I’m always amazed by how good graphic designers have become at explaining information. Since design has leapt into the 3rd dimension, so has the elaborate art of infographics. We’ve seen it with Johannes Tsopanides’ InfObjects in a previous article. We’ve seen it with 3D printed bracelets that are made from stock market data. What’s next? Have a look.
It happened. Oh yes. The five-fold intensity of CAD, PLM, SSLM, RM and every other type of lifecycle management need/want/desire happened this week at PlanetPTC Live. Adam O’Hern, my cohort in design crime at EngineerVsDesigner.com, and I were there being brain gorged and slightly traumatized with interviews, customer spotlights, hamburgers with onion sauce, vodka and details on PTC’s future direction. Here’s the recap.
I love a car with personality. Just today, I had a chat with a friend of mine who recently bought an old Honda, a ‘beater’ in desperate need of a paint job. He has a talent for the arts – Paint runs through his veins, so to speak. So, I recommended he graffiti his car. He didn’t take my advice (after all, it is a ’92 Honda Civic), but it did help us uncover what it could have been.
So iPhones. Good for 2D imagery. How about 3D imagery? That’s a difficult one. Yet somehow, we can say with some confidence, there’s an app for that! Trimensional is completing the digital to physical process with a new iPhone app that takes scans produced by the app via your camera to 3D printed part on a Makerbot.
The graphics in video games just look better than the 3D objects in design software. No surprise there. That games have better(-looking) physics simulation than 3D CAD software though… that amazes me. It just shouldn’t be, but it is. CryEngine3 is a Game Development Engine available for free with non-commercial use. Developers are pushing the limits with it. BeamNG is just one. They’re a start-up that has built a soft-body physics engine for CryEngine3 that will literally make the jaw drop off your face bumper fall off your 3D car model, then bend, fold and contort against the curb it just hit.