The high-speed space battles, lightsaber fights, and unique stories that make up the Star Wars galaxy far, far, away has transcended space and time to give us one of the most unique fictional worlds ever made. That said, the Jim Henson-like puppeteering techniques used to bring the original trilogy space opera to life are pretty dated by today’s standards. Audience expectations for special effects have grown considerably over the years, and some characters have been replaced by digital counterparts to satisfy audiences and high-definition screen resolutions. But there is at least still one person who believes in the art of puppeteering: Special effects and make-up artist Nick Maley—one of the…

Huddle around the computer a little bit, your digital detox is a farce! How can you stay away from great stuff that you can read and chew on … mentally that is! We got you covered, while you were away, busy with your digital detox diet. Don’t be shy, take a look at the week that was, right here on SolidSmack. Cause we are ROCKIN! The New Stratasys J850 Color 3D Printer is ‘Designed for Designers’ Built to meet the needs of the full design process in a wide range of industries including consumer goods, consumer electronics, automotive, and even educational settings, the new Stratasys J850 3D printer from Stratasys…

In a world-first breakthrough, Google claims its quantum computer carried out a specific calculation that is beyond the practical capabilities of regular, ‘classical’ machines. In comparison, the same calculation that the team used as a testing metric would take the most advanced ‘classical’ supercomputer 10,000 years to complete, the company estimates. The findings were revealed in a paper ‘Quantum supremacy using a programmable superconducting processor’ published on Nature. Quantum computers are different from classical machines in that they exist in multiple states at once (qubits)—compared to the classical bit made up of 1s or 0s. As a result, physicists can perform advanced calculations that would otherwise take centuries to compute.…

Another day, another radical chair design. Instead of coming up with yet another ordinary chair, designer Peter Otto Vosding collaborated with cabinet maker Dirk Vosding to make a chair with as little materials as possible. The resulting piece of furniture is simply called the “Mµ” (pronounced “mm”). The chair is made from ash wood and uses the material’s natural elastic properties in such a way that sitting