Ya know, I was just looking at the letter ‘M’ this morning, thinking, you need an iPad app named after you, a 3D iPad app. There’s just something that goes together with M’s and apps… or, at least, there should be. M+3D. It could stand for so many things and Autodesk is announcing an app…

Getting out on your road bike can reveal all sorts of discomforts, all of which can be solved with a case of beer and a recliner attached to a pallet with wheels. Yet, you may actually want to save the inebriated lounging about for after the ride and instead look into tools that will make…

While 3D printing may not be disrupting entire distribution chains, there are quite a few people who will be printing their next iPhone case, or glasses, or headphones, or toy set…rather than purchasing one off of Amazon. While it may be a drop in the bucket, it is still real, and it is a threat.…

Here’s a quandry. How many supplier-certified parts and assemblies do you need to make your 3D viewing experience via the web worth it? What if you could not only view those models, but integrate them into your design, right in the browser? That’s the next step Sunglass.io has taken, teaming up with CADENAS parts management…

Shouts of hooray and songs of delight are going out among fans of Tinkercad this morning. My kids are ecstatic and honestly, I am too. Tinkercad is back. Over the weekend, Tinkercad announced a deal has been inked that will put Tinkercad site and technologies into the deep development pipeline of Autodesk. On top of…

Your choices for web-based collaboration are ever-growing towers of storage, sharing and data-viewing options that are turning into quite the trend in the 3D software space. Sunglass was one of the first on the scene with viewing CAD files in the browser and the widest support for 3D file formats, 3d software plugins, cloud-based apps…

Two weeks ago, GrabCAD launched Workbench. It’s not the worn countertop in your Grandpa’s garage. Rather, it lives on the internet surrounded by the warmth of Amazon’s S3 secure server architecture. More specifically, Workbench is the revamped version of GrabCAD’s project collaboration platform that adds a new interface, viewing of all major CAD file formats,…

Remember Alibre? That’s what people will be saying after today (or may have already been saying.) Alibre is the company and makers of Alibre Design 3D modeling software that was acquired by 3D Systems in July of 2011. As of today, Alibre is combined with Geomagic, the makers of Geomagic Studio 3D scanning software (and…

Wondering how the future of cloud-based 3D CAD is developing? More and more services are coming online with cloud-based offerings and Autodesk is certainly leading the way in both offloading processing for simulation and having complete access to your software and data via a web connection–it’s the whole anytime, anywhere scenario and they just announced…

Are you tired of waiting more than two episodes of Breaking Bad for your high-resolution part to 3D print? Two Masters of Engineering students at UC Berkeley are too, and with their ingenius new 3D Refiner Kickstarter project (already funded with 29 days to go), you can 3D print at a fast low resolution, and…

Few scents truly bring back the golden age of my childhood. Chocolate pudding, fruit roll-ups, and scented markers are high up on that list, but few can meet the powerhouse that is Play-Doh. To this day, if I ever catch a whiff of the colorful fun stuff I am instantly and without warning thrown into…

After having raised over $8 million on Kickstarter ($8,596,474 to be exact) from the original goal of $950,000, the wildly successful OUYA open-source video game console will be launching with a bang from San Francisco this week. In celebration of the launch, OUYA teamed up with MakerBot and Thingiverse to offer the option to 3D…

For designers, finding parts for a project can be a cumbersome experience. While McMaster-Carr and other part suppliers have convenient downloadable CAD models of their inventory, it can still be a time-sucker to search those inventories if you’re still in a conceptual stage. The new 3D Part Source search engine developed by 3D Industri.es aims…

Having recently been approved for a Type 7 Federal Firearms Licence (FFL), Cody Wilson just can’t seem to stay out of the news these days (not that he has a problem with that). Currently Wilson is awaiting his early-April approval for his Class 2 Special Occupational Taxpayer (SOT) add-on which will allow him to manufacture…

I am devastated, DEVASTED I tell… yet also quite hopeful. A bitter-sweet day for all. The most advanced web-based 3D modeling site and, really, the only great hope for 3D creation on the web, at the moment, has announced they are closing shop to pursue a new venture. In place of models created by users,…

Tapping your fingers on the edge of your desk in rapid, chaotic motions may typically annoy your cube mates, but if you’re all users of one of the two Autodesk Design Suites or Simulation tools, it may prompt a head-bobbing sing-along. Autodesk just announced the release of the 2014 Design Suites and with it, they…

For those in the greater London area, get ready to see a whole lot more 3D printing buzz. Today, iMakr announced that it will be opening a two-story, 2500 square-foot 3D printing retail store in Farringdon in Central London. Could this be the ‘office supply store’ of the future? Take off your Google Glass at…

