. The really funny part is, a lot of these same people who don't pay for Blender, think that Blender should be able to compete with companies like Autodesk or Maxon but don't think about the fact that these companies spend way more on development and why Blender won't really compete well with these companies unless more users step up.

[@WillGibbons]

It's a fair point you make there. I feel like comparing Blender to those other large companies though is a bit of an apples and oranges comparison. But yeah, more people contributing funds would be great!

[@yaw_cg_md]

But are those advantages worth paying over 1000usd for keyshot?

[@WillGibbons]

That’s going to depend on the individual.

[@euchristianolorvida1072]

Hi Will, very nice content you're doing here. I am a design engineer and also just started to learn blender. Would like to ask based on your current knowledge if it is possible to modify an existing CAD model (say from solidworks) to blender and then be imported back to solidworks in order to make an STEP file out of it to be sent for manufacturing?

[@WillGibbons]

Hello. As far as I'm aware, no. There is no way to keep the NURBs data intact the way you asked.

[@paulpiper9981]

I come from a different perspective i like/feel comfortable with polygonal stuff and dipped my toes a bit into fusion. Wich i really like but dosent necessairly support my pipeline super well. I think the combination of pipelines and knowing when to apply wich tool creates a very powerflow workflow that can be super flexible. No matter if the end goal is eother narrative or more industrial design.

[@WillGibbons]

That's cool! Yeah, ideally, you are comfortable choosing the right tool for the job and are able to reach the destination either way.

[@Mranshumansinghr]

I have shifted to Blender and Cycles since a year. It is by far the best model creation software available. You can always export your final model to D5 or Unreal for Keyshot rendering. CAD model is finally converted to triangles every time you export it out of CAD software as Nurbs is not a universal standard. Even 3D printing.

[@WillGibbons]

So, sorry if I made it sound like KeyShot needed NURBs models. The benefit here is you can use the engineering data without making an entirely new mesh model for visualization. The added benefit to importing NURBs formats into KeyShot is being able to re-tessellate if needed to get those perfectly smooth surfaces when rendering a macro shot.

[@Mranshumansinghr]

@@WillGibbons You do not have to re tessellate in Blender until your model is completely broken. The Blender Model has shading options based on angel of surface. Incase you use Plasticity for Modelling, there is a real time preview plugin which comes for blender. Plus it has a Quad conversion option as well.

[@amigarulez]

You havent tried anything else, have you?

[@alfonsotark3784]

hi. i am also an industrial designer and i was confused about this topic. has there been any improvement in your workflow since the day you posted the video?

[@WillGibbons]

Good question. Not yet as I've had other projects taking up my attention.

[@user-rg2dz2nu6l]

Will you still use blender, maybe learn the rendering aspect? Or are you done with it now

[@WillGibbons]

I'll keep plugging away with Blender, for sure. I like Cycles quite a bit.

[@SpecialCanKet]

Even if CAD data is driven by curves and surfaces, the software is still tesselating the model for the viewport. Exporting that data for use in something like Blender is no different. You lose the original CAD data, but the rendering is still the same, no?

[@WillGibbons]

Actually, I don't believe it is the same. In the viewport, you're seeing NURBs data as rasterized graphics, but not ray traced. I can't say with 100% certainty since I haven't studied computer graphics in a broad sense. But the data is not undergoing any transformation to be displayed on screen as far as I know.

[@lanzin]

There's a blender CAD plugin. Don't know if it's any good, though

[@WillGibbons]

Thanks!

[@hodshonf]

Use STEPper addon to import 3D step into Blender

[@WillGibbons]

Thanks. I've heard this recommended before. I'll have to check it out.

[@mrdixioner]

It is much more difficult to customize materials in Blender, because... all settings come down to nodes, which is much, much more difficult and slower than Keyshot or Cinema 4D. If you are an industrial designer (and not only) and time and quality are important to you, then this is definitely Keyshot or other programs. Blender has the best modeling I've seen, but everything else is just terrible.

[@WillGibbons]

Cheers! Thanks for sharing your POV

[@Robinbobin]

As someone who’s used both for many years, I can’t go back to Keyshot and wouldn’t know why. The whole app exists only to skip the learning curve of blender and cinema imo

[@rohitbisht5398]

Is Rhino a viable substitue for Blender?

[@WillGibbons]

I would not say it's similar enough to compare directly to Blender. It's more like an alternative to something like Solidworks or Fusion360 or Onshape.

