Tag Archive for '3d'

Craving 3D Multi-Touch Holograms? This May Help.

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I see you wavin’ your hands around like your folding laundry, but that imagery floating around you is just all kinds of freaky… OHhhh, those are holograms and your moving them around with your knuckles and those sensors in your hands. I shoulda known.

It’s here. Obscura Digital is using their multi-touch technology along with the Musion Eyeliner 3D holographic system to get an on-stage interactive display that will boggle the senses.

The first and obvious use for this is presentations that will keep you more entertained than any motivational speaker could ever hope to. A bit to involved for the like of us CAD people ya think? There’s no haptic feedback and there would be the whole projector, software, IR setup that could get a bit pricey. Still, it’s a move closer to moving 3D stuff around in free space without the need for a mouse and keyboard. Video after the break.
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Ask the Reader: Does 3D CAD Make You Dream in 3D?

It’s absolutely insane, I tell you. How are you suppose to get a good nights sleep when your brain is obsessing about the intricacies of how to model inventive new products?

I wonder what it is that makes us bring our 3D models into our nightmares dreams. Is it the challenge? the hours? subliminal messages in the software? EVIL mice using radiating surface features to manipulate our brainwaves. hmmm…the dreams are now affecting my sanity.

This happens from time to time for me. It’s usually when I’m very involved with how I’m creating a design in SolidWorks or when I’ve been looking into the depths of the design for hours. What’s cool are the dreams where I feel like I’m floating around the model. Ok, I’m getting a little personal about my possible psychosis. Hit the comments and make me feel not so alone in my 3D altered reality. bless you.

Image Credit: BabyGene.net

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Google Makes the Future of 3D CAD… Lively

3D online maps are so yesterday, and so is the news of Google’s new web-based 3D Virtual World, but after looking into it more, I had to let all of you interested in 3D and CAD know what the possibilities could be.

You may know about the popular Virtual World SecondLife. It’s a full-featured World with the ability to do about anything you want to, but living in your own Virtual World can leave you a little… disconnected, which is exactly what Google has changed with Lively.

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SolidWorks Wallpaper: 3D Product Design Goodness for Your Desktop

I know what you’re going through. Every time you boot your computer the Windows ‘Bliss’ background, circa 2001, burns holes right through your retinas. You desire something with a little more snap. Maybe a cool looking product design. huh? yeah?

Then check out the SolidWorks World Wallpapers site. This isn’t new though. It was put up for the SolidWorks World 2008 iPod promo. But I figure it’s about time for a revisit and to give you a voice via the comments to let SolidWorks know what you think.

So, I bring it up for two reasons. One) to let you know about the site if you haven’t seen it and Two) to let the SolidWorks crew know that these backgrounds are pretty cool and they need to do some others. Forget software functionality. What the users really want is cool looking backgrounds for their desktop.

What product designs would you like see SolidWorks create some cool wallpapers of?

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Rockin’ Cool: Picasso’s Guernica in 3D

Lena Gieseke has taken Picasso Guernica and transformed it into a version of the painting that will leave you deeply immersed in the canvas of the Cubist master, Picasso.

Guernica has got to be incredible to see up close (it’s currently at the Museo Reina SofĂ­a in Madrid, Spain), But when you look at it broken into all it’s little bits and pan around it like you’re actually there, you come away with an intense visual of what Picasso was sensing as he made each brush stroke.
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3D Creature Makin’ Fun with Spore Creature Creator

I’ve been playing with the Spore 3D Creature Creator for the past couple days and I gotta say it is one of the funnest, most addictive ways to create creatures that I’ve ever seen. Not only that, the 3D controls and manipulation are just amazing. It’s drag-n-drop-n-modify creature makin’ hilarity at it’s best… and it’s FREE.

What really fun is making them move around, dance, roar, punch and yes, have cute little babies that mimic the big creature.

So, check it out this weekend, have some fun and think about what 3D CAD would be like if it was this simple. Here’s my very own creature and the new SolidSmack mascot. His name is Timothy and he has a level 14 attack so be WARNED.

Download DirectX

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Using A Wiimote to Control 3D CAD, SolidWorks?

Ok folks, so here it is. The beginning of the end of the mouse and 3D desktop controls. The first I saw of this was a craptastic video back in March of some guys fiddling with a glove and a wiimote to control SolidWorks.

Little did I know, a cool guy named Brian put up a video in January (below) demonstrating the simple concept with AutoDesk Design Review (ADR.) Now available from AutoDesk and even more simple is the ADR Wiimote add-in that requires no extra programming.

So, what do you think? Will you be using this to control your models next year? Is SolidWorks Labs working on a Wiimote add-in? I’d like to see all the presenters at SolidWorks World 2009 using a Wiimote for presentations. Even more I’d like to see some the technology that develops out of this.

What’s a Wiimote?


Wiimote to control and navigate 3D CAD from Brian on Vimeo.

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Cooler Than Cool: Develop3D Magazine Out Soon Plus Free Subscription

The brand spankin’ new 3D technology magazine, Develop3D, has just gone to print. You’ll definitely want to get your hands on this, because for one thing, yours truly is a columnist for the fine outfit based out of UK.

I gotta say, I’m not a regular industry magazine reader, but the way this is laid out and what I’ve seen of it already totally blows everything else out of the CAD-infested waters. If you want a fresh look at the technologies out there and what’s around the bend, check out the magazine and get your free subscription.

You can get the Free Develop3D Subscription Here.

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Reader Poll: What Do You Like (Dislike) About SolidSmack?

SolidSmack has been around for just over a year and I’m lovin’ every bit of every juicy 3D/Tech/Design/SolidWorks Tip post I put up, but last night in the wee hours of a foggy night I wondered, “What the heck do all the wonderful people that visit SolidSmack like (not like) about the site?”

So, the fate of SolidSmack lies in the click of your mouse button, any comments you want to add, and my ability to totally ignore anything bad you say about me or the site.

I hope you have fun and I hope you provide some really detailed ideas or offer me money to stop blogging and finish my home renovation. Oh, I’ll still be your friend even if you say something mean. :)

What would you like to see on SolidSmack?
View Results

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Cool 3D: Creating the Modern City

If you look over the edge of your coffee cup you’ll notice everything is going 3D. There’s more news about 3D maps, 3D TV’s and 3D games than ever before.

Then I see this article from the January 1931 issue of Modern Mechanix about a 17,000 sq. ft. model of what modern day (1980) New York would look like.

“This model took 5 months to complete…built in an old blimp hanger…[with] the tallest tower of which is 40 feet high”

77 years later…
The $200,000 and 200 technical experts it took to build that plaster and glass modern version can be done at a fraction of the cost in a full 3D environment.

There’s sites like Everyscape that map out the cities, models of Modern/Futuristic 3D cities you can view with Google SketchUp and illustrated3D maps of Shanghai, but the most impressive I’ve seen is ScreamPoint’s 3D New York city. See a video after the break. What could be next?
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