It’s no longer a secret–modo 701 is going to kick butt in major ways. Luxology’s Brad Peebler gave an online presentation this morning where he showed off the best of what’s new for those of us eager to dive into the new release. From updated edge beveling enhancements to a new animation workflow, Luxology has…

And now for your daily feel-good story. Colin Macduff, a Washington State Navy veteran who did two tours in Operation Desert Shield accidentally blew off his finger in a shotgun accident in 2010. At the time, Macduff was unemployed and according to his doctor, would be unable to receive a prosthetic. What resulted belongs in…

When the Cintiq first came out, I vividly remember an illustrator friend of mine saying “It’s not a matter of if I’m going to buy one, it’s a matter of when I’m going to buy one.” Perhaps a lot of designers and illustrators have found themselves in the same boat and have waited for the…

It seems like only a couple days ago SolidSmack was reporting on Cody Wilson and his move to ‘revolutionize’ 3D Printing with DEFCAD.com. Well, the resilient 3D printing poster boy for 3D printed firearms is back in the news again after having recently received his Type 7 Federal Firearms License granting him the ability to…

Luxology announced earlier this week their new modo 701, and as expected there are a host of improvements including expanded animation features like audio playback and sound support. For those of you looking to upgrade, here’s a quick preview of what’s to come.

When you saw it moved from the main Google toolbar, you knew it was inevitable. Google has announced that it is officially powering down Google Reader. But don’t worry, if you’re not aware of them already, you have options, options that actually make the feed consuming/organizing experience much better than Google Reader.

The term ‘Knolling’ has been around since the mid-1980’s and is centered around the practice of organizing any number of objects for a specific purpose in an easy-to-view manner. More recently, design blogs, style magazines, and recipe books have used the practice as a way to instantly communicate a grouping of objects—whether it be items…

When we previously reported on those cool Sandboxr dudes, they were prepping to launch their super cool model building and 3D printing app. Well, that time has arrived folks and Sandboxr has just launched their Kickstarter campaign to make the app and sandstone-3D printing experience a reality for non-CAD users all over the world…and a…

Law student, gun owner, and 3D printing fan Cody Wilson has spent much of the last year working on 3d printed gun parts and setting up Defense Distributed, a sharing platform setup to help himself and others manufacture and share these printable gun parts. The result of 3D printed gun parts being usable in otherwise…

There’s an interesting infographic exploring the Depths of Cloud Storage put out by 3DVIA. It’s framed from “a 3D Designer’s perspective” or rather, from the argument in favor of cloud storage. It’s a great illustration and nothing that’s directly pushing 3DVIA products or services, but it brought up a question… What in the wide, wide…

Today, if you happen to be browsing apps whilst using the bathroom (we all know that’s where it happens), searching for CAD apps on iTunes, you’ll see an update to one you may have tried out in the past, the GrabCAD app. Version 1.7 is out now and available for both iPhone and iPad. It’s…

I know it’s bound to bring on the arm spasms, causing you to fall from your chair, spilling your coffee on your workstation tower and frying the Quadro GPU you already have, but that’s ok, because NVIDIA has gone and done the unthinkable, nay the unimaginable–they’ve released a new line of Quadro workstation graphics cards…

MIT is in no shortage of true innovators these days, and the projects just keep on coming. The latest innovation by interaction researcher Jinha Lee involves “the enabling of humans to physically interact with machines to make computing more intuitive” through a transparent computer, allowing the user to reach inside of a ‘box’ and manipulate/adjust…

CadFaster, the makers of CadFaster|Collaborate, the BIM mobility app have retooled their marketing efforts, launching a new app for the MCAD market, MyCadbox. It’s a new product and a whole new website aimed at increasing your propensity to share models with others across the web and mobile devices. Is it ready for prime time?

Yes, this is a post about the impending shipment of two products. Why would we be writing about such things? Well, first of all, they’re incredibly classy designs. Second, they are two of the most anticipated new tech gadgets of the new year. OUYA is the $99 Android-based game console that had its start on…

In a collaboration between 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys’ Education and R&D Departments and MIT’s new Self-Assembly Lab, a new printing technique centered around self-assembling, ‘smart’ materials is being used right now. Hold onto your pants ladies and gentlemen, 4D Printing is here.

Airbnb has been one of the more famous startups in recent memory with their original ‘Air Bed and Breakfast’ idea: connecting empty bedrooms and guest houses to travelers and offering extra cash for those opening their homes to strangers. Many who have opened their homes to travelers have found so much success with Airbnb that…

It’s been a topic of speculation as of late and while Apple is known for having multiple patents and not doing anything with them, this one appears to be different. The timing couldn’t be any more perfect for stirring the pot of next-gen smart device competition.

