Does CAD Design Crowd Sourcing Work?

The power of the crowd is changing the way we do things and is being applied to lots of areas including sourcing design services.

It has been around for a while within the graphic design industry, where it has come to be known as 'Spec' work, short form for any work done on a speculative basis without a fee being agreed. 

To explain the process in a nutshell, what happens is a client posts a brief for a logo or website design or some other design scenario with a set deadline and 'prize' money. Designers then submit their interpretations of the brief and the client then selects their favourite. Perhaps two or three designers will get paid, but a lot will not get anything for their time.

The client gets lots of design ideas but only pays for the one they like, saving a lot of time and money. There are however a lot of professional designers who feel it is exploiting hard-working designers and is damaging the industry.

Whether the process is right or wrong, it works for graphic design projects in that every single designer will have very different interpretations of the clients brief, and so the submissions are extremely varied, providing the client with lots of great inspiration and hopefully a winning solution.

Recently we have noticed a couple of websites that are offering CAD design services in this format, and indeed we have been contacted about it at theCADcube.

The process is the same as before, a 'client' posts a brief for their CAD project, with a set submission deadline and how much 'prize' money the selected designer(s) will earn. Even aside from the professional issues of exploitation that are being discussed in the graphic design industry, we just don't see how it can work with CAD design due to the fixed parameters the designer will almost always have to work within. Surely you are just going to end up with a load of designs that look pretty much the same?

Our big issue is, what are we using to decide between the submissions? If you have five CAD technicians all capable of the same standards of work how do you pick between them? Normally it would be based on price, or timescale or perhaps locality or personality.  But if you have a fixed price, never meet any of them as they are working remotely, and they all submit the completed work to your deadline, what do you use to pick between them? They have all completed the same brief, in the same timescale and for the same price?!

We have seen requests for floor plans to be simply altered or extruded into a 3D plan. There cannot be different interpretations of this. Our opinion is that this sort of work should not be carried out in this 'try before you buy' format. 

We think a lot of CAD designers are going to waste a lot of time submitting entries to these 'competitions' and will soon get fed up of other designs being selected over theirs without a valid reason. Perhaps there are certain areas of CAD design where it could be used, but we don't think the current format works.

What do you think? Is this is a good way of finding CAD work as a designer? Are clients taking advantage of designers?

@thecadcube

Promoting to Architects

We are hoping some of you may be interested in helping us develop our services for product manufacturers by filling in this short survey.

We want to work out better ways to help AEC product manufacturers promote directly to architecture and design professionals and get products integrated earlier in the design and specification processes.

This is particularly aimed at the marketing professionals within manufacturing companies, but input from everyone is much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

@thecadcube

Sketchfab & theCADcube

Sketchfab is a really cool web service which allows you to publish interactive 3D content online in real-time without a plugin. You can join for free, which will allow you to upload up to 10 models of 50 MB each and you can enjoy unlimited views and embeds.

But for those of you who want a bit more, our friends at Sketchfab have very kindly offered all of theCADcube's users 3 months free on their Pro subscription plan, which upgrades you to 100 models of 200 mb each.

If you are signed up to theCADcube, you don't need to do anything, we will send you the link to the free pro subscriptions. if you haven't received the link or have lost it, drop us an email on info@thecadcube.co.uk

Check out a demo of their interactive 3D viewer below, with this cool Iron Man model. Just give it a click to get started!

Show off your 3D CAD skills

We felt it was about time we started showing off the work of our faithful and talented CADcubers. So that's exactly what we are going to do, every month!

We want you to send us in rendered images of your 3D design work where you have used CAD models downloaded from theCADcube. We will pick our favourite each month, with the winning entry being displayed on our homepage slider, along with your name, company name and a link to your website (all optional).

And as if that bit of promotion wasn't enough reason to enter, we are going all out and sending each winner an exclusive 'theCADcube' t-shirt (oooohhhhhhhhh).

