Tag Archives: design software

Top 5 FREE 3D Design + Rendering Softwares for Industrial Designers and Students in the year 2022

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Picking a design software is a lot like learning a language – it takes time, relentless practice, and constant communication with a dedicated community to actually be fluent at it. The difference between the two, however, is that while picking a language doesn’t require major financial resources, picking a design software can rack up costs well into the thousands of dollars… per year, because most software companies are moving to a subscription-based business model for higher revenues. However, there are a few rather capable candidates that are, even today, still completely free of cost… no strings attached. In fact, you could literally have downloaded their setups by the time you read this sentence and started the installation process by the time you reach the end of this sentence.

The biggest benefit of free software is that it LITERALLY has no barrier to entry. I’m a firm believer that diversity in design is better for the community as a whole, and free software ensures that finances, budgets, or access to a job that provides you with software licenses don’t come in the way of being able to hone your skills. Moreover, while a lot of these design software are pretty intuitive and user-friendly, to begin with, there’s always a vast repository of free material online to help you learn and perfect your skills, as well as eager communities that are more than ready to provide constructive criticism and guidance to help you get better. Finally, free software, especially if it’s also open-source, works out to be safer, better, and more transparent for everyone. Open-source software are truly hotbeds for innovation, as keen designers and developers help work out kinks and bugs, suggest future features, and push for a much more user-centric overall experience.

We’ve hand-picked 5 of our Top 3D Modeling and Rendering Software for you to get your hands on. For the most part, they’re open to any and everyone and are either entirely free to use, or have freemium plans that still give you an unrestricted modeling and rendering experience. Essentially, all you really need is some willpower and a decent internet connection! (And maybe some special hardware too, but more on that later)

H6 Julietta by Lee Rosario (Modeled + Rendered in Blender)

01. Blender

Let’s really get the most obvious one out of the way. Blender is, without a doubt, the best free 3D modeling and rendering software out there. There’s quite literally nothing that Blender can’t do – it handles modeling, rendering, video/film production, game development, VFX, physics simulation, and even your basic 2D modeling. It’s the kind of software that’s truly for amateurs as well as incredibly seasoned experts, all while having an installation package that’s under 200MB. Moreover, the internet is absolutely filled with free resources to help you learn the software, and if you can’t find something, you can never go wrong with BlenderGuru. Did I mention it’s absolutely free?
Price: Absolutely Free
Best Used For: Non-Parametric 3D Modeling, Organic Polygon-style Design Work (Any domain or discipline)
Where to Download: Blender.org Website

Polaroid Go by Spline Team (Modeled + Rendered in Spline)

02. Spline.design

Spline caught my eye earlier last year for being the first (that I know of) comprehensive browser-based 3D modeling software. You don’t even need to download a setup or anything. Just open a new tab and you can literally begin your 3D CAD and rendering journey. Now before I go any further, it’s worth noting that Spline is still in an incredibly early Alpha stage of its development, so there’s a lot that could change over time (including probably their business model), but as we stand right now, Spline is free to use, with a pretty versatile modeling and rendering experience. It does, however, have a paid PRO tier that lets you export videos and GIF renders, and share un-watermarked public 3D model links. However, the free tier lets you access all of Spline’s modeling features and even its rendering ones. The obvious benefit to using a browser-based 3D tool is not having to worry about two programs (your software and your browser) fighting each other for CPU and GPU resources. However, Spline takes its browser-based app to a whole new level by letting you access its entire library of 3D files that you can import into your scene, create interactive elements, output a public link that lets everyone see your 3D asset (wonderful for sharing with clients/collaborators), and even embed your model/scene into a webpage. They’ve got tonnes of resources within the app if you want to learn the software, as well as a burgeoning Discord community that’s ever-ready to help.
Price: ‘Free To Use’ with a paid plan for extra features like Rendering Animation Movies
Best Used For: Quick and Easy Design + Visualization, Collaborative Work, Showcasing/Embedding on a Website/Portfolio
Where to Download: Spline Web App (No Download Necessary)

Swell Chair by Kevin Clarridge (Modeled in Gravity Sketch VR)

