CDFAM Computational Design Symposium

CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — Barcelona 2026

Wesley Essink · Siemens Digital Industries Software

Engineering design is increasingly shaped by diverse sources of data (e.g. scans, images, measurements, simulation, requirements, reference geometries etc.). Traditional geometry modeling approaches often struggle to integrate these datasets in a flexible and scalable way. Implicit modeling offers a powerful alternative: a geometry representation that naturally incorporates engineering data into the modeling process as spatially varying fields capable of driving local and global design behavior.

This presentation explores how Simcenter Inspire leverages implicit modeling to create robust, data-driven design workflows. Showcasing methods for linking complex data inputs directly to geometric parameters, enabling both automated design optimization and fine-grained user control.

Links

Talk page with full transcript

Watch the talk on YouTube

Cite this talk

Search the full text of every recorded CDFAM presentation

CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — Barcelona 2026

Rhushik Matroja · Cognitive Design Systems

Mechanical engineering has been limited by the capabilities of traditional CAD software, most of which are built on architectures that are more than 30 years old. How can we design the products of the next 30 years using technology created three decades ago?

AI can introduce a real paradigm shift in how we conceive and develop products, but engineers must remain at the centre of the process. As an engineer, I know that the workflow is often more important than the final result. A great result coming from a black box is never truly great.

In this talk, I will discuss the changing role of mechanical engineering in the age of AI, the key bottlenecks slowing down AI adoption, and practical ways to integrate AI into engineering workflows in a sustainable way for the aerospace and automotive industries, where standards and certification requirements are highly restrictive.

Links

Talk page with full transcript

Watch the talk on YouTube

Cite this talk

Search the full text of every recorded CDFAM presentation

CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — Barcelona 2026

Jon Wilde · Simscale

Simulation is central to engineering decision-making, yet in many organizations it remains an expert-driven activity rather than a scalable capability embedded across new product introduction (NPI). As product complexity grows and timelines compress, the key challenge shifts from solver accuracy to workflow coordination: when to simulate, at what fidelity, and how results inform decisions.

This talk introduces agentic engineering workflows — AI-driven systems that guide simulation tasks, recommend appropriate model fidelity, and support interpretation while remaining grounded in validated physics. By combining Engineering AI with Physics AI, these workflows move beyond static automation toward context-aware orchestration of design and validation processes.

Examples include AI assistants that assess simulation readiness — reviewing mesh quality, boundary conditions, and convergence behavior — and CAD-triggered workflows that initiate physics-based validation and surface performance trade-offs. Engineers remain in control, with AI operating within defined guardrails.

Agentic workflows enable earlier and broader use of simulation while preserving traceability, verification standards, and domain expertise. Rather than replacing traditional CAE, they represent an evolutionary step in how simulation insight is generated, reused, and governed across the product lifecycle.

Links

Talk page with full transcript

Watch the talk on YouTube

Cite this talk

Search the full text of every recorded CDFAM presentation

CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — Barcelona 2026

Moritz Rietschel · Raven

Twenty years of community-built Grasshopper infrastructure, decades of firm knowledge, scattered documentation, and forum posts that solved your problem in 2011.

The problem has never been capability - it has been access.

Raven is a code agent for Grasshopper that works across 900+ plugins through the native API. Rather than replacing existing tools, it functions as an infrastructure layer: connecting users to what was already there.

Moritz Rietschel walks through what it actually takes to build AI that works with CAD. How do you fit 3D geometry and graph logic into a 1D token stream? How do you handle the points where an LLM's assumptions and Rhino's reality diverge? Why do reasoning models sometimes spiral without producing anything useful, and what guardrails keep them on track? He also addresses how Raven draws from both public knowledge and firm-specific context, and what it means to design for recombination when every project demands a unique plugin assembly and every user has a globally unique Grasshopper setup.

This is a technical account of building AI infrastructure for creative engineering workflows - what breaks, what surprised the team, and how they are thinking about AI within existing ecosystems rather than as a replacement for them.

Links

Talk page with full transcript

Watch the talk on YouTube

Cite this talk

Search the full text of every recorded CDFAM presentation

CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — Barcelona 2026

Anne Pasman, Emmy Kerssen · Saxion Hogeschool

CPAP therapy is used to treat patients with sleep apnea by providing constant air pressure through a mask during sleep. For many patients (75,4%), standard masks fit poorly or require tight adjustment, causing issues such as pressure points or leakage resulting in dry eyes, skin irritation, and finally even therapy discontinuation (30%). Personalized CPAP masks can improve fit and comfort and reduce leakage.

However, early designs face challenges due to the interaction between soft facial tissue and mask materials. During sleep, facial deformation and mask compliance vary with posture, often leading to leakage. In this study, we analyzed 3D scans of individuals lying in multiple positions to model how posture affects mask shape. To improve further, a sensor instrument was developed to measure pressure points while wearing existing masks, this data was used to optimize a computational model that integrates head posture, 3D scan data, and facial softness to guide mask personalization.

