3D space is a pretty big area to be manipulating like a clump of old clay, but you whack that space down to a defined volume within the tightly wound wavelengths of a friendly frequency and suddenly, you’re moving junk around in 3D space with your hand. Check this out.
You detach it from it’s base and launch it up to 160 ft (50m) into the vast blue yonder. The rotor and sensors take over and it does a somersault in the air, taking pictures as it returns back to you. It’s the tiniest, cutest personal aerial camera and the concept was created in SolidWorks.
Siddharth Kambe & Dipti Hanako Kambe developed the idea to make aerial photograhpy easy for everyone. Siddharth attended the Pratt Institute and Denmark Design School. The concept is an exploratory look into capturing those special moments from a different perspective… just don’t get wrapped up in that moment and have the camera come flying back at you with rotors blazin’.
More images of the design specifics after the break.
There is really an endless amount of interesting object you can make with SolidWorks and a lot of interesting and unusual way to get there. Some readers on the Most Obscure Feature Combo post had excellent ideas and I even got a few via email. This crazy spiral, by Jeff Mowrey (@idesignhaus on Twitter) of Industrial Designhaus, LLC, is one of them.
The way he went about creating it is very well thought out. Have any idea how it was done?
Take a guess in the comments and I’ll post the file for you to download. What about other helix and spiral-type features and parts? Are there easy ways to create them and use them in your designs?
Here’s a few examples for you to have a look at – examples of how you can create some complicated looking spirals within a single feature. Oh, and all the rendered images here… done with Photoview360 – the new rendering engine (from Luxology) that comes packaged with SolidWorks 2009 Professional and Premium. NICE.
The Process? Modeled in SolidWorks, rendered in PhotoWorks, and manufactured via Ponoko. It’s the steps that a lot of designers and engineers with great ideas are using to introduce new products and get their name out there.
Stu Fingerhut is a designer currently attending Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA, studying Environmental Design. [Personal site][ponoko profile]
Take a look, after the break, at the process he went through from model and rendering to concept and final product. I think you’ll agree – What good is a AK-47 if it’s laying in your drawer? No good at all. Model it up in SolidWorks, make some renderings, revamp for manufacturing and add some use to it by creating a functional piece of art. Rockin’ Cool Stu.
In a previous article on OpenGL and Direct3D, a commenter named Mike made a really good point about the open source state of CAD and API standards. I agree with him, but there’s a lot more to it than software being tied to an OS and getting it all for free. Think of what companies like Google are doing.
Do we need open standard for 3D CAD?
Here’s what Mike thinks. What’s your opinion?