Welcome to The D3D 30, our round-up of 30 new technologies from around the world that we firmly believe could give your product development work a major boost
This is the D3D 30 List from 2022 – To read the most recent D3D 30 List click here
The D3D 30 is our annual round-up of 30 new technologies that we believe have an important role to play in the product development processes of our readers.
Chosen from companies around the world, our hope is that you find something here for your own personal toolbox, to make you more productive in 2022.
Some of these technologies are from start-ups that we’re excited to see take their first steps out of stealth mode. Others come from established companies that continue to develop new capabilities within existing systems or launch brand-new tools to take customers in new and thrilling directions.
We’re delighted to showcase this illustrious group, selected entirely on merit. Our listing includes new takes on modelling, innovative ways to tackle big data challenges, fresh approaches to 3D printing and more – all with the aim of helping our readers design and build the products and systems of the future.
Our previous lists in 2020 and 2021 have highlighted new technologies that we’ve watched grow in terms of capability and adoption. Speaking with readers, we know that many of them have since been adopted in businesses around the globe and become vital to your workflows.
We have faith that the Class of 2022 will offer you many more such candidates – and hopefully, you’ll have the chance to get hands-on with many of these in the months to come, including at DEVELOP3D LIVE, which returns to the UK in November 2022.
| ADDIFAB ADDIFAB X NEXA3D |
AMD RADEON PRO W6400 |
AUTODESK FUSION 360 EXTENSIONS |
| BCN3D VLM 3D PRINTING |
BOTCHA 3D BOTCHA 3D |
CADENCE FIDELITY CFD |
| CARBON M3 MAX 3D PRINTER |
DASSAULT SYSTÈMES SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION INTELLIGENCE |
E3D RAPIDCHANGE REVO |
| EPSON 3D PRINTING |
FOVOTEC FOVORENDER |
HEXAGON MATERIALCENTER |
| HP Z2 SFF G9 WORKSTATION |
HYPERGANIC HYPERGANIC CORE |
INTEL 12th GEN INTEL CORE |
| LUMAFIELD NEPTUNE SCANNER |
MATERIALISE CO-AM |
MAXON MAXON ONE |
| MAYKU MULTIPLIER |
METAFOLD LIGHTCYCLE |
MONOLITH AI MONOLITH |
| NVIDIA NVIDIA RTX A2000 |
PHENOMETRY PHI PLUG-IN FOR ONSHAPE |
SEURAT AREA PRINTING |
| SHAPR3D SHAPR3D VISUALIZATION |
SIMCENTER STAR CCM+ GPU POWERED |
SMARTPARTS SMARTPARTS |
| SOLIDEDGE CAM PRO 2.5 AXIS |
VARJO VARJO REALITY CLOUD |
WOMP WOMP3D |
ADDIFAB
ADDIFAB x NEXA3D
Freeform Injection Moulding
Injection moulding remains king, but AddiFab’s additively created, dissolvable tooling looks to tap into the benefits of both injection moulding and 3D printing, as it fast-tracks tool designs and validations for complex part injection moulding.
AddiFab’s tooling, up to 154 x 241mm in size, is compatible with most traditional thermoplastic materials, including reinforced high-performance feedstocks.
A collaboration with Nexa3D gives customers access to the NXE 400 3D Printing system – including industrial 3D printer, wash and cure units – with Addifab providing proprietary tooling resins and post-processing equipment. The goal is to give designers access to the ecosystem needed to take injection moulding to the next level.
Read more on this here.
AMD
RADEON PRO W6400
Future-proofed GPU
Graphics engines in 3D CAD software haven’t evolved that much over the years, but this looks set to change. With several developers exploring modern graphics APIs, viewports could soon offer new levels of visual fidelity through GPU-accelerated hardware ray tracing.
The AMD Radeon Pro W6400 GPU stands out, because it is the only pro graphics card in its class to have hardware ray tracing built into the silicon.
