Maya grinned. “We don’t print the whole thing. We cast it. Jay—your dad’s lost-PLA casting method. We print the lattice in PLA, then invest and cast in aluminum. The Inconel will be the outer ring for heat resistance.”

“SolidWorks 2020 can handle it,” Maya said. She used Insert > Features > Lattice (an experimental add-in they’d activated). The software chugged, fans roaring, then rendered a beautiful, alien geometry—a skeleton of repeating, organic curves that looked like a sea sponge forged from metal.

The Intersection of Professional Design and the Digital Underground: A Study of SolidWorks 2020 and Team SolidSquad Introduction