There used to be a time when modellers were revered for the representation of a project they could make. There were boardrooms all over the globe that would have brought in, miniature 3-D models of a project, so that executives and CEOs could see their vision in-person. This could have been the first model of the World Trade Center, the very first model of the Concorde, or even something as simple as a shopping mall. These artists would spend hundreds of hours sculpting each little detail of a project for a company, using their hands. Thankfully no one needs to wait or make such real-life models anymore, as technology has taken 3-D modelling to a new height. No matter what project is on the table, the software will project the result of any scenario. It can predict what will or could happen, just by using the parameters we set. Where is such technology being used you ask?

Rocket design

Rocket science is evolving at an astonishing rate. SpaceX has done what many experts said was a redundant fantasy and developed rockets that can launch spaceships and satellites multiple times by returning back to earth safely. Coding software was used to predict and estimate what kind of atmospheric pressures the rockets would be under. Bear in mind that the rocket needs to go in and out of the earth’s atmosphere which means going through what scientists call ‘max q’ which is the maximum aerodynamic pressure the rocket feels. The software gave the scientists an accurate prediction of what their design would have to go through and survive. This lead to the design of the rocket following the advice of what a program told them. And in the end, a tall and slim rocket was built, which was able to withstand massive pressures both on it’s way out of the earth’s atmosphere and when re-entering it again.

Spacing in the trades

With so much of the earth’s land being covered by manmade buildings, every square inch of space is vital to a construction project; or rather the client. It’s the tradesmen’s job to calculate the space inside a project to the tee, so the client is only paying as much as she or her needs to. The builder can upload the floorplan of a project, and with a costing program for tradesmen, accurately predict the size and cost of the project. For example, if a client wants to build another floor on their house, and specifically wants three adult bedrooms, the tradesmen can divide the floor that hasn’t been built yet, into three proportionally identical rooms and give the correct cost to the client. This not only saves hours and hours of time for the trader who can go off to other projects and clients, but leaves no room of doubt. Trust is elevated and time is saved which is crucial for the initial stages of a building.

Human beings are smart, we can do amazing things with just a pen and paper. However, doubt and inaccuracies are limited by modern software, which allows us to build technology that actually works.