With pro drivers for all the major CAD applications, it’s tuned for 3D CAD now, but should also offer product designers and engineers some level of future proofing as their favourite 3D design tools begin to evolve.
Read our full review here.
AUTODESK
FUSION 360 EXTENSIONS
Bolt-ons for big guns
Fusion 360 continues to mature as a versatile CAD product, yet its armoury of specialist extensions that customers can add on to the main product with a no-nonsense subscription fee set-up mean it is growing as a team-wide product.
Enhancing the key capabilities of the base Fusion product, these bolt-on applications add new features and more efficient workflows for specialists in the development process – those involved in advanced machining, for example, or high-value 3D’printed parts.
For many users, the Product Design Extension adds the most daily value for CAD design useability. It can be activated when needed for £84 per month, or £684 for the full year.
Read more on this here.
BCN3D
VLM 3D PRINTING
Doubling down on DLP
Viscous lithography manufacturing (VLM) aims to accelerate the already speedy process of resin-based 3D printing, while allowing for different resins to be combined for multi-material parts.
The technology uses a system of rollers to apply viscous resins from two tanks to a film, which is then applied to the build using UV light. The process is designed to recover, filter and recirculate unused resin from the film, meaning that every drop of resin can potentially be used, helping reduce overall costs.
BCN3D says that VLM can operate with resins 50 times more viscous than those traditionally used, and thus supports a wider range of material options and properties.
Read more on this here.
BOTCHA3D
BOTCHA3D
Softly, softly
Developed by an Italian team with a strong background in footwear design, Botcha is a 3D CAD software designed for modelling organic shapes and soft goods.
Its tools make it particularly suitable for visualising 2D designs and photographs as 3D models, beginning with sketches that can then be fully textured with materials and rendered with the in-built path tracer, or exported.
Its ability to give life to products like shoes, and form a bridge with 2D industries like fashion, make it an interesting prospect.
CADENCE
FIDELITY CFD
Speedy CFD
Speed and accuracy are the goals for Cadence’s next-generation CFD software suite for multiphysics simulation. This features high-order numerics, scale-resolving simulations and hardware acceleration.
Built on the expertise and technology gained from the acquisitions of Numeca and Pointwise, Fidelity CFD uses their meshing capabilities to power an end-to-end CFD workflow. This is capable of supporting a wide range of use cases, from how best to cool circuit boards to assessing turbulence around an aircraft.
Included in Fidelity CFD are several specialised flow solvers for marine and turbomachinery applications, as well as general-purpose flow solvers for a broad range of flow types.
Read more on this here.
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CARBON
M3 MAX 3D PRINTER
Maturing manufacturing
What could have been a ‘difficult third album’ for Carbon actually turns out to be the best iteration yet of its midsize 3D printer.
Yes, it’s faster, offers better part finishes and all the other stuff you’d expect. But the big winner here is the ability to self-install the printer. Need to move it into another room or building? You no longer need to make a support call.
The M3 Max is the pick of the bunch, with a 307 x 163 x 326mm build area and new 4K light engine — double the standard M3 build area, but offering the same pixel density.
Read more on this here.
DASSAULT SYSTÈMES
SUSTAINABLE INNOVATION INTELLIGENCE
Circular impact
Dassault Systèmes’ lifecycle assessment solution, which focuses on minimising the environmental impacts of products, materials and the processes they create, aims to drive more sustainable product development practices.
Embedded in the 3DExperience platform and covering the full value chain, the tools are built to be proactive – rather than assessing products and processes as an afterthought. The point is to help make greener decisions, earlier on in the design process.
The platform uses the independent Ecoinvent database to give data on the environmental impact of more than 18,000 industrial and agricultural processes, as well as that associated with virtual design, product development, manufacturing engineering, operations and logistics.
Read more on this here.
E3D
RAPIDCHANGE REVO
Switching nozzles
Compatible with FDM 3D printers from Ultimaker, BCN3D, Lulzbot, Prusa and more, this third-party product is capable of improving the output and extending the life of your desktop workhorse by changing the hot end for different 3D printing requirements.
