MCADCafe Industry Predictions for 2020- C3D Labs

Before making predictions for 2020, let’s look back to see if any of my predictions for 2019 came true.

New players dedicated to additive manufacturing preprocessing software: Yes! The Dyndrite geometry kernel was launched, and so filled an empty niche of software development toolkits for the 3D printing industry.

CAD vendors taken over by the giants: Of course! Onshape was acquired by PTC, who seems to be coming back to its origins, from IoT (Internet of things) to CAD. So, that was quite an accurate forecast.

Looking Ahead to 2020

We will see the increasing hype around the term “digital twin.” It’s worth thinking what digital twin really means. A digital twin is a virtual copy of a physical object, with the two being connected via the IoT. Thus, the digital twin reflects the actual operating conditions and the product lifecycle of the object. It follows from this definition that the actual object must be equipped with sensors, which transmit all information necessary to its digital twin. When there is no such connection, then there is no digital twin.

The second conclusion to be drawn is that when we have 10 (or 100 or 1,000) identical objects in operation, then there should be 10 (or 100 or 1,000) digital twins. All together, it makes it clear that digital twins are needed but will be used only for very sophisticated technical systems.

Another remarkable trend will be the rapid development of more software applications supporting Building Information Modeling. There will be a lot of startups building collaborative tools and 3D applications for BIM. Meanwhile, industry leaders will be monitoring closely these R&D firms and absorbing newcomers with prospects.

BIM developers tend to use the in-house programming components instead of licensing geometric kernels. Speaking frankly as a kernel developer, I feel that the classic kernels are redundant for solving most typical BIM tasks. But the growing requirement for BIM products will lead to an increase in demand for quality and power in program components, especially if they are available at an affordable price. Dassault Systemes Spatial, C3D Labs, and Techsoft 3D will be some of the ones actively working in this direction during 2020.

Tags: C3DLabs, Industry Predictions

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