3D Modeling Services Help Inventors Visualize Products

The Foreshadow of 3D Modeling Services – The Process of Inventing

You don’t need to be a genius to invent a great product!  The process of the invention starts with one great idea and succeeds with lots of work.  Ordinary people invent unique products by figuring out a way to solve some everyday problem, and then being motivated enough to get their solution into the marketplace.

For instance, masking tape, the tape that helps even the least steady-handed painter to keep one color of paint from overlapping onto another, was invented in 1925 by a banjo-playing engineer named Richard Drew.  He was in a local auto body shop when he noticed that auto painters had a difficult time making clean dividing lines when they did two-color paint jobs.  This problem inspired Drew to invent the world’s first masking tape, as a solution to the auto painters’ dilemma.

And, we all learned in school that Eli Whitney invented and patented the cotton gin on March 14, 1794.  The cotton gin revolutionized cotton picking by solving the labor-intensive process of separating the seeds, hulls and other unwanted materials from cotton after it has been picked.

3D Modeling Services and the Invention Process Today

Historically the invention process from idea to product took lots of trial and error.   Inventors often had to make many models by hand, with many failures before they were able to work out all of the bugs and have a product that worked as it was intended.  This, despite the most detailed drawings, observations, functional thought processes, and attention to characteristics and requirements.  The inventors’ critical thinking always has to be proven by a working prototype.

Today, 3D Modeling Software can be used to simulate the working prototype, often making the design and re-design of an actual physical prototype unnecessary.   Using a program like Autodesk® Inventor® for 3D CAD and Simulation for Mechanical Design, inventors can design, simulate, create tools, engineer to order and create design communication.  A program like Inventor® enables digital prototyping to produce an accurate 3D model that helps design, visualize, and simulate a product before it’s built.  Digital prototyping can help inventors design better products, reduce development costs and get to market faster.

If you are an independent inventor working on a product idea, you may find that undertaking 3D digital prototyping is a task too onerous for you to undertake on your own.  This is where an experienced 3D Modeling Service provider can provide cost-effective outsourced expertise to get help take your idea from drawing board to reality.  You can use this outsourced expertise to help you plan ahead with questions like how you want your model to fit together and how the various parts should move in relation to one another.    So, it’s good to get a reliable 3D Modeling Service involved early in the design process.  They will have expertise in 3D Modeling that can help improve your idea.  Just make sure that you get them to sign a legal non-disclosure agreement before you start working with them.  You should also start the patent process and describe your product as “patent pending” in order to protect your idea.

Products and Ideas that are Applicable to 3D Modeling Services

Nearly any product idea can be transformed into a working 3D Model by an experienced and reliable 3D Modeling Service.  Product ideas such as the following are particularly well suited

to outsourced 3D Modeling Services:

• Industrial Machinery (machinery, jigs/fixtures, plants, and processes, etc.)
• Architectural and Construction (Interior, Exterior, Site Model, etc.)
• City and Transportation Planning
• Furniture Design
• Fixtures and Fittings (plumbing, lighting, automotive, aeronautics, etc.)
• Electrical 3D Models (Transformers, Panels, Electrical Parts / Components, etc.)
• Electronics
• Jewelry (Rings, Necklaces, Pendants, Bangles, Cuff Links, Watches, Bracelets, etc.)
• Boats, Yachts and Other Vessels
• Tools and Equipment

Conclusion – Is a 3D Modeling Service for You?

If you’re an independent inventor or designer with a good idea and you need help working out proportions, scales and movement characteristic of your product, consider the economics of hiring a 3D Modeling Service to help you communicate your ideas.  3D Model Animations can be used to explain product function and problem-solving capabilities to investors and customers, as well as for market research.  These animations can also be used for market research.   Computer Modeling can turn your ideas into solid 3D models.  3D Digital Prototypes provide a virtual working model of your invention so you can show others how your invention will work.  Reverse Engineering can be used where necessary if your invention is based on an existing part or product.

Remember, you can’t get your idea to market until you’ve done the work, and working with a 3D Modeling Service can make the work go more quickly and smoothly, shortening the time to market.  Happy inventing!