Two mask concepts were developed: (1) a fully personalized mask with a 3D-printed soft interface and a rigid hard part available in three sizes, and (2) an intermediate personalized layer that fits between a standard mask and the face to improve fit without replacing the entire mask. Both designs were optimized for 3D printing with Lynxter silicone -improving slicing, print time, neatness, and thickness distribution – as well as for manufacturing with SLA cocoon molding and silicone casting.

Clinical testing in a dutch hospital is planned for March to evaluate the fit of both designs. Results are expected to provide insights into personalized mask design, the feasibility of a 3D scan–model–print workflow in a regional hospital, and the potential of 3D-printed masks for tailored CPAP therapy. When this strategy for generating the model and manufacturing proves potential, the strategy can be extended to other respiratory masks.

Links

Talk page with full transcript

Watch the talk on YouTube

Cite this talk

Search the full text of every recorded CDFAM presentation

CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — Barcelona 2026

Michele Pescatore, Carol Fanjul · AiA Life Designers

Michele Pescatore and Carol Fanjul of AiA Life Designers present a simulation-driven workflow that brings environmental analysis into the earliest stages of architectural design, where decisions have the greatest influence on a project's environmental performance but actionable feedback is usually missing.

Conventional environmental tools require detailed BIM models or expert-level parametrization, so studies become outdated as a project evolves. To close that gap, AiA Life Designers built a streamlined Revit plug-in using Rhino.Inside.Revit, Grasshopper, and the open-source Honeybee and Ladybug ecosystems. It delivers simplified but meaningful indicators directly in the architect's working environment: envelope performance checks, site permeability, carbon impact estimates, and solar and daylight analyses.

The result is real-time, performance-based feedback that lets architects test assumptions, adjust parameters, and see environmental implications well before formal engineering studies begin, without disrupting existing design processes. The presentation covers real-world project case studies, concrete outcomes, and the scalability of these tools across a large architectural organization.

Links

Talk page with full transcript

Watch the talk on YouTube

Cite this talk

Search the full text of every recorded CDFAM presentation

CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — Barcelona 2026

Verena Vogler · McNeel Europe

Verena Vogler introduces Rhino.Ecologic, an ecological simulation framework for Rhino and Grasshopper built for landscape architects and urban planners working in computational design. The plugin integrates ecological simulation into existing 3D modeling workflows to support nature-inclusive strategies at large and small scales.

The presentation covers how the tool generates location and time specific 3D species distribution maps alongside biomass and biodiversity simulations, supporting data-driven ecological decisions throughout the design process. It includes an overview of the plugin, an introduction to ecological simulation in AEC, and a demonstration of the tool in practice.

Links

Talk page with full transcript

Watch the talk on YouTube

Cite this talk

Search the full text of every recorded CDFAM presentation

CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — Barcelona 2026

Mary Baker · Palace 3D

Computational geometry has advanced considerably. Color and texture in additive design have not kept pace. As multi-material hardware and capable file formats become more accessible, programming color and texture directly into the design workflow is emerging as a meaningful new capability.

Mary Baker draws on her experience building out that toolset at Palace 3D and previously at HP Inc., covering effects that traditional modeling tools cannot easily produce:

- Embedded data: hidden messages and encoded information within a part's surface

- Gradient control: geometry-driven color and texture transitions

- Realistic in-workflow rendering: accurate as-printed color and texture previews

- Procedural customization: automated generation of unique colorways across product families, including AI-generated content

The session also covers the workflows required to translate digital intent into reliable physical output, common failure points, and how to navigate them.

Links

Talk page with full transcript

Watch the talk on YouTube

Cite this talk

Search the full text of every recorded CDFAM presentation

CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — Barcelona 2026

Oluwaseyi Sosanya · Gravity Sketch

Spatial computing is regularly framed as a future breakthrough. In certain workflows, it is already delivering measurable value.

Oluwaseyi Sosanya examines where immersive technologies are making a tangible impact in product development today, with particular attention to cable harnessing and automotive clay modeling. These are workflows where teams still depend on physical prototypes to evaluate critical decisions. Spatial tools enable earlier, more confident decision-making by improving spatial understanding and reducing costly physical iteration.

The talk also addresses the practical realities of building for spatial hardware: performance constraints, interaction design, and what it takes to make these systems function in real-world engineering environments.

Links

Talk page with full transcript

Watch the talk on YouTube

Cite this talk

Search the full text of every recorded CDFAM presentation

CDFAM Computational Design Symposium — Barcelona 2026

Rebeka Melber · Istari Digital

AI coding tools didn't just accelerate software development — they changed who gets to build. A comparable shift is underway in hardware.

Rebeka Melber examines how AI paired with connected engineering infrastructure is lowering the barrier to hardware innovation. The argument isn't that AI replaces deep expertise. It's that it expands who can contribute meaningfully to the design process — and earlier in it. When more of the right people can engage at the right time, ideas move faster and better solutions emerge from places they otherwise wouldn't.

The talk draws on Istari's work with defense and government programs adopting next-generation digital engineering environments, and addresses what it takes to make advanced tools genuinely accessible within complex, mission-critical organizations.

Links

Talk page with full transcript

Watch the talk on YouTube

Cite this talk

Search the full text of every recorded CDFAM presentation