A Digital Sketching Environment

If you were in attendance at the opening AU 2006 main stage when a member of the Alias team demonstrated the ability to use a digital sketching tool to design the next Mercedes I think you must have been impressed. Drawing in a symmetry mode where as you sketched the right half of the car the left half was automatically created the intuitive nature of designing seemed to be preserved if not enhanced through a powerful, intelligent user interface.

What was even more impressive was how the sketch was somehow automatically turned into a 3D solid model. Mind boggling. To learn more go to: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=123112&id=6871498

I am sure many of the planners out there are skeptical when they see the term digital sketching. It's the old right brain vs. left brain, scientist vs. artist, engineer vs. architect argument rearing it's ugly head, but from everything that I am reading and seeing the basis for these differences is beginning to be overcome if not obliterated, particularly for the younger generation that has grown up on video games.

A digital sketching environment like that found in AliasStudio is what young designers expect. They will not work with anything else. If your firm does not believe in this technology you will not be able to attract and retain the best young talent. If firms truly are all about their people then this issue is critical to your future.

Next time - Digital Sketching Cont'd.