Illuminate! It’s what I yell when ever I walk into a dark room, put on a black shirt or hang a litter of albino kittens over the edge of my laptop screen. It’s what you’ll yell as well when you apply these fresh hot HDRI’s to your renderings. The Studio Environment Set 1 from Yazan…
So, we were able to escape the urge to wander out into the warm San Antonio sun and spent a few minutes with the CADFaster boys to see more on this cool, new 3D mobile app tool. which makes us wonder why no one else seems interested in developing more for the mobile.
Today, SolidWorks announce a new product to take your design collaboration dreams to the next level of web-based immersive interaction. Post3D allows you and others located around the world to simultaneously view and interact with 3D content in an online setting. It’s not full on augmented reality, but it definitely hints at what’s to come.…
What’s simple, carries no obligation and only cost $49? No, not a massive black tarp to wrap yourself and fear of curdled mayonnaise in. It’s the new CAD service portal from model grabbin’, resource addin’ GrabCAD. You may know of their web based library one can use to share, discuss and download 3D models. Now,…
The wood pulp dripped from its teeth. Certainly, this was no ordinary beavoid. For on its tail were 10 foot spines and a gray mist rising from its underbelly with the pungency of these links. Tyler Stout – Dark lines and deep shading in a mish mash of illustrative style that’ll make you slap your…
This week, a deep, thought-provoking poll that really matters. One that paws like a toothless rat against the marshmallowy film of time. Everybody knows drawing revisions are better represented as… what? Letters or numbers? How about letters and numbers? Should we even have a choice? Should 14 year old standards been thrown out with the…
What do banjos have to do with the 7th release of SpaceClaim’s namesake product? Only everything. You can model a banjo in SpaceClaim, 4 of 5 bluegrass groups recommend SpaceClaim (unofficially), and Blake Courter, cofounder of SpaceClaim, who gave us a demo of 2011 and it’s multi-touch capabilities, plays the banjo (proof at the end…
Next week is SolidWorks World 2011. If my inbox is any evidence of what it’s going to be like… well, I’d say it’s shaping up to be a week of total insanity. You saw the CADFaster news and there’s more tech being shown I can’t speak of yet. SolidWorks will have some announcements no doubt…
I’m not sure how many of you would be crazy enough to use a 3D CAD program on a Mac. I mean who uses Apple stuff anymore? amirite? Well, a lot of the companies developing 3D programs are developing for the popular platform. PTC not excluded. Here, Mike C. with his bad self running things,…
3D model viewing is about to get way more interesting. Just a little over a month ago, we featured a group of developers out of Finland aimed at shaking up the web-based CAD collaboration scene, CADfaster. They’re not disappointing at all. Today, they release the news of their mobile applications for iPad and iPhone that…
I don’t care how much gravy you put in your glovebox, modeling cars is one of the funnest activities to do. Even better when it’s just for fun and you don’t have someone yelling class-a surface this and curvature that while in the process of a vigorous leg waxing. Tony Suarez from Mirimar, Florida doesn’t…
Your Guitar Hero party is about to get 1000 times cooler and 1000 times more flammable. What’s the one thing that can distract people from awful video game playing skills while at the same time scaring away rats, badminton players and night harpies that could gnaw your face off? FIRE, but you probably knew that.…
How does Tyco Electronics spell direct modeling power? SpaceClaim, that’s how. Over a year ago, Tyco decided their Pro/E users needed some direct modeling capability. Some simple designs were just taking too long in Pro/E. Could direct modeling be the answer? Well, after an in-depth productivity analysis, an equally in-depth feature comparison and ROI study…
Well now. Last week we had a little challenge for ya. Model up a light design, the best one winning a 3D Print from 3D Print service i.materialise. We had just a few entries. With the new year starting, many were likely too busy. Either that, or one of the entrants hunted you down, strangled…
Ropes hung in the late afternoon reflection of the window. By then, most of the otter zombies had returned to the nest, except for one. The one gnawing viciously on these links. Ed Lee – A mish-mash of ice caves and battles scenes, dino-mechs, forests and electric beams for your eclectic enjoyment. Why Chinese Mothers…
This is hands down the finest example of skullcube I’ve seen. One of this color and variety is rare if not completely unheard of. The SkullCube shirt design by Tokyo-go-go at Teespiration.co.uk is magnificent. Not only is it skull and cubes. It also Lego. That’s a lethal concoction of awesome right there. It comes in…
