Vixiv will soon provide new software to optimize 3D printable designs.
The Cincinnati-based company is about to launch a beta version of its AI-powered software this summer, which should dramatically speed up the work required to create optimal part designs.
They’ve trained their software on a large number of functional CAD designs that have been proven to work optimally. This allows the software to recognize better designs.
The goal is to shorten the often months-long effort by engineers to converge on the best design. This is typically done through an iterative process:
- Work up a design
- Run it through a simulator
- Figure out how to make it a bit better
- Repeat until it’s good
Vixiv software isn’t about printing faster, it’s about getting to the print stage faster.
Using Vixiv is relatively straightforward. The engineer imports a CAD design, and then specifies a number of load conditions on the model. Then Vixiv generates a series of alternative designs automatically.
At that point, the usual approach would be to run them all through a simulator and see which one is best. However, this is where Vixiv short-circuits the process: it determines the manufacturability and functionality of each design.
The engineer then has more knowledge of the quality of the generated models, and can then select the few that seem to have the best attributes. In other words, the generated models are more likely to be good due to the AI training. The software can then export fully 3D printable models, ready to go.
Vixiv representatives explained to us that they believe this could typically cut a “month or two” from the design process. That could be a substantial gain in some organizations where the speed of development is critical.
At this point, the software is in a “minimum viable product” stage, where it has only the most basic features and still be usable. Over time, Vixiv will be adding more functionality to the system. For example, they said they would be adding “impact resistance” as a function in the near future. I expect the product will have a fairly comprehensive set of functions by the time they release it to the public.
You can join the waitlist for the software on their website.
Via Vixiv
