How long has Coltzau Frost been incorporated?

We initiated the venture in January 2025, doing business-related research and preparing content for the website among other things. After being approached by a local aerospace company, we incorporated in April 2025 and got to work.

How many employees work for Coltzau Frost?

We have two salaried employees: one heads the design side of the business while the other handles communications, marketing and finances. Additionally, we have a network of U.S.-based designers with whom we’ve previously worked who are ready to provide their services should the need arise.

How can Coltzau Frost augment my development effort?

Coltzau Frost’s design efforts are led by a former decorated military officer who holds both a 4-year degree in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, and a 5-year full-time degree in Industrial Design from the Cleveland Institute of Art. With over 30 years of industrial design experience helping to successfully bring numerous products to market - from high-volume consumer goods to high-tech commercial installations - in addition to the unusual lifetime experiences from which he and the team draw, there is little with which we cannot provide useful input.

Does Coltzau Frost retain the intellectual property rights to the work?

No. Our job is to offer potential solutions.

We understand some of what we present might be valuable IP and perhaps patentable. But aside from, for example, being recognized as an “Inventor” on a patent application when appropriate, all property rights are assigned to our client.

What kinds of deliverables does Coltzau Frost provide?

We provide the following:

• design research (trends, market, human factors, patent-related, etc.)

• concept ideation sketches

• low-fidelity physical mockups

• preliminary 3D CAD models

• final Industrial Design CAD models

• high-fidelity physical models (marketing/photography)

• production-ready Class A surfaces

• CMF documentation

• product graphics

• marketing visuals

Research and sketches are packaged in a presentation document. If a specific company format is required, we just need a template.

Low-fidelity physical models generated during the early phases of a project are photographed for inclusion in a presentation, but can be provided upon request.

High-fidelity physical models are outsourced to professional model shops based in the U.S. or South Korea. We can manage that effort or provide documentation so it can be managed by our client.

Most final Industrial Design CAD data is provided as a shelled, solid model. Sometimes the exterior surfaces are created in a dedicated surfacing application like Alias and imported into a solid modeler like Creo where it is shelled to a predetermined wall thickness. At other times, the entire model is built inside a single application. Which tools are used and how files are updated as work progresses is a process discussion that occurs early in development.

All 3D CAD models are provided either as native files or via an acceptable interchange format (e.g. STEP), or both. We prefer uploading data to a client-controlled secure data storage location but can post data to a 3rd party service upon client request/approval.

CMF documentation is typically provided as a “live” PowerPoint document to be referenced during an Engineering detail design phase and updated as appropriate. Generally an early CMF is generated during the Industrial Design phase to, for example, ensure sufficient tooling draft is provided for the intended final textures. A final CMF document is then provided at tooling release.

Product graphics are typically delivered as either Illustrator or SVG files.

Marketing visuals are computer-generated images and animations generated in KeyShot or some other dedicated application at resolutions appropriate for the intended use.

What applications does Coltzau Frost typically utilize?

• Adobe’s Creative Suite

• Figma

• Alias

• Rhino 3D*

• PTC Creo*

• SolidWorks

• KeyShot

We have also used the following applications, but they’re not typically part of our current development pipeline:

• Procreate*

• Sketchbook Pro*

• Rebelle*

• Substance Designer/Painter*

• 3D Studio Max

• Maya*

• Marvelous Designer*

• Modo*

• Blender 3D

• Fusion 360

• MoI*

• nTop

• Plasticity*

• Nomad Sculpt*

• ZBrush*

[Note: * denotes permanent license]

Does Coltzau Frost provide on site services?

Yes. We’ve been embedded both locally and overseas. And while we are flexible, especially within the greater Los Angeles area, availability is based on numerous factors, including but not limited to other client commitments, site location, and project duration.

At present travel is limited to within North America, and for periods not exceeding two weeks. We will update this FAQ when overseas travel can again be accommodated.

Does Coltzau Frost utilize AI?

While we’ve not used AI for confidential projects, we remain current on the state-of-the-art, having been long-time non-subscription users of Vizcom, as well as enthusiastic users of local LLM’s such as Stable Diffusion or Flux.

Unfortunately, as we have concerns regarding the security of popular AI services - subscription or not - we refuse to place our clients’ intellectual property at risk by using them absent a client’s specific written request and authorization.

So, no. Not yet, anyway. Not until we’re comfortable with services guarding client information, or until we train a local LLM to genuinely facilitate our process.