Merging the art and science of design
This is how design ideas grow within our design and engineering department. Take these personalized car speaker grills, for example. A simple idea such as personalized car accessories could have easily stopped at superficial details like incorporating names, preferred textures, or colors. But our designers were going for something more stylish, desirable, and utterly unique.
How does it work?
“We started by analyzing the variables that make up music. The most recognizable ones are amplitude, frequency, and timing. With these, you get the information about the beat, pitch or tonal color of a song,” explains Roman Plaghki, Design Engineer at Materialise.
“Then we looked at ways to visualize each one of these. For example, let’s say you want to show amplitude by varying the circumference of an element, and frequency by varying its height. Doing this manually would be an immensely laborious job. Instead, we developed algorithms that could be combined to procedurally generate different concepts and quickly visualize the effect of different combinations: each song creates a completely different design based on its unique musical fingerprint.”
On-demand creativity for on-demand manufacturing
This next-level creativity exemplifies the value our design team brings to projects.
We don’t only leverage 30+ years of technical knowledge needed to effectively design functional 3D-printed parts. Our team is also full of design experts, skilled in constructing models that bring your vision to life with style.
With each project, we stick to a core formula: the goal is to improve performance and interface while minimizing cost and harm. And above all, we design for additive manufacturing.
"When we first hear a customer’s dream for their product, we're instantly enthusiastic about the possibilities. Thanks to the combination of our team’s extensive design capabilities and 3D printing, it feels like we have countless opportunities to pursue.
In this speaker grill case, we came to a configurable concept that enables brands to offer their customers entirely unique car interiors — a significant development from what started as a very simple idea: 3D-printed speaker grills. Our process empowers us to fully tap into our creativity and bring extraordinary ideas to life."
— Roman Plaghki, Design Engineer, Materialise
Let’s achieve your design dreams
Our Mindware expert advisors are ready to combine your unique ideas with our comprehensive design skills and the power of 3D printing. Let’s get started today.