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The most important piece of software for an Industrial Designer
Jason Morris, a professor at Western Washington University's ID program, has just posted up the findings of a year-and-a-half long survey of software requirements for ID jobs, summarized above. Taken from an admittedly small and arbitrary sample--200 or so job postings in IDSA Perspectives--the results point out a few trends worth considering.
1. 2D visual exploration is still the most important, and Adobe is still at the top of that heap. No surprise there.
2. Illustrator edges out Photoshop for the first time. Apparently rapid iteration and adjustment is winning over s3xy hawtness.
3. SolidWorks muscles its way into first place among 3D CAD. A little surprising considering it was originally engineering software, but it's hard to argue with something so easy to learn (and backed up by all that marketing).
4. Alias is still the most requested surface modeler, creaming Rhino by nearly 2 to 1. Again, it's a limited sample, but we thought it'd be a lot closer than that.
5. Pro/E: it ain't dead yet. In fact it's doing pretty well. In fact it's kind of kicking ass. The latest WildFire doesn't look half bad.
6. AutoCAD and 3DSMax are losing favor, which is only fair--they're mostly for architecture and construction after all.
7. Not a single explicit modeler on there...yet.
Does this jive with your own experiences? Let us know.
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1. Most of us are using Photoshop more than Illustrator, probably because we are doing digital renders by hand and PS is just the most familiar way to transition from scanned in sketch to "sexy hawt" photo-real composition.
2. As for 3D modeling we are learning Solidworks and Alias together, and I'd say we are pretty much split when given the choice of what to work in. It depends on the project and where its going downstream (ie: CNC milling, powder print, etc.). A lot of times we make the general (speedform) shape in Alias and then do the details in SolidWorks.
3. Rendering wise most of us choose the Alias rendering tools because we'd rather have minute control even if it means more work. So we build in Alias or SW and send it over to Alias to render. I think if we knew Photoworks better we'd be more inclined to use it for quick, basic renders. Also, some of us are trying Hypershot because of its speed, so maybe we'll start using that.
4. A lot of us use Sketchbook Pro and Painter X on occasion... we've tried Rhino and surprisingly, just went back to Alias. We use InDesign a lot for presentations and portfolios but not for much else.
Good list though, its nice to see what others are up to!
The 3D tools (Solidworks+ProE+Alias+Rhino) have a total 92 mentions, whereas Illustrator+Photoshop total just 62.
So 3D tools are mentioned more than 2D.
You can argue about whether this is a particularly good way of determining what tools people use, but given what they compiled, you can't conclude 2D is more prevalent than 3D.
I use WF4.0 and SW.
For ease of use...SW hands down.
And they both get you to the same place...Its just that SW can get you there at about 1/2 the cost...