There is a whole lot of talk now about “generative design”. The hype around additive manufacturing becoming a viable means of production has created a major shift in the marketing and development of design and simulation software. “Hype” always means there is some blurriness in facts, and terminology is used freely and sometimes wrong, whether intentional or not. So, without the bias of promoting any particular software, I thought I would try to explain some of this terminology and their processes in a general and understandable way.