Hollywood’s Vision of Future CAD

Hollywood’s Vision of Future CAD

I’m not one who frequently goes to the movies but since my wife and I had a gift cards given to us we decided to catch a flick last night. We went and saw Iron Man. I’m not going to discuss the story go see it yourself. However there is one scene that I will mention as it does relate to CAD.

In the lead character’s workshop we see Tony Stark designing the second generation of the Iron Man armor. He is standing in front of a bank of computer monitors on which is displayed several windows of technical information in what appears to be some sort of design software. Tony merely points at a window showing a CAD model of the suit and drags the window from one monitor to another and finally to a large table like surface. I’m thinking, oh great here is the Microsoft tie in using their ‘Surface’ technology but then I see the model actually take on a 3D holographic appearance that Tony manipulates with his bare hands. In another scene Tony actually inserts his arm into one of these holographic models to test form, fit and function. WOW!

Even if you’re not a fan of movies based on comic books you might want to check out Iron Man just to see one vision of what CAD design software might look like in the future. Can anyone say SolidWorks 2010?