While it still hasn’t caught on for more mainstream applications, there’s no denying that generative design is both insanely cool and practical across many applications –– with many more to come.
Among others who have already put generative design to use on a consumer product is Brooklyn-based artist and designer Che-Wei Wang. With backgrounds ranging from architecture and product design to sculpture and interactive installations, Che-Wei is no stranger to what happens when you converge design and technology.
Using a combination of Autodesk’s Fusion 360 and Project Dreamcatcher –– the company’s own generative design system for advanced research –– Che-Wei created an optimized bike stem that’s the result of thousands of iterations based on specified force variables rather than physical stress testing. The finished design was then manufactured via direct metal 3D printing. While the finished product is intended to be produced in titanium, plastic and stainless steel iterations were created as prototypes.
From setting the ports (shapes that you want to generate a form between) to tweaking how the algorithm generates the mesh, Che-Wei has created an insightful breakdown of his design process over at Instructables.