Swapping nozzles – colour-coded for fast identification – can be performed at room temperature with just your fingers. No tools or potentially hazardous processes required.
Each Revo nozzle carries a colour-coded silicone sock and is metal-engraved with easy-to-read numbers for fast identification, with sizes covering the most popular 3D printing use cases.
Read more on this here.
EPSON
3D PRINTING
Heavyweight arrival
Big brands entering 3D printing have helped speed up the development and adoption of the technology, so it’s with great interest that we see Epson enter the market with technology derived from its injection moulding solutions.
Its proprietary extrusion method enables the 3D printer to be used with a variety of common third-party materials, such as resin or metal pellets, which are generally available at lower cost than other materials, environmentally considerate biomass pellets, and PEEK materials that can provide high heat resistance.
Read more on this here.
FOVOTEC
FOVORENDER
Immersive view
Human vision is dynamic, and while photorealistic renders capture digital details, they can often warp perspective – something that, once it’s pointed out to you, you cannot unsee.
Enter Fovotec and its new rendering technology designed to give deeper, more immersive content with minimal distortion – fine-tuning cramped car interiors to give a more natural viewpoint, fit in more features and remove unwanted distortions.
FovoRender works with real-time 3D engines Unity and Unreal, with the Fovotec team providing expert technical and creative advice, including optimising technical set-ups to maximise impact.
HEXAGON
MATERIALCENTER
Materials matter
A Materials Lifecycle Management system designed to link material specialists to mechanical simulation, Hexagon’s tool captures data from integrated processes for full traceability across a company and a product’s lifecycle.
Its cloud-based set-up means it can deliver on-demand commercial databases. These include the Senvol Database — the first database of industrial AM machines (+1,000) and compatible materials (some +3,000).
With Hexagon promising to bring more of its vast catalogue of software elements together, the efficient manner in which MaterialCenter does its work could be a sign of more to come.
HP
Z2 SFF G9 WORKSTATION
No-compromise workstation
Small form factor (SFF) workstations are becoming increasingly popular, especially for those working in space-constrained environments, such as home offices.
However, there is a trade-off to having a compact chassis. SFF workstations are usually limited to low-profile graphics cards, which are best suited to less demanding 3D workflows such as CAD.
The HP Z2 SFF G9 stands out because it is the first SFF workstation from a major vendor to support a full-height, full-length graphics card, up to and including the Nvidia RTX A4000. This makes it suitable for a wide range of graphics-intensive workflows such as real-time visualisation, GPU rendering and VR.
Read more about this here
HYPERGANIC
HYPERGANIC CORE
Complex inside
Hyperganic’s Algorithmic Engineering technology gets its first public software product release with Core 3.
This platform, which uses customisable building blocks and frameworks to create individual applications and automate repetitive tasks, looks to enable users to build and design 3D-printed objects. This can include developing applications for mass customisation, or generating complex internal cooling channels, lattice structures, and thin-walled geometries.
Beta projects have included a jaw-dropping 800mm tall aerospike for a rocket engine concept.
INTEL
12th GEN INTEL CORE
Performance for CAD
The last few years have seen intense competition between Intel and AMD in desktop CPUs. While AMD continues to dominate in multi-threaded workflows, Intel currently has the single-threaded lead with 12th Gen Intel Core.
The Intel Core i9-12900KS is our number one choice for CAD. However, this special edition CPU has limited reach. Workstations from HP, Dell, Lenovo and Fujitsu come with the slightly slower, but still impressive, Intel Core i9-12900K.
How long Intel keeps its lead remains to be seen. Later this year, AMD will launch Ryzen 7000 with the promise of a >15% single thread performance gain over Ryzen 5000.
Read more about this here.
LUMAFIELD
NEPTUNE SCANNER
Under the skin
Lumafield raises the prospect of a CT scanner in your workshop — not as an external service, but a unit specifically designed for designers and engineers right there on the shop floor. It’s 6 feet wide, 3 feet deep, and plugs into a standard wall socket.