So simply send us an email to comps@thecadcube.co.uk with the attached image and the required details below filled in before the end of the month (October) to be in with a chance of being our first ever winner!

Details

Name:
Email:
Project Name:
Brief project description:
CAD model(s) used:
Company Name (optional):
Website (optional):

We look forward to seeing your designs!

@thecadcube

Cadvertise [Video]

We decided to put across how we can help manufacturers promote products more effectively to architecture and design professionals in this nice animated video.

Check it out and let us know what you think!

#cadvertise

@thecadcube

CAD Olympics

Here at theCADcube we love a bit of competition. And with the London Olympics drawing to a close on Sunday night, we felt it was as good a time as any to have a quick review of what other CAD sites have to offer. 

CAD users are varied in their professions and their application of CAD processes, so not all of the websites mentioned are direct competitors to theCADcube, but it is always good to keep an eye on what's going on in your industry.

Turbosquid

Turbosquid probably provide the biggest library of 3D models available but can be a bit pricey. They provide mostly premium content ranging from a few dollars up to literally thousands, but with a few freebies here and there. Content is  provided by users who can earn commission on CAD models they 'sell'. They do have an optional quality assurance system in the form of CheckMate. Although not all models have to pass these quality tests, those which do are 'certified' so you know you are getting good quality content.

The content is extremely varied; from the basic and practical to the wild and fantastical, you will find a model of pretty much anything here and if you can't find what you are looking for you can make a request! Great for adding the finishing touches to a design project, particularly for marketing and gaming purposes.

Formfonts

Formfonts adopts a different business model to Turbosquid, in that you pay an annual fee ($199) to have access to  their content which you can then download as you wish, within reason. This offers greater value for money, although their library is not as large as Turbosquid. Content is a mixture of user generated, which is available through an exchange system (show me yours I'll show you mine!) and content generated by artists who work for the company. So some of the user content will be hit and miss, and any models from the Formfonts team are top quality.

Again their content is extremely varied, but like theCADcube, is perhaps geared more towards architecture and design professionals than Turbosquid.

FastrackCAD

Whilst not the prettiest or most accessible website, FastrackCAD is free and is definitely aimed the most directly at architecture and design professionals of all mentioned so far, providing both 2D and 3D CAD data.

Similarly to theCADcube, all of their content comes from and/or represents manufacturer products. 

A slight issue with FastrackCAD is that there is no separation between 2D and 3D data, so you never know what is going to be available from one supplier to the next. Also, a lot of the manufacturers on the site are just links to where that manufacturer hosts their own CAD data.

Trimble 3DWarehouse

I'm not aware of any changes since Trimble bought SketchUp from Google so I think the 3DWarehouse is still the same. 

Users upload their SketchUp models for other users to download, for free. Really simple, really useful. Some slight issues with the quality of the models you are getting plus it is dedicated to using SketchUp, but a really useful resource.

BIMstore

Not a CAD site as such, but perhaps the most similar to theCADcube in terms of business model. the BIMstore provides manufacturers content free to architects and designers in an easy to use website. However, the BIMstore, as their name subtly hints at, provides BIM objects as opposed to CAD models. 

BIM may well be the future for the construction industry, and the demand for BIM is steadily growing, but CAD users are going to be in the majority for the foreseeable future.

So...

Whilst theCADcube is aimed very specifically at providing architecture and design professionals with free 3D CAD models of manufacturers products, we hope we incorporate many of the positive aspects of the websites outlined above. 

We intend this post to be seen as a refreshingly open opinion from one company about its competitors.

Chat soon...

@thecadcube

Cadvertising

For a number of reasons, not least some extremely frustrating internet issues, this is our first post in a while. Given that it has been so long, let's recap and expand slightly on the last post, Selling to Architects and Designers.

We talked mainly about why you should be selling to architects and designers and how they can become an extension of your sales team. We only touched slightly on why CAD models are a fantastic way to do this. So today, let's go into a bit more detail on the benefits of using 3D CAD models to promote products to architects and designers, or as we call it, Cadvertising!

