Hey All,
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A month or two ago, I came across a post on Reddit that I still think about once in a while and I wanted to share my thoughts and see what you think about it.
The general question “Are there people in 20’s – 40’s that love to do CAD Design?” was asked and the replies varied quite a bit.
Reddit Post Link
I do agree with many of the replies and can attest to the fact that I’ve seen fewer young “Designers” come into the industry over the past decade or so than before. Many of the mentors and senior designers I’ve worked with over the years have retired and there are certainly fewer coming up to fill the spots.
In part, I believe this is because it’s become the norm for Engineers to be trained/forced to do basic Drafting as students/juniors, and also because we’re coming out of a time when designers weren’t regarded as important or as sought after as Engineers (I believe this has changed with advancements and the complicated nature of modern design/Bim software, as well as likely because there are simply fewer designers available).
Because of that, I do think there are fewer Designers in their 20s to 40s that truly love and live for Design. Who stay on top of learning new software, and tools and understanding how AI can help and enhance our design processes.
As we’re all likely aware, AI has become the talk of practically every industry seemingly out of nowhere. If you’ve followed my videos/posts though, you’ll know that many of the popular CAD software packages have actually been including and adding AI tools, design assistants, generative designers, and optimizers to our workspaces for a while.
I think the commenter above does have a point, but I also think our industry moves slow for a reason, and I believe we can find a way to take advantage and use AI within a Designer Career.
For the most part, my opinion and feelings toward AI/Generative design, and Optimization have always been welcoming. Not all of the current implementations have been useful or that helpful but I appreciate the energy and effort to build tools/software that allows us to design bigger, better, and more details projects.
I’ve always loved tech and like to experiment and test out the newest tools and software as soon as possible regardless of it’s practicality. It’s one of my favorite benefits of having the YouTube channel and blog.
You’ve probably seen the photo above or one like it in the last few years and I think it simply proves my point about AI, we don’t need to worry about our jobs, at least in the short to medium term.
Sure in the far future, it could be likely that most jobs and daily tasks will be automated in some way.
But when it comes to Design/CAD I firmly believe that AI and Generative design are simply going to become the new Tools of the Trade, like Pencils to 2D CAD, 3D, and so on.
I’ve been designing long enough that I took multiple Hand Drafting and Drawing courses in my schooling, does anyone remember taking a course in Hand Lettering!
I started drafting in AutoCAD when we basically only had the command line. I continued working and drafting when we went from LDD to Civil 3D and then to Infraworks for streamlining Concepts, now we use generative design, simple AI assistants, and Grading Optimizers to make things even better.
Each time these improvements were said to be game changers, making designers less necessary since one designer could now do the work of 4 or more drafters. Each time the software improved, yes our “work” may have gotten less time-intensive, but with it we were able to then spend more time working on bigger projects, adding additional detail, or creating fully 3D models and renderings.
With each new Tool/Technology, our deliverables also improved. It also created a new specialty for us to focus on and become the Go-To designer for.
I think, in the end, those of us who embrace and stay on top of these new tools and features will continue to be in demand, and for me I am excited to learn and take advantage of the possibilities they provide for Design!
For those of us who want to stay ahead of the curve, here is a list of some new Software/Tools that I’m interested in and is worth checking out
I love to research and test out new Tech in our industry and I share new Tutorials, Tools, Software, Productivity Tricks and How to Keep up with AI weekly in the Design x Technology Newsletter
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These are some tools I’ve been keeping an eye on, I haven’t tried or tested them yet, but they certainly look interesting, and if they fit the industry you are in, they are worth giving a shot!
Tools To Check Out:
- Civil Survey Applications: Corridor EzApp Link Company Site: https://civilsurveyapplications.com/For Civil design, promises to use Ai/Automation to speed up and reduce errors along with Automatic corridor creation in C3D including curb returns, cul-de-sac (This would be great, cul-de-sacs suck in C3D!), and Knuckles.
- Sloyd.ai
Site Link: https://www.sloyd.ai/Tagline: Customize and Generate 3D Models with AI - Zoo.dev
Site Link: https://zoo.dev/text-to-cad
Tagline: Generate CAD From Text Prompts - ChatGPT
Site Link: https://chatgpt.com/This is the OG AI site and I’m sure many of you have tried it out. I have played with it a ton and it can certainly be helpful.
Think of it as a basic writing/research helper. It can help us write and or research practically anything. It can be a great starting point for things like memos, emails (maybe a technical research email, or a salary increase letter, get it to help you set some performance review goals.)
I wouldn’t rely on it too much though and always rewrite or punch up anything you get from it in your own words, but it can be a great helper for outlining things and getting started quickly!
That’s all for today, I hope you enjoyed this week’s post and I would love to hear what you think? Be sure to let me know by hitting reply or sending me a message over on twitter @cadintentions !
As always, thank you so much for reading and watching, I am super excited for the rest of the year, growing the content, tutorials, and blog with you all.
Cheers and happy Drafting!
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