03. Gravity Sketch

Gravity Sketch is a great example of a software that embraced the free tier. It used to be a paid application until the company secured enough funding to abandon its paying-customer-driven business model and offer the entire software for free to everyone. The software, brought to life through crowdfunding, has now gained cult status within the design (specifically transportation) industry for making 3D visualization and experimentation as easy as literally waving your hands. While most 3D softwares wrestle with the constraint that they’re still limited to 2D displays, Gravity Sketch literally lets you model in 3D. Designed primarily for VR (that’s the one caveat – you need a VR headset for the best Gravity Sketch experience), the app is also being gradually made available on the iPad, allowing people to at least sketch in 3D. Both the iPad app and VR software are free for individuals, although business and enterprise users are required to pay for the software.
Price: ‘Free To Use’ with a paid plan for Enterprise-level Usage
Best Used For: Immersive Design (Great for larger-than-life products/spaces and for collaboration). Taking your 2D Sketch and turning it directly into 3D.
Where to Download: Oculus Store (VR Headset Required) or iPadOS App Store (Compatible iPad + Apple Pencil Required

Apartment Real-time Archviz by Hoang Pham (Rendered in Unreal Engine 5)

04. Unreal Engine

What started as a small-time game flourished into an incredible rendering behemoth that’s responsible for everything from the highest-quality AAA games, to cult sensation Fortnite, and even Disney’s own Mandalorian. Unreal Engine is an incredibly powerful rendering and visualization software that often gets overlooked by traditional designers (I doubt it’s taught as extensively in schools either), but what makes UE so incredible is its sheer power and ability… and the fact that it’s free, well, kind of. You see, UE has a stipulation that it’s entirely free to use as long as you make less than $1 million in sales from it. If, however, you cross that threshold, UE takes a small share of your profits as payment. It’s safe to say that for the average designer, that’s really nothing to be worried about. Aside, however, from being free, UE also offers up an entire array of free-to-access 3D assets (courtesy of the acquisition of Megascans) that you can import directly into your scene, from buildings and roads to furniture, lifelike trees, and a whole host of other models.
Price: ‘Free To Use’ with a 5% profit-sharing model if you make more than $1 million with your project.
Best Used For: Incredibly photoreal rendering and physics. Great for Transportation Design, Architectural Visualization, Interiors, Game Design.
Where to Download: UnrealEngine.Com Website

Wk09 Weapon Sketch by D. Quach (A.I. Shading generated by Vizcom)

05. Vizcom

Vizcom is perhaps the newest kid on the block… and it’s my final pick for a very good reason because if there was one software that bordered on actual magic – this is probably it. You see, Vizcom isn’t a traditional rendering software, but what it provides far outpaces any rendering workflow. Vizcom is an incredibly capable AI that turns your sketches into rendered sketches. All you need to do is upload a rough drawing and Vizcom renders/shades it for you. You don’t need to worry about highlights, shadows, crosshatching, or using a brush in Photoshop or Procreate. Vizcom, in literal seconds, takes your pencil sketch and turns it into a rendered 2D image… WITH OPTIONS!
Price: ‘Freemium Model’ with basic features + 30 renders per month for free. Advanced features available in paid Pro plan.
Best Used For: Rapid Visualization. Quickly turning sketches into ‘Photoshop’ Renderings for sharing and client approval. Great for students learning rendering and how lights/shadows fall on complex 3D surfaces.
Where to Download: Vizcom.co Website

Why Autodesk Fusion 360 didn’t make it to the list, even though it’s free… technically

Obviously, Autodesk Fusion 360 was a contender for this list too. As perhaps one of the most popular software used within the industrial design circuit (and Alias within the automotive industry), it’s safe to say that there’s no ignoring Autodesk’s contribution to our craft… However, their software isn’t free. Yes, it’s free for students, and even for certain individuals, but only for a short period of 3 years – which is just about enough to learn a software. Autodesk’s model is simple – you have 3 years of free use to get a hang of the software and learn it inside out, but once you’re a seasoned expert, you better start coughing up some money. Now, that isn’t a knock on the company, obviously it needs to make money from somewhere, but that means Fusion 360 (and all of Autodesk’s other products) don’t really qualify as ‘Free’.

