A three and half years ago 3D world was new for me. I had enough experience as a UX Designer by then. But was looking for something different, when I joined Autodesk.
Crafting UX for 3D has its own challenges. Now someone might ask, how is UX for 3D different from crafting UX for any other product or service. Here are some of my observations formed through these years..
3d environment is different than 2D
3D stands on the cusp of engineering and art and that’s where it becomes challenging. We in general as designers are accustomed to 2D interfaces. The 3D environment is different than that, with 3 dimensions things can get pretty messy in the beginning. So, to understand it, a designer needs to be a user first. It took me some time to follow the environment. Getting used to 3D space takes time. 3D Gizmos help us to move around in the space or to manipulate the objects on the screen. Designers need to understand the space.
Complex workflows and feature-rich applications
As 3D field is highly technical, designers need to work together with Engineers. It’s a good idea to spend time understanding the domain. The more you learn about the domain, easier it becomes to craft experiences. For that, you may need to listen to the experts. Understand the workflows across applications, that they need to use. 3D applications are used by different users like industrial designers/engineers/architects/makers etc for creating amateurish to professional products. Requirements can differ depending on the tasks that one needs to fulfill.
As these applications are used mostly by skilled professionals, they are often loaded with a lot of features. The idea is that the expert user should be able to fulfill all the tasks in a single application. With that comes complexity. These applications seem very complex at a first glance and certainly can be overwhelming for the newbies. But the good news is that there are many free tutorials on YouTube today that can train us on any desired app. Besides most of these applications have free trials or student versions available for study.
Just to conclude it is always great to learn the domain that you work in. It is great to thoroughly understand the application you will be creating UX for. Keep asking questions to the technical peers or domain experts, to improve your understanding.
It has been a great journey so far. For those designers who are willing to test new horizons, this field can be quite rewarding. So, start tinkering 🙂
Free 3D applications to get started:
Tinkercad : Easy to learn and mostly for kids
Sketchup : Easy to use and with ample of youtube videos
123D Design : Free and small learning curve
Fusion 360 : Not for beginners, but worth learning. Free for Educators and students
To Nothingness 