If you just can’t wait for the next generation of city planers, start building the world as you would like it to be. Letsevo has put a CAD BMX Ramp in google earth Location: Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Download the file, open it up in google earth, get inspired and give your hood something to be proud of…drop us a comment to share your creations.

A couple of months ago I wrote in a post my humble manifesto to democratization of design, claiming that we “hyperlinked” kids want to influence more and more how products are. I also wrote in another post about the changes that simple free CAD software could bring to the product development process alowing brands to collaborate with its most valuable asset: its users.

Today I am happy to write about 3dVia Shape 3d software and its social network platform which are initiatives of Dassault Systemes, the french firm responsible for the famous Design and engineering software: Solidworks.

Dassaut systemes is aiming to grasp the user-generated design wave by enabling everyone to create 3d Modells and share them in their platform just like you do with your pictures by flickr. So at www.3dvia.com anyone can login and start creating, sharing and rating each others design.

Google started ahead with its Sketchup software and 3dWarehouse but deliver very low-quality graphics and accuracy to build real stuff with it. I found it so bad I didn’t even boder writing about it here in Letsevo. Now 3dvia Shape sofware, seems to have has a lot more graphic power than google`s software. One thing that bodered me is that even dough you can see amazing models made by some users in their gallery, I can seem to imagine that they were build right inside of the program. I may be wrong but by looking at the avaiable tutorials in their website it seems like their software still lack a lot of the building tools most of the product design software have (Sweep along rail, Lofts, fillets….) meaning you cannot build complex shapes right away. Lets hope they increment it right away.

But what really sets 3dvia apart from google is it´s nice social network features where users can build profiles and embed 3d models as widgets in other websites just like youtube. You still need to download a plugin to view it but it is awesome.

Download the player and check the following out:

This guy build a sweet bmx bike!! That could be the user of the future saying: look! BRAND, this is how I want my product, are you going to ignore me? I think this is going to be awesome, this platform can serve as place to exchange files with other designers, engineers and to also show the users what is beeing done and have there comments write on the spot!

Now check this video Dassaut Systemes made:

Link to video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtZxE8C6aik

Sweet huhn? Now in my opnion its is going to be a long way for it to be reallity, but I have the feeling they are in the right track.

My two hints for Dassaut Systemes are:

1.Let people import and export geometrical data from other 3d sofwares like .iges, .dwg, .3dm ( don´t try to be like sony and the blue-ray disc!!!) If you let us use your software to read existing data than design companies are going to take this serious. Until then it will be only internet hype not a social revolution.

2.If you want to be really a tool for the product design STARTUP companies in the the collaboration era, think wiki or basecamp for product design: 3d files with construction history and the ability to handle multiple layers. To help my point picture this scenario. I want to build an electric bike and I am only a designer. I have some nice design ideas and I find in the internet a couple companies that procuce batteries, other companies produce motors….other build suspension forks…I call them up and invite them for a project hosted at your site and we all start uploadings components in to one file having the power to collaborate in real time! How cool would that be!? Content Central and e-drawings for the masses?

Give us the tools and we are gonna build stuff you could never imagine of! Yeah.

Another nice story about 3Dvia