[@RenatoYamamoto481]

nice content, but a better mood music would be more suited, this music makes me tense, good content tho

[@WillGibbons]

Haha, what do you prefer? I guess just silence would have been fine. But feels a bit barren without anything in the background.

[@bns1986]

So I have my degree in Industrial Design. I primarily do product visualization as well, (Also thanks to your channel for some great tutorials). I slowly transitioned off of Keyshot, into Blender and haven't looked back. Blender's endless addon's and the simple price point of free, allows me to allocate funds to other essentials. Ill still do my modeling in Fusion primarily. But really think Blender is the way to go if you're on the fence. Keep up the great work!

[@WillGibbons]

Thanks for sharing your own point of view and dropping a comment!

[@bjornstrandberg8146]

Should VIS-artists learn CAD?

[@WillGibbons]

Good question. Definitely not necessary. If a Viz-artist can work quickly and efficiently in polygons, then not likely a need for CAD. But in some cases, CAD can be much quicker for hard surface objects. But should those objects need to be re-meshed that could negate any speed advantages. That said, solid modeling basic forms is pretty simple and fast to learn. Creating fully parametric models with tolerances, formulas, constraints and high curvature continuity are typically what takes longer to learn and none of that is critical in my opinion for a Viz artist.

[@MetalGearMk3]

I prefer Octane for rendering for ultra realism, of course there is a free version for Blender.

[@WillGibbons]

There is! I spent a couple of weeks poking around at it. Pretty impressive, though a bit busy wit so many parameters.

[@jepleet]

rhino + keyshot = 👍

[@yangjinwhan5835]

Yeah! I really down with you!! Blender needs Render que and HRDI Editor.

[@WillGibbons]

Cheers!

[@Adrian-wd4rn]

One thing I think you failed to mention, cycles is superior to keyshot render engine. SO MANY TIMES in keyshot I'm trying to render a scene only for the light quality to look fake as fk. And never mind the mother load of fireflies in the scene, it's annoying. I almost never get fireflies in blender. The only downside is yu can only import garbage files into blender, so you get jagged edges of cylinders etc. So that, for me, makes it 100% unusable.

[@WillGibbons]

I didn't mention it because I don't believe that's inherently true. I haven't seen empirical evidence that Cycles is 'better' than KeyShot. It's just different.

[@Adrian-wd4rn]

@@WillGibbons Maybe it's the new car smell. You should stress test both render engines and see which one performs "best". I know fireflies are an issue with keyshot, not so much with blender, especially when using area lights.

[@TAH1712]

Don't forget DesignSpark.

[@WillGibbons]

Never heard of that. It looks to be more engineering focused?

[@TAH1712]

@@WillGibbons DSM v6 - Parasolid Dynamic hybrid modeller based on SpaceClaim. As it has a cut down toolset of Spaceclaim, it's probably not on your radar. It does what Plasticity does about as easy or more easy but in a non-destructive way - free version good to learn with...includes constraint ( re- use with constraints possible ) or standard sketching. Drag / pull in cross sections. GDT Model Based definition in free version. Plasticity has more curve / surface continuity controls. DSM edge round / chamfers and face /edge offsets about the same flexibility as plasticity- DSM has good selection techniques. Plasticity seems to be replicating pronto the best features of many programs!

[@Mandance]

Blender is free with powerful tools, it’s a no brainer and you can’t link plasticity

[@WillGibbons]

You sure about that? doc.plasticity.xyz/blender/install-blender-addon

[@MetalGearMk3]

Oh it can replace keyshot.

[@MetalGearMk3]

Should Industrial Designers learn Plasticity? is the next question.

[@WillGibbons]

Hahaha, probably.

[@1mareck1]

the answer is NO, use nurbs modelling tools

[@WillGibbons]

😂

[@amigarulez]

Answer to title question - no. You can learn something useful tho.

[@WillGibbons]

Feel free to enlighten the viewers.

[@Tesla_3D]

The answer is NO, they should learn CAD Software, NX or Solidworks.

[@WillGibbons]

I can't disagree with you.

[@statusquoreject]

I'm an industrial designer and Rhino drives me crazy. After seeing so much hype about Blender I was wondering if I should invest the time in learning it and if it could replace Rhino, and this video had the exact info I was looking for.

[@WillGibbons]

Good, happy to help. I think most people will tell you Blender isn't an ideal replacement for any CAD app, but may be a good option for ideation and or rendering.