from Hacker News

Adobe Project Neo: 2D Design with 3D Shapes [video]

by 037 on 10/15/23, 10:05 AM with 5 comments

  • by 037 on 10/15/23, 10:43 AM

    Slightly off topic, but...

    I have a 3D printer and am proficient in designing with Fusion 360 and similar software. I've also experimented with newer approaches like Shapr3D on the iPad and a few others. However, I often find myself too unmotivated to design quick, "necessary" items with the existing tools. They are excellent, but can create a significant gap between my mental image of the physical object and the modeled one. I'm optimistic that emerging innovations in this area will bring more natural and intuitive design approaches to the DIY community. It's exciting to imagine the development of tools with simple flow, non-destructive operations, and accurate sizing, among other features.

    One challenge, however, is affordability; it's often difficult to justify paying premium recurring prices to design occasional and unconventional items, such as a revolutionary toilet paper holder.

    (I'm always torn between code-reliant approaches like OpenSCAD and intriguing but not fully mature options like CadQuery, which are somewhat unintuitive but easy to follow, parameterize, and push on git, and the opposite graphical options like the old SketchUp, TinkerCAD, and the like).

    Something is missing. Something that makes us feel like we are modeling with our hands, paper, and wood, but without having to constantly glue our fingers together.

  • by justinclift on 10/16/23, 2:06 AM

    Watching the 3D modelling part of the video, it looks like some of the Adobe designers were very familiar with Dassault Systèmes 3DEXPERIENCE.

    Adobe Neo's modelling looks like a direct copy, and not just "rough copy" either.

    Selection modes, handle styles, functionality... it's a direct copy.

    Possibly unfortunately for Adobe, Dassault Systèmes has a reputation of being extremely gung-ho with their litigation.

    They're not a small company that can be pushed around easily either:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Syst%C3%A8mes

    ---

    Doesn't seem to be much in the way of good videos on Youtube showing 3DEXPERIENCE modelling in use, otherwise I'd include some links for reference. :/

  • by karmakaze on 10/15/23, 2:27 PM

    Interesting how focused the software is for the intended audience. It's doing full 3D modelling with constructive solid geometry as other CAD software does, but it limits its scope to only those features and functions useful to someone making 3D illustrations. This focus and being web-based should make it a no-brainer for many.

  • by Alifatisk on 10/15/23, 11:20 AM

    That's cool, I was actually looking for something like this when I wanted to illustrate an idea to a friend.

    Is there a good tool for that currently available?

  • by sorenjan on 10/15/23, 2:22 PM

    This looks like it would be very useful for making technical illustrations, like neutral network architectures and similar.