The post Top 5 FREE 3D Design + Rendering Softwares for Industrial Designers and Students in the year 2022 first appeared on Yanko Design.

Top 5 Sketching Apps on Android for Product Designers

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Android tablets come in a variety of sizes and prices, making them easily accessible to a wide range of people. Although they have been in the market for years, only a notable few have reached iPad Pro status, especially when it comes to being an important part of creatives’ workflows. There are, of course, some Android tablets, like Samsung’s top-end line, that come with all the bells and whistles you’d need for working on the go, but navigating Google Play Store for noteworthy, not to mention safe, apps can sometimes be a daunting prospect. Product designers on Google’s side of the fence need not fret, though, as we have here five of the best apps that can let you exercise your creative juices anywhere you have your tablet or even phone with you.

Infinite Design and Painter

Designers don’t always think within confined spaces when brainstorming or sketching out ideas. Although most are used to the boundaries imposed by physical paper, many probably wished they had an infinite canvas to explore ideas with. That’s impossible to pull off in the physical realm, of course, but there’s little reason you can’t do so with apps.

This infinite canvas is the cornerstone of Infinite Studio’s twin apps, Infinite Designer and Infinite Painter. As their names imply, each caters to specific audiences and needs. Both, however, have some features in common, like that infinite canvas, as well as a configurable user interface you can move around to fit your workflow. Both apps are also free to use with in-app purchases to unlock some functions.

Infinite Designer works with vector shapes and lines to create forms that you can tweak with fine precision. It has some features created specifically for designers, like text tools and perspective guides. Infinite Painter, on the other hand, is designed for those with more artistic inclinations, especially those that need to create their own brushes for painting textures.

Designer: Akash Kumar

Designer: Peter Sakievich

Concepts

Just like Infinite Design, this app’s name clearly screams “concept design.” What started out as an iOS-exclusive eventually made its way to both Windows and Android, giving designers a new and powerful tool to give a visual form to their thoughts. And just like Infinite Canvas, Concept’s key feature revolves around its infinite canvas.

Concepts‘ drawing tools mostly revolve around vector shapes as well, but it has a larger set of brushes that would make artists also feel at home. Ever since day one, the app’s designer focus has been a selling point. Concepts’ implementation of its color wheel as a COPIC wheel is definitely still a unique feature.

Concepts does have a rather unusual pricing scheme that might put off some Android users. It’s free to use with a number of features that can each be unlocked with separate in-app purchases. However, there’s also a monthly or annual subscription option that delivers even more, which can be handy for those really knee-deep in using this app.

Designer: Yael Arama

Designer: Rafael Alvarez

Sketchbook

Just like Adobe, Autodesk doesn’t need much introduction among designers and digital creatives, especially those who depend on CAD software for their living. At one point in time, its Sketchbook was even regarded as the de facto drawing app on mobile devices in the absence of Photoshop. Sketchbook is now its own company, but it didn’t lose any of its capabilities. In fact, it might have gotten more.

All of Sketchbook’s features are now available to all users, absolutely free of charge. Those include dozens of brushes that each can be customized to fit a designer’s needs. Symmetry tools, rules, and guides help give some structure to sketches, and blending modes let artists exploit a large number of layers as much as the device can support.

One of Sketchbook’s key strengths has always been its simplicity and cleanliness, with the UI quickly getting out of the way once you put the tip of the stylus to the screen. Even the tool icons are designed to look clean and minimal, helping to reduce the cognitive burden when using the app.

Designer: Robert Kiss

Designer: Sketchbook

Clip Studio Paint

With Photoshop landing on iPads just a year or so ago, the chances of it arriving on Android are slim to none. While there are a few that have tried to fill in the gaps, Android sadly doesn’t have a household name like Procreate, at least not yet. Fortunately, designers have plenty of other options available, especially when they need painting tools more than photo editing ones.

