It is a common method of product appearance design that transmission materials form specific visual effects through photolithography process. Designers face two major challenges in the design process:first, it is difficult to accurately grasp the relationship between microstructure and macro dynamic visual effects; second, the proofing process is time-consuming, high cost and low design efficiency. Therefore, based on the gray-scale lithography process and the computer-aided industrial design technology, the optical simulation model of transmission grating is established, and the dynamic visual effect simulation technology of transmission material CMF design is developed. The visual effect of transmission grating texture is simulated, and the dynamic image is output to help the designer quickly evaluate the design scheme before the actual proofing and reduce invalid proofing. In addition, the paper puts forward the method of unit texture design, summarizes the creative process of constructing texture from unit, and provides a creative path for designers. Through the practical application verification, the simulation system is true and reliable, improves the designer’s work efficiency, and provides a new creative boundary for CMF design.