In FAB

Librarians Kill the Quiet, Turn Empty Spaces into Makerspaces.

2 Mins Read

Just about every library I’ve been to in the past 172 years of my life has had a lot of books, a lot of quiet and a lot of room left vacant for spur-of-the-moment MLM meetings. The child who brings a desktop lathe and scrapes of grandpa’s wood to sit quietly tooling away in a library corner would typically be frowned upon if not kicked to the curb.  Makeitatyourlibrary.org is a fresh new site changing that, turning library spaces into makerspaces and pushing kids to kick that book learnin’ up a notch with some gentle application, an ounce of inspiration and 50 tons of project pickin’ possibility.

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In CAD

Cubify Design: 3D Systems Adds a Third Member to 3D Design Software Family

2 Mins Read

Yesterday, 3D systems quietly unveiled a new member to their small family of modeling apps including Cubify Invent and Cubify Sculpt with their latest, Cubify Design. While Cubify Invent is their most intuitive tool that is aimed at teaching the basics of 3D modeling and Cubify Sculpt offers organic modeling and digital sculpting, Cubify Design is focused more on advanced modeling projects that require assembly and real-world functionality support, 2D drawings, and ultimately, more precise modeling. Typically, programs like this cost upwards of $1K or more…so what all do you get for less than $200?

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In RADIO

SolidSmack Radio | Wild Side: A Tribute to Lou Reed

1 Min Read

This week’s Spotify-powered SolidSmack Radio Playlist brings an entirely new face-smack of great music to help propel you through those laborious, tedious design tasks for the next few days. This week we’re paying tribute to one of the more influential figures in rock who sadly passed away this past weekend, the iconic Lou Reed. We’ll start with Charley’s Girl and work our way through various Lou Reed projects with the Velvet Underground and Nico before finishing up with White Light/White Heat.

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In CULTURE

Hatch Live: A Closer Look at This Unique New Speed-Modeling Competition from Hatch Hub

7 Mins Read

Live design competitions have been one of the best ways for new (and existing) designers to showcase their chops and get great exposure without having to pull out their portfolios. Additionally, watching a mouse arrow dive through command menus and toolbars can be one of the best ways of re-imagining a software program or getting inside the creative mind of a fellow designer. Hatch Live is the latest live design competition from new collaborative design platform Hatch Hub that sits two competitors in front of a projected screen while they battle out designing a product in a fast-paced 5 round, 80 minute period. We stopped by the very first competition last week in NYC to check out this unique take on competitive speed-modeling and talked with the competitors about modeling under pressure in front of a live audience.

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In SMACKDOWN

Friday Smackdown: Crevo Tirt

2 Mins Read

A small boy became a shepherd, eating lots of fruits and vegetables growing up, learning how to make lightbulbs. He said “hi” to his little fishy, then he went back to bed and had a nightmare in his brain, threw it away and dreamed about going to the park and playing with a turtle on…

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