There are several benefits to offering 3D CAD models of your products. Firstly, the majority of designers now work with 3D CAD software, which is time consuming. If you save the designer in question a lot of time; as they don't have to create CAD models of your products themselves and greatly improve the efficiency of their modeling process, you are getting them on side right away!

They allow the designer and their clients to really get a feel for how the product will work within a certain project, allowing them to make a more informed decision and creating a much longer lasting impression than an image in a catalogue or on a website.

Finally, providing a CAD model sees the product become embedded within the design and specification process at a very early stage and therefore more likely to be specified and purchased. In fact, research indicates that up to 80 percent of the time a manufacturers CAD model is used in a design project, it goes on to be specified.

As we have mentioned previously, the most important aspect of selling to architects and designers is making it easy for them to find and specify products, and theCADcube does just that.

So, whilst providing the CAD models of products is a great start, architects and designers still need to find them. theCADcube offers a solution to this by providing a unique marketing tool for manufacturers wishing to place their products in front of a captive audience of architects, designers and specifiers.

Like an online product directory, we make it easy for architects and designers to find manufacturers products by bringing them together in one central library. The fact is that 85% of searches are by product, not by manufacturer, so its sensible to be where theses professionals are looking for products!

This coupled with the 3D models, is making it easier than ever for an architect or designer to specify your product.

@thecadcube

Selling to Architects & Designers

We chat with a lot of product manufacturers here at theCADcube. Manufacturers of everything from furniture, lighting and other design products, to actual building components and construction materials.

We always ask 'How do you promote your products to architects and designers?' To which the normal response is either 'We regularly send out catalogues with our latest range of products.' Or, 'We don't have a process or materials designed specifically for this market, should we?' 

Digging a little deeper, those who do send, and sometimes personally deliver their catalogues, often do so because they feel they should, it's just what you do, rather than it being something that is measurably valuable. Those who don't have either given up on the catalogues or are unaware of the benefits of an architect or designer specifying their product. This is perfectly understandable, after all this designer isn't necessarily the person making the final decision and signing off the purchase.

However, when your product is specified by an architect, interior designer or other design professional, this is a form of testimonial, a vote of confidence in your product. These design professionals are effectively selling your product to their clients and contractors and are therefore potentially an invaluable member of your sales team.

The most important aspect of selling to architects and designers is making it easy for them to find and specify your products. These professionals have little time to waste looking for you, so when they do, you want them to find you with little fuss. 

Sending out catalogues is costly and, unless you have been lucky enough that it has landed on their desk at the exact time they require one of your products, the truth is most of these end up being filed away and forgotten about. 

Most, if not all manufacturers now have some sort of online presence, so just 'being online' isn't any real advantage. It perhaps means you don't need to send out the physical catalogue, but you still need the designer to find you, and this means promotional costs to you and the remaining hassle to the designer having to search through endless manufacturers websites to find the products and information they require. 

There is also a disconnect between images of a product and how it will look, fit or work within a specific project, so not only do we need a more efficient process, we need one which is more useful to the designer and the tools they use.

And this is where 3D CAD models and theCADcube comes in.

By making CAD models of your products available, along with the desired information, architects and designers can physically include your products in their designs. This helps strengthen your place within the specification and ultimately makes it more likely that your product is purchased.

Our aim is to make it as easy as possible for architects and designers to find and specify manufacturers products. So we are creating a central library of manufacturer products which provides not only information about the manufacturer and the products, but also a format that the design professional can actually use, in the downloadable CAD models.

If you were a designer in need of a particular product, and had the choice of hunting through your mountain of manufacturer catalogues, which may be out of date, or logging onto a website that you know has a range of manufacturers products, in a format you can download and incorporate directly into your designs, which would you do?

By promoting on theCADcube, manufacturers can start efficiently selling to architects and designers in a way that is both cost-effective and measurable.

@thecadcube

Are you a manufacturer? How do you promote to architects and designers? Leave a comment or drop us an email on info@thecadcube.co.uk