Well, this is what we’ve been waiting to see. A SolidWorks iPad app? Puh-leeease… no longer needed. This is the full version of SolidWorks 2013 on a Fujitsu tablet sporting an AMD Z-60 APU Processor (with Radeon HD Graphics @1.00Ghz) running Windows 8 Pro. We knew we would start seeing this when chip makers started…

One of the more exciting announcements to come out of SolidWorks World 2013 this year was the addition of an augmented reality-based update to SolidWorks’ popular eDrawings iOS app. What has been a go-to solution for many designers looking to present their models easily to clients and other designers in an easy-to-carry solution has now…

Slap your CPU and call your mama, KeyShot 4 is released. This version of the rendering and animation software reaches deep into the cauldron of physics-based visualization and pulls out some very nice features users have been longing for.

It seems that, along with grabbing up 3D models, GrabCAD is in the business of grabbing up the top talent in the 3D modeling software industry. They just announced the hire of Blake Courter (LinkedIn), a founder of SpaceClaim (and dear friend) along with Rob Stevens (LinkedIn), a former VP with the likes of Kiva…

As if SolidWorks World 2013 couldn’t have been any more bangin’–it was. We got the chance to sit down with the guy who is controlling the future of your favorite CAD package like a gypsy with a crystal ball….Mr. Bertrand Sicot! In our video interview, we talk with Bertrand about what it’s been like as…

Released last week, the Caustic Series2 accelerator boards are a pair of ray tracing accelerator PC boards that use Imagination Technologies’ ray tracing technologies to bring us the world’s first chipset dedicated to high performance, fully interactive ray tracing in a workstation environment. I had the opportunity to sit down with VFX madman and Caustic…

Sure, your friends may have been laughing (and slightly scared) back in April when you embedded class II lasers in your checkbones and told them Matterport’s 3D scanning IS THE FUTURE, but now you’ll be the one prepared. News of the Mountain View based, Y Combinator startup raising $3.9 million from a whopping 39 Investors…

As previously reported by SolidSmack, the Power Surfacing for SolidWorks plug-in was bound to be a game changer for anybody looking to add a little more fun to their modeling workflow. Paul McCrorey of McCrorey Digital gave a presentation at SolidWorks World 2013 last week on using this powerful new plugin–specifically through giving us two…

Well, the dust has finally settled from all the excitement in Orlando this year as thousands flocked to the fifteenth annual SolidWorks World at the Dolphin Hotel at Walt Disney World. Between the amazing guest speakers (Art Thompson, Technical Project Director for Red Bull Stratos for example) and exciting announcements (Mechanical Conceptual, Augmented Reality eDrawings),…

Here at EvD Media HQ we rarely receive FedEx packages that don’t contain hand-carved egg shells, Unicorn Meat, or that limited edition DVD/Vinyl box set of our favorite 3D printing jingle of all time* (*we wish). But today our freshly-pizza-grease-covered-nubs ripped into a surprisingly different–if a bit strange and decidedly anti-climactic–FedEx shipment: blue M&M’S and……

Apple’s recent Q1 Earnings report showed two things: First, iPhone and iPad sales are up (surprise!), while overall Mac sales are down. Second, the company saw record sales. The posted revenue of US$54.4 billion and net profit of US$13.1 billion shows that revenue rose 17.7 percent from last year’s Q1 performance. “No technology company has…

Announcements, Announcements! Companies just love to unveil the bleeding edge new stuff at conferences. Along with the Dassault SolidWorks’ announcement (and your 9 month wait) for SolidWorks Mechanical Conceptual, Luxion is announcing KeyShot 4 with possibly a slightly shorter wait time for the release of the new version and a new render-rific link between SolidWorks…

At approximately 9:15am EST, Fielder Hiss took the main stage at SolidWorks World 2013 and announced the forthcoming SolidWorks/Dassault 3D Experience platform transitional product, SolidWorks Mechanical Conceptual. It mixes together two modeling methods to make the modeling more fluid and at first sight looks fairly minimal, but on the backend builds on Dassault’s database-driven technology…

SolidWorks World 2013 is firing on all cylinders with Dassualt Systems launching a new site to kick off the user event, My.SolidWorks. It integrates the Netvibes (content curation) and Exalead (search functionality) that Dassault systems acquired over the years. This is the first we’re seeing it pushed out on a more community level, especially on…

Oh, the undulating waves of SolidWorks surfacing bliss! Yeeeeah… ‘bliss’ is hardly the word one would use when creating advanced surfaces in SolidWorks. We thought that would all change with the T-Splines plugin, but a new plugin on the SolidWorks block is about to make a big splash. Next week at SolidWorks World, Integrityware will…