Immediately, there are quality assurance uses, such as checking for faults and verifying internal wall thicknesses on 3D-printed parts using detailed cross sections of the part from any angle. But there are other uses, too: assessing internal mechanism fits, for example, and even competitor product teardowns — all without removing a single screw.
MATERIALISE
CO-AM
Modernising Materialise
Building on its acquisition of Link3D, in CO-AM, Materialise has produced an open software platform to manage the AM production process. Users get cloud-based access to a full range of software tools for planning, optimising and monitoring every stage of the operation.
Data from all stages can be analysed and stored, allowing for continuous improvement of processes, with potential for AI-powered learning, where every part has the potential to be better than the previous one.
Materialise plans to offer more than 25 software applications on CO‑AM, including a seamless integration with Magics, and third-party applications such as Castor and AM-Flow.
MAXON
MAXON ONE
Promising package
Adding ZBrush to a line-up of products – including Cinema 4D, Redshift, Red Giant, Universe, and Forger – means that Maxon One is an eye-catching package for visualisation workflows.
ZBrush is used widely in film and game development, and as a result, often finds its way into product development – especially for fast concept development and organic surfaces. Added to this stack, it also brings some useful automatic retopology tools into Cinema4D for creating optimised meshes.
Renderer Redshift has added GPU-accelerated rendering, using AMD Radeon Pro cards, and Forger is an interesting concepting tool. In short, there’s a lot at work here.
MAYKU
MULTIPLIER
Box of tricks
While Mayku’s FormBox has found a niche in the maker community, small craft businesses and high-end chocolatiers, its most recent product has more in its locker for the product developer.
Putting down the pressure equivalent of four tonnes to a single material sheet on a heated bed, the Multiplier can vacuum-form sheet material between 0.25 and 8mm thick.
Its goal is ‘absolute precision’, as it looks to rival silicone and injection moulding by capturing lines and grooves up to 0.0004mm thick.
Read more about this here.
METAFOLD
LIGHTCYCLE
Lighting up lattices
Metafold’s LightCycle software aims to enable large-scale design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) for highly challenging geometry. This might include huge lattice structures with tens of thousands of cells and massive surface areas to calculate.
There’s extra focus on meta-materials and allowing them to be used in everyday applications – enabled by the software creating reusable workflows for manufacturers.
Against the traditional narrative around cloud-native software, it has some security advantages too – with the potential to stream every build slice as a single URL to a 3D printer, so never sending a full model, and thus ending the pain of STL.
MONOLITH AI
MONOLITH
AI for engineering
Monolith AI uses self-learning models to quickly predict the results of simulations such as complex vehicle dynamics systems, reducing the need for physical tests or simulations.
Legacy data can be used to find new insights, or alternatively, Monolith can learn from data captured from physical prototype tests and predict behaviour over further operating conditions.
Six years in development, Monolith has already reportedly helped Honda to achieve an 83% faster design cycle.
NVIDIA
NVIDIA RTX A2000
Compact contender
Compact workstations have typically been limited to low-profile or mobile graphics cards, more suited to less demanding 3D workflows like CAD.
The Nvidia RTX A2000 is low-profile but, with a thicker double-slot design, it’s significantly more powerful than others, making it suitable for entry-level viz, GPU rendering and VR workflows. And with 6 GB or 12 GB models, it can handle some sizable datasets.
What’s more, the GPU is available in ultra-small form factor workstations, including the Dell Precision 3260 Compact and HP Z2 Mini G9, both with a chassis that comes in at around 200mm square and 70mm deep.
Read more about this here.
PHENOMETRY
PHI PLUG-IN FOR ONSHAPE
Slick surfacing
Designers are not short of an organic CAD modelling tool or two, but the proprietary technology behind Phi, and its subsequent plug-in for PTC Onshape, is intriguing.