Clip Studio Paint is actually one of Photoshop’s biggest competitors in the digital illustration space, and it is now available on all the major platforms, including on Android phones and tablets. It is actually one of the go-to solutions of illustrators and comics artists because of its wide array of tools specifically designed for those use cases. These same tools are, of course, also useful in sketching design concepts or preparing final illustrations for presentation.

The one catch to Clip Studio Paint’s powerful arsenal is its rather confusing pricing scheme. Although there’s a free trial available, further use of the app requires a subscription that differs according to platform or type (PRO vs. EX). New owners of Samsung’s Galaxy phones and tablets, however, do get some special treatment with a 6-month free trial unavailable to other brands.

Designer: Andre Pelaes David

Designer: Prentis Rollins

Krita (Beta)

Almost all the apps above except Sketchbook come with a price, whether hidden or explicit. Free apps get a lot of flak because many of them are cheap in price and quality. That’s not to say there are no exceptions, and Krita is definitely one of them.

On desktops, Krita has become a strong contender in rivaling Photoshop for artists and designers. It has a strong set of tools for digital art creation, including an animation feature. Krita is also “free as in speech,” in other words, open source, with a thriving community of artists and developers making it grow at an astoundingly fast pace.

Although already well-established on Windows, Mac, and Linux, Krita is a newcomer to Android. It’s still available only in a beta release, but it is quite usable in its current state. More impressively, Krita on Android nearly has all the same features and capabilities as the desktop version, something that Adobe has yet to deliver for Photoshop on iPads.

Designer: Chou-Tac

Designer: caseyclan

Bonus: Noteshelf

Sketching and creating concept art is really only one part of the design process. A lot of it also happens with words and other media. Some designers still keep a physical notebook around even if they do a lot of their work on computers and tablets. If you want to go all out on digital, though, Noteshelf offers a decent analogue to your analog notebook.

With Noteshelf, you can add your sketches and PDF documents to your notes for a particular concept you’ve been working on. You can handwrite your notes as well and even record audio while doing so. Noteshelf will sync the two and will replay your handwriting stroke by stroke as you play the audio recording. All of that for $4.99, no hidden costs included.

Designer: alexa

Designer: kate

The post Top 5 Sketching Apps on Android for Product Designers first appeared on Yanko Design.

These renders of Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs take you to an imaginary world!

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Frank Lloyd Wright is an icon in the design and architecture world. His career spans over 70 years during which he had 532 completed structures and more than 1114 designs that continue to inspire creators even today. In fact, it is his unfinished concept designs that spark more imagination and Spanish architect, David Romero, has been influenced by just that.

Romero took the 600 designs that Wright left behind and created ultra-realistic 3D renderings of what they would look like today. He even digitally restored some demolished projects. Romero has showcased his art on his website, Hooked on the Past, where he has taken upon himself to complete most of Wright’s unfinished design dreams like the E.A. Smith house, Trinity Chapel, Butterfly Bridge, and the Larkin Administration Building. He uses existing blueprints, plans, elevations, photographs and perspectives from the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to guide him as he models structures in AutoCAD and then completing it with finer details using Autodesk 3ds Max.

It is not easy to capture and recreate Wright’s work because most of the plans are from a high point of view. It is a challenge to imagine it from a perspective of someone standing on the street but Romero has a gift to be able to envision a structure and render it with just bits and pieces of the original blueprint. He added details like picturing the Gordon Strong Automobile Objective at night because it was also meant to serve as a planetarium, so he added stars and electric car trails to the image. His attention to detail is seen in the render as he chose to add era-appropriate cars. Romero successfully creates an emotional connection to a building that the audience has never been to but still relates to because of his precise renderings.

“I would love to model all of Wright’s work, but it is immense,” says architect David Romero, a pure Wright fan. “I do not know if during all my life I will have time.” Romero’s work has gone beyond the architecture community and has become relatable to various digital artists like graphic designers and photographers because his renders are so good that they can be considered as contemporary art. While we are all confined to our homes, Romero’s imaginative skills coupled with Wright’s design visions give us the digital window of escape that we can all use right now.

Designers: David Romero