(From top) The Tom & Jerry cartoon in 2D and a racing bike designed with CG applications

See that coffee mug on the table, or that chair you’re sitting on? Both have been given shape by computer-aided design (CAD). From toothbrush to cars, computers help engineers and designers get their products on the shelves faster. Gone are the days of manual drafting.

SolidWorks, a product of the SolidWorks Corporation, is a 3D computer-aided design (CAD) programme that helps companies become more competitive by delivering 3D CAD software that helps them design better products faster. “Human beings visualise in 3D, not 2D. The potential for the adoption of 3D in India is big and we are slowly trying to bring the 2D customer-set to work with 3D,” says Manoj Mehta, India country manager, SolidWorks Corporation. Already boasting 1,200 customers in India, the IT sector in Calcutta is a good market, feels Mehta.

Although “anybody who has anything to do with design” is their target customer, they serve customers in industrial, medical, scientific, consumer, educational, technology, and transportation markets. The fact that people have become more conscious about looks helps too. “Engineers should spend less time worrying about how to use the technology to create a design, and more time actually designing products,” says Mehta.

In the world of animation, things are different. “2D has its own value like 3D, and so does Flash. There can never be a transition. For example, no one would want to watch a 3D Tom & Jerry. Today, there are formats which blend all three together,” says Arjun Jindal, managing director, Ready To Go Animate, an animation training school. Computer-generated or CG applications are used to make live-action films like Spider-Man or Troy. A replay of Sourav Ganguly getting out in a cricket match would also require CG, as would a virtual building created by a promoter to display to clients. “CG applications are in our life already,” adds Jindal.

3D is also entering the educational sphere. “We have introduced our software for design courses at the IITs and hope to penetrate into the high-school level,” says P.M. Ravikumar, education manager, SolidWorks Corporation. West Bengal University of Technology too has started a three-year degree course in association with Ready To Go Animate.