In CONTESTS

Become Machine Man… Design the Ultimate Prosthetic Implant

3 Mins Read

Titanium fingertips. A chin shield. Elbow spikes. An inlay across the bridge of your nose to hold lasers manipulated by your eye. Yes, you’ve dreamt about such things in the waning hours of the morning. Now you can design them and have them made.

Max Barry’s book Machine Man, a real-time serial about a man who loses a leg, decides to make a better one and ultimately “gadgetifies” himself, is the inspiration for a the Human Augmentation design challenge from iMaterialise. You make it, they print it, you embed it into your body… if you’re so inclined. Here’s what to do…

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In 3D CAD TECH

Wrap Your Eyes Around the Sweet Thrill of Glasses Free 3D

2 Mins Read

Hear that buzz? It’s the sound of your eyes glazing over in the pasty radiance of light while the capacity of your ocular cavities is subjected to the era of 3-dimensional space upon the screen of a hand-held device. That sentence may have been slightly too long, but when you’re viewing 3D on a 2D screen, that makes it all ok. What else makes it ok? Head tracking. For that is the juice being used in the imminent release of an app developed by Jeremie Francone and Laurence Nigay.

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In 3D CAD TECH

Cue Your Arduinos. Google Opens Up Android Accessory Standards

2 Mins Read

Of all the things that Google announced yesterday at the Google I/O developers conference, the one I find most exciting is their new Android Open Accessory standards and the Accessory Development Kit (ADK) that goes with it. The best nerdy part of this nerdy story is that the ADK is centered around the Arduino open source microcontroller meaning that a lot of you already have the skills to start developing accessories for Android devices. So, what does this mean for the product designer or engineer?

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In CAD

How to Create 3D Non-Planar Sweeps in SolidWorks

3 Mins Read

Sweeps. That’s what we love. The stringy morsels of 3D modeling that makes a part all the more difficult (and interesting) to create. Sweeping a profile along a path couldn’t be easier in SolidWorks. A profile, a path, bend it to your will with a few guide curves – perfection achieved. But what if you need to sweep a profile along a non-planar edge? What if the profile needs to be centered or offset from the edge? There’s a very simple way to do it that can bring a lot more detail to that plastic part or profile design.

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In FAB

A Pen is Just One Thing It Can Hold… The Shapeways ICFF Winner

2 Mins Read

You know when you’re holding a baby goat, and your thinkin’, I can hold that spoon and that bag of chips… and that chair… and that pile of cream cheese balls… and that armadillo dressed like a Spanish conquistador. Yeah, I can hold ALL THAT. Well, just imagine if a simple product which sat on your desk didn’t hold any of that. Excited? Well, now imagine it does hold a pen and… *sip o’ coffee* …PAPER!!

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