“Since the launch of the iPhone, the idea that there has been no further innovation in smartphone design suggests that human designers may have reached the limits of their imagination. AI, however, can propose tens of thousands of possibilities that humans may never have discovered in just a few seconds. NdotLight is establishing itself as the most powerful and precise 3D data solution for turning these possibilities into reality.”

Park Jin-young, CEO of 3D AI startup NdotLight, emphasized change and standards throughout an interview conducted on May 11. She is a veteran engineer and strategist who was involved in the development of the Galaxy S at Samsung Electronics’ wireless business division and later developed various service strategies at Daum.

Drawing on her extensive experience across multiple fields, Park is collaborating with numerous global companies using NdotLight’s 3D CAD engine and data solutions. She is also accelerating efforts to establish NdotLight’s technology as a global standard in the Physical AI market.

Insights from Cyworld Led to 3D Engine Development

Park Jin-young’s career is rooted in her expertise in 3D technology and the creator ecosystem. It began during her university years. While majoring in both design and development in the Department of Media Studies, she created and sold skins on Cyworld, earning “dotori,” the platform’s virtual currency, which could be converted into cash. Through this experience, Park said she gained firsthand experience of the creator ecosystem as an individual creator.

She said, “Seeing the process of digital assets I created being recognized for their value and generating income made me foresee an era in which anyone could make money through creation. After joining Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S development team in 2009 and working on 3D home screens, I became convinced that a new creator-centered market would also emerge within the mobile ecosystem.”

After moving to Daum in 2012, she entered the startup world in earnest and devoted herself to developing an in-house 3D engine together with her spouse, NdotLight CTO Kim Sun-tae, a 3D graphics expert. After years of research, they finally developed TRINIX, a Korean-developed 3D engine, in 2018.

Park recalled, “Foreign 3D engines costing tens of billions of won have clear limitations in terms of accessibility and usability. Inspired by the joy of creation I experienced on Cyworld during university, we built an accessible CAD tool that allows anyone to easily turn their ideas into 3D.”

Reshaping Simulation with 3D AI Solutions

NdotLight has recently been receiving strong interest from global companies as the Physical AI market experiences explosive growth. For robots to operate precisely in the real world, training in virtual environments through simulation is essential, and NdotLight’s technology is being recognized for overcoming the limitations of conventional game-oriented mesh data.

Park explained, “If mesh data is like a lump of clay shaped to look convincing on the outside, CAD data is like a blueprint containing precise measurements that allow no room for even a 1 mm error, along with information about its internal structure. When a robot opens a refrigerator door, mesh data can only recognize its shape, whereas CAD data precisely conveys the hinge structure, range of rotation, and the amount of force required for operation.”

The problem was that CAD data has demanding technical requirements and is difficult to work with, limiting its practical application in the field. Through its proprietary TRINIX engine, NdotLight has developed technology that can immediately convert heavy CAD assets into Sim-Ready data.

Sim-Ready data refers to 3D data that can be used immediately in a physics simulator without additional modification. By using this data, AI can automatically assign physical properties and joint structures to robots, making Sim-to-Real possible—allowing models trained in simulation to be directly applied to the real world.

Distinctive Technology Sought by Global Companies

NdotLight’s technological capabilities have already been demonstrated on the global stage. Park said, “We are building mutually complementary relationships by supplying NdotLight’s high-quality 3D solutions to the hardware and platforms of global companies. They have recognized the value of our technology first and are approaching us with proposals for collaboration.”

Major Korean IT and manufacturing companies are also paying attention to NdotLight’s Text-to-CAD solution.

Park emphasized, “Designers no longer need to spend days struggling with professional tools. Simply describe the design you want in text, and a precise CAD file can be generated within just a few dozen seconds. Our belief that an era of receiving design proposals from AI is coming is being demonstrated in the field through tangible improvements in process efficiency.”

“NdotLight’s Solutions Will Become the Global Standard”

Park Jin-young described this year as the beginning of the “Sim-Ready data war.” She expressed confidence that NdotLight would achieve outstanding results in this competition based on strong references validated in Korean manufacturing environments.

She said, “Overseas markets are moving at an astonishing pace. Japan has mandated the establishment of digital twins for production sites by 2029, while the United States is staking heavily on securing 3D pipelines for training household humanoid robots. NdotLight is at the center of this enormous trend.”

Park’s ultimate goal is to become the “Figma of the 3D data market.” Just as Figma lowered the barriers to design tools and surpassed Adobe to become a global standard, NdotLight aims to overtake the legacy CAD market with its TRINIX engine.

She said, “Five years from now, robot manufacturers and creators around the world will be using the data attributes and file extensions defined by NdotLight. We will achieve unparalleled J-curve growth in the blue ocean where AI and robotics converge, moving beyond the red ocean of the CAD market. We will never stop challenging ourselves until the day NdotLight’s 3D solutions become the common language of global industry.”