Not NURBS, or T-Splines, or Sub-D; users draw curves that define the shape and Phi fills in the surfaces automatically to create the 3D model, with quality, watertight and smooth surfaces.
Interacting with and editing the model is speedy; precision and smoothness are maintained; and flipping these back and forward into Onshape means that the cloud-based CAD has a very interesting surfacing tool at its disposal.
SEURAT
AREA PRINTING
Big builds
While other metals AM vendors target one-off complex builds, Seurat is making big claims for how it can deliver high-throughput parts in industries like automotive.
The technology manipulates a high-power laser into a postage stamp-sized beam with two million controllable points of light, allowing faster prints.
Its target numbers shatter current metals AM cost-per-part figures, and its team members aren’t resting there. Their aim is manufacturing costs below conventional die-casting processes by 2030.
SHAPR3D
SHAPR3D VISUALIZATION
Viz on the fly
Shapr3D has expanded its product offering with the addition of a new rendering software that integrates into all the platforms of its 3D CAD programme, including on iPad.
It’s the missing link for on-the-fly design and client presentations. On the iPad version, from the CAD interface, a couple of taps put the user straight into the visualisation toolset. Need to change the model? Flip back into CAD mode, then show a client the render again in seconds.
Read more about this here.
SIMCENTER
STAR CCM+ GPU POWERED
Flipping cards
Siemens Digital Industries Software’s collaboration with Nvidia enables its Simcenter STAR-CCM+ solver to utilise GPU-enabled technology to achieve CFD simulations at speeds on a par with CPU servers, but at a significantly lower hardware cost.
CUDA-enabled GPU acceleration in its Simcenter STAR-CCM+ 2022.1 software release includes single and multiple GPU support on Linux operating systems.
While most complex simulations will likely still run best on CPU servers and clusters, the latest Nvidia GPUs feature enough memory to put up impressive numbers.
Read more about this here.
SMARTPARTS
SMARTPARTS
Programmable particles
Traceability in 3D-printed parts is a huge issue if we’re going to start manufacturing one-off parts en masse, at irregular intervals.
SmartParts’ solution is a sprinkling of magic dust – a proprietary rare earth material mixed with the AM feedstock – that embeds a part with traceability on a particle level. When scanned with SmartParts hardware (similar to a barcode reader), the part returns all the necessary info.
There’s a little more science to the programmable particles (infrared tuning and light wavelengths), but industry is already taking notice.
SOLIDEDGE
CAM PRO 2.5 AXIS
Tooled up
One of the core elements of Siemens’ digital arsenal is its CAM software, so when Solid Edge adds a 2.5 Axis CAM package based on Siemens NX CAM as standard, users can rightly rejoice.
Featuring the same capabilities as the full 2.5 Axis package, it includes advanced capabilities such as adaptive milling for 2.5 axis operations; automated toolpath creation and visualisations for optimised machining processes, as well as access to more than 1,300 post-processors via Post Hub.
VARJO
VARJO REALITY CLOUD
Shared spaces
Already known for its sector-defining hardware, it’s Varjo’s collaborative Cloud VR software that looks set to transform workflows in 2022.
Powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Nvidia GPUs, Reality Cloud currently connects users with Varjo VR/XR headsets, but support should be extended to other devices later this year.
It’s currently available as part of a collaborative design service for Autodesk VRED. Support for Unity and Unreal Engine will come later this year, with plans for other software developers to be included in the future.
Read more about this here.
WOMP
WOMP 3D
Online power
With its actively rendered forms, push/pull controls and emphasis on social sharing, Womp 3D looks at first glance like a tool for creating NFTs. However, this merely alludes to its cloud-based power.
A browser-based, voxel-based, volumetric CAD software, rendering in real time, it has several tricks up its sleeve, including a blend tool that can merge materials in real time and integrate objects.
The notion of 3D-printed digital materials controlled at a voxel level has long been touted, and Womp has enough in the locker to enable this and more.
