Has anybody developed or come across 3D design feature on a mobile app for custom designs?

Sujit Hemadri Nobody

August 27th, 2015

Imagining to build a mobile app for custom design based commerce. May be furniture, sports wear(shoes), apparels etc.

Carl Bailey Motivated and Entrepreneurial Mechanical Engineer

August 28th, 2015

Autodesk has a whole bunch of mobile apps for 3D design: http://www.autodesk.com/mobile-apps

They aren't necessarily easy to use for the average user of a commerce app, though. What are you trying to do?

Sujit Hemadri Nobody

August 28th, 2015

Hey Carl, thanks for the reply. I was wondering if it is possible to develop a 3D design interface say to allow users to design their own furniture or sports shoes( anything that is possible) which can be linked later to a mcommerce process. Thanks & Regards, Sujit Hemadri 8884157309

Carl Bailey Motivated and Entrepreneurial Mechanical Engineer

August 28th, 2015

By design, do you really mean Design in the sense of "create any shape, size, color, etc, of sole that you want for a shoe"? Or do you mean Configure in terms of "pick a pre-designed sole, midsection, and laces for your custom shoe"?

Carl Bailey Motivated and Entrepreneurial Mechanical Engineer

August 28th, 2015

If you're thinking of configuring something, maybe look into Autodesk Configurator 360. I've never used it and it looks a bit limited, but it might be a starting point and it runs on iPad: http://www.autodesk.com/products/configurator-360/overview

I can't think of anything else off the top of my head aside from using configuration managers inside of professional 3D CAD software.

Sujit Hemadri Nobody

August 28th, 2015

I think it would depend on the kind of product. For a shoe, picking predesigned parts and customising would fit. For a furniture, which appeals personally,it would be better to give the "create any shape, size etc". My thoughts. Would be keen to hear your views. Although, I think whole customisation would be difficult both in development and usage. Thanks & Regards, Sujit Hemadri 8884157309

Carl Bailey Motivated and Entrepreneurial Mechanical Engineer

August 28th, 2015

Customization is expensive from a manufacturing standpoint. The way these things usually work is that you create 3D models of all the parts you're interested in physically making and you make them all fit together in a common way, then you can set up a configurable assembly that you can piece together for a user.

Chandrashekar Ramaswamy Co Founder and Product Manager at y.hatch

August 28th, 2015

It would be interesting to know more. A couple of things that you should also consider are :

1. The Categories- What precisely would you like a user to do/design ? In this specific example , the categories are a little broad (wearables - furniture). What you need for 3D furniture design and rendering on a mobile interface may differ vastly from what you need to design a wearable (Eg. customizable t-shirt). Starting with a couple of related categories would help narrow down requirements better.

2. Purpose and execution : What exactly would you like the user to do finally? Would it be to submit designs which could then be converted as retail products? Who makes these designs? Things like t-shirts are a lot simpler - a design could include color, size, text/graphic. A piece of furniture is vastly different and it might need expertise from a user standpoint . Which kind of people and products would it (the app) truly work for?

Sujit Hemadri Nobody

August 28th, 2015

What if I allow users to create only the design(full or part wise) and connect stakeholders/manufacturers on a sharing economy model? I just have to give them the design and the right dimensions. Thanks & Regards, Sujit Hemadri 8884157309

Sujit Hemadri Nobody

August 28th, 2015

Hi Chandrashekar, thanks for that reply. This is just initial thoughts. I am considering a business model where I can allow users to design the products and bring in people who can convert these designs into products on a sharing economy marketplace model. Yeah the design interface would vary considerably depending on the product in consideration. Thanks & Regards, Sujit Hemadri 8884157309

Amol R

August 28th, 2015

I had done some research on this.

The design needs to be detailed and practical from manufacturing standpoint. Which is why most designers use tools like Auto CAD etc that carry not just look and feel but specific features (like dimensions, color, etc) that are useful in production process.

You could put out existing designs with some customisation options that users can pick from. Again customisation need to be something that your manufacturer is comfortable with.

Having users design something that can not be manufactured wouldn't send a good message.

Check outhttp://madeforme.in They are trying to do custom design in offline way.

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