Generative design software has become increasingly popular in recent years, as it leverages the power of artificial intelligence (AI) and optimization technology to create designs that meet constraints such as material properties, manufacturing methods, and spatial requirements. Generative design’s benefits are widespread – the technology quickens time-to-market, enhances product efficiency, and drives significant cost savings. In August 2022, ABI Research, a global technology intelligence firm, released a report assessing the top suppliers of generative design software. Altair emerged as the overall leader of generative design software suppliers, as both top innovator and implementer.

The Advantages of Generative Design Software

Generative design is a cutting-edge approach that leverages optimization technology and AI to create design solutions that meet specified constraints. Topology optimization is one powerful tool used in generative design to achieve optimal material distribution within a given space, resulting in stronger, lighter designs. The benefits of generative design are widespread and help designers make better, greener products. 

Generative design has become an essential tool for designers and engineers worldwide, leading to faster product development and more efficient manufacturing processes. As AI and optimization technology become more widespread, generative design software will continue to play a crucial role in shaping the future of product design. As Altair continues to invest in research and development to enhance its generative design solution, we can expect to see even more exciting developments in the future.

Altair's Winning Generative Design Software Solution

In its report, ABI Research assessed nine suppliers of generative design software based on innovation and implementation criteria. The implementation criteria focused on current usage levels and revenue, industry expertise, geographic coverage, go-to-market (GTM) strategy, educational initiatives, and value-add services. The innovation criteria assessed the solution's ability to support the product design process, including incorporating design constraints that algorithms can use to generate multiple design options, working with mesh and lattice structure designs, validating the design's geometry from an engineering perspective, providing simulation capabilities, being easily usable by non-experts, supporting customers in creating a digital twin and digital thread, creating a VR or augmented reality (AR) experience from geometric designs, and frequency of iteration.

According to ABI Research’s report, Altair's generative design solution was the industry-leading software, providing validated and manufacturing-ready designs, accelerating time-to-market, and offering comprehensive support to design teams and manufacturers. The report highlights Altair’s leading performance, exceptional generative design software capability, design team support, scale, and manufacturing partner network as particular strengths. 

Altair also scored the highest in the innovation and implementation categories. The report highlighted Altair's exceptional generative design software capability, design team support, scale, and manufacturing partner network. Altair’s solution has been recognized as the overall leader of generative design software suppliers. ABI Research highlights Altair’s ability to deliver validated and manufacturing-ready designs, accelerate time-to-market, and provide the most comprehensive support to design teams and manufacturers.

Altair’s generative design solution is a suite of technologies in Altair HyperWorks – our design and simulation platform – that utilize computational intelligence to enhance the design process. It integrates the power of simulation, AI, and high-performance computing (HPC) to deliver validated, manufacturing-ready designs. The solution includes several software tools, including Altair® Inspire™, Altair® OptiStruct®, Altair® DesignAI™, Altair SimSolid®, and Altair® Sulis™. Together, these tools provide a leading generative design solution that lets users explore and generate optimized designs based on designer input rather than modifying existing designs.

You can learn more about ABI Research’s generative design report and download it here.