SPARKook more closely at this 1962
Volkswagen bus, made by
Volkswagen and augmented
by Autodesk: the wheel rims,
steering wheel, wing mirror
mounts, and other bits are 3D-printed
metal. And, rather than being mocked up
first in AutoCAD, they’re designed
automatically in software in a process
called ‘generative design’.
Generative design, like declarative
programming, is design worked backwards.
Instead of drawing up a plan, then building
the project, you start with a set of
constraints, and get the software to
generate the form that you need.
“In the past, if you’ve designed, let’s say,
a vehicle rim, if you’re going to design one
of those, in the very far past, you had to
basically sketch it by hand”, says Erik
Glaser, Principal Product Designer,
Volkswagen Group of America. “You had a
draughtsman who had to draw the whole
thing out – very long process, very tedious.L