Oh, hot bowls of shape slappin’ fun. There’s nothing like the 4th release of a free 3D modeling product to make the speculation run wild. It’s like pouring napalm on a brain made of fire, and after drinking plenty of coffee that taste like it’s been made with gasoline, I’m convinced that’s highly possible. 3DVIA…
Can you believe there’s hardly a minute that passes without someone thinking about pushing a button and eating a bag of corn chips while running a benchmark? It’s true. Even if it only takes two minutes to run the benchmark… two minutes, bag open, bag of corn chips… GONE. I’ve tackled the hardships of doing…
In the future, your entire photo collection will be on your mobile device. That is, if it’s not already. But that’s only the beginning. First, you’ll make people giddy with delight as you show them photos of yourself in comical situations, then they will gasp in abject horror as you hold them down, turn off…
We’re just not going to let that “Kill SolidWorks” thing die… ahem. One comment from former SolidWorks CEO, Jeff Ray is all it takes for a firestorm to start whipping our sanity. What most people do not realize is that the is about creating a better product and providing some more options, not about violently…
The small cottonwood shook. Opaque rays of orange splintered through the branches as the air stagnated with the mechanical whir of the creatures arms extending. And that’s when it happened, when the sky around us exploded with light and these links shot forth from its joints. John Park – “Can I just draw awesome pictures…
I know.You were probably hoping to see my improvisational flute playing skills in this post. We’ll do that later when you have quick access to a bucket and some earplugs. Today, we’re looking at something that will go down as a turning point in 3D printing history, but not only 3D printing history… all those…
You see that face? Get ready to see it on an infrequent basis and perhaps in your head as you lie awake at night. That is the new face of SolidWorks. The new CEO, Bertrand Sicot. Executive power has been shaken up in Dassault Systemes much like a whale launching itself from the deep while…
Gaze upon it. Don’t touch! You’ll mar the smooth birch laminate and formica colorcore. Just look. It’s a thing of butt-holding beauty. Chunky, industrial, modern, vintage, dare we say PLAYFUL? …all mixed together in four legs and bucket to hold your bottom. The chair designs you are about to experience are created by Kenneth Smythe.…
It’s a fresh, slightly still doughy new year and what better way to start it off than with a contest and giveaway. This time i.materialise is bringing the opportunity to try out their fresh 3D printing service with a very slick tool you can use to create your own – very special, very unique -…
Like you’ve got a screaming mouthful of peanut butter… or like you’re screaming with a mouthful of peanut butter. Either way, there’s little anyone can do except stare with gaping eyes when you’re crashing into walls, coughing up half-chewed peanut butter. If you think about it though, there are the benefits that go along with…
I think you’d agree. There’s just not enough visual clutter surrounding us as we go about our daily lives. It would be so much better if we were surrounded by an orb of interface efficiency. Fortunately, there are people thinking the very same thing, but not only thinking it… creating it and putting together 3D…
Hands down this has been the biggest giveaway on SolidSmack and you all made it an absolute BLAST. I know you’re all anxious to know who won, or if you won, or didn’t, so I’ll cut tho the chase real fast like. The winner of the the HP EliteBook 8740w Mobile Workstation is…
Sometimes when you’re feeling particularly adventurous, you can throw mashed potatoes through a propeller blade. Or, you can throw propellers through a wall of mashed potatoes. Other times, you can sit down for a few minutes and model up a propeller in SolidWorks while eating mashed potatoes. Azim Hamid did just that, although, in his…
The gaff-rigged dory rocked calmly in the quiet waters, but the sound that came from the deep wasn’t familiar. Neither were the tentacles coming over the side. They were after one thing… a cod sandwich, wrapped in lettuce and smelling strongly of these links. Erik Desmazières – His surreal, geometric style print work is not…
I’ve got a bat. Actually, I have 10 little bats and they’re shaped suspiciously like fingers. Don’t worry, they’re mine and they’re ready to gouge the eye of technology… repeatedly, with lots of details, photos, unnecessary screaming and a skull that looks oddly like meat. Yes, it’s time to take a look at the HP…
No, don’t look away. It’s not scary at all. However, the awesomeness may cause the skin to tighten across your face as the excitement in your teeth push you jowls back over your head. If you have teeth. If you don’t, don’t worry, because we can sculpt some in and render them gold faster than…
Well, that’s it. You and the design school that spit you out… suck. Toss that portfolio in the rubbish heap. Gadi Amit, president of NewDealDesign in San Francisco has an article this week over at Fast Co.Design called American Design Schools Are a Mess, and Produce Weak Graduates. Agree or Disagree?
Click-click-click-click. You feel the cold steel against the back of your head. You’ll never forget that sound again… you know, if you survive. Back in the days of frontier life, hard winter nights and cattle drives the very distinct sound of a certain gun loading a bullet into the chamber encapsulated all the risks, restraint…
So, PTC has launched Creo elements with full-blown Creo 1.0 to come out Summer 2011. It’s replacing Pro/E and the smorgasboard of other programs you’ve mastered over the years, so obviously there are bound to be a few questions. Now, I typically don’t put spoons anywhere near my ears… or open fans. That’s just dangerous.…
You’re sitting in a design review meeting. In a conference room. The dull buzz of the fluorescent lights match the mono-tone static of some voice in the room, but who cares, you’ve got a pen. Before you know it, you’ve inked an entire mural across the wall, the whiteboard and your boss’ face. He would…
Actually, these guys would fill two space helmets and then some. You may have been a small child when the Apollo 13 spacecraft launched, you may have been non-existent, or you may have just recently learned of the space mission on a TBS re-run of the film starring Tom Hanks. No matter your age, you’ve…
It happens so often. You go to squeeze some cheese on your cracker, then suddenly you snap from a daze to find the most stylized form of your initials oozing down the wall. Nevermind that everyone around you is staring, you have a talent. If you are the slightest bit interest in cheese spread sculpting,…
Take those gear pegs out of your nostrils and look at this. I think I just found a reason for you to visit the nearest LEGO store, purchase every gear available and spend the next month cogging up your workspace with bits and blocks. You could recreate 2,000 year old mechanism that predict the future.…
He drifted along the rail, not realizing that eventually he would reach the drop-off. There he would find a melon, a melon the size of his head, spitting small seeds and these links at him. Jake Parker – His style is fresh. Illustration, character, and comics with heavy lines, adventure and more fun that you…
Imagine sliding your hand… across a bed of scorpions. Then stop doing that, relax your neck tendons and imagine sliding your hand across the smooth transition of a touch interface that flows from vertical to horizontal. Ahhhhhhh. It’s like buttery rays of light coating your fingertips. Really, take a look. The Media Computing Group, researching…
Hot bags of greased hardware! It’s officially two weeks and two days away from Christmas which means it’s officially time for a bakin’ hot tray of high-end hardware to be thrown into webosphere for ONE lucky person to WIN. You may have seen the unboxing yesterday. Now, we’re giving away HP’s top of the line…
This is what it comes down to… After getting kicked out of a parakeet aviary while attempting to unbox an HP EliteBook 8740w in the midst of thousands of birds, there’s only one thing left to do… unbox it on top of a bear. This past weekend I received a VERY loaded HP EliteBook 8740w…
Well, shove some translated geometry in my eye! Here’s something you may not have known. Dassault (SolidWorks) has developed a CATIA to SolidWorks translator so you can import the hundreds of millions of CATIA files you’ve stored up over the years. It doesn’t ship with SolidWorks. It’s not anywhere in the software. It’s not a…
Our models. They’re dead… dead, pasty monoliths of engineering excellence plagued by the cold touch of a default color scheme. It must end. You must show the world what you’ve got and as the result, risk the chance of winning the ultimate in speed rendering technology, a license of KeyShot 2 Pro. GrabCAD and KeyShot…
The pickles flew by as stood there, poised, ready to take on whatever came next, but little did I know it would be the juice of a thousand more pickles, mixed in the fire of five types of garlic and boiled in these links. Marek Okon – A handful of Marek’s amazing illustrations, some walkthroughs…
When collaborating on a design, there are just so many blood vessels you can pop before you scare your co-workers to jaw-tensing tears. It can be frustrating. Collaboration and discussion about a design should be simple, visual, and not leave you feeling completely defeated… Get ready for this. CADFaster is taking on design collaboration and…
I’d like to say that what you’re about to read might be the most interesting things happening at AU2010, but I won’t… because they ARE the most interesting things happening at AU2010. You may have seen some of the Autodesk projects and programs coming out. They’re exploring the options of product development software and giving…
It’s grueling isn’t it? Every time you turn your Droid on and start nub flickin’ the screen through your favorite apps, there’s that special one always missing. That app which allows you to create abstract art of yourself standing next to a glimmering pond holding 50 pounds of ground meat in one hand and a…
Autodesk University 2010 is off to a design romping start and there’s already been a massive skull buttering of product announcements, tech previews and tid-bits of information coming in from all directions. Autodesk has no qualms about mentioning hybrid modeling approaches, cloud computing or delivering software over the web. Mostly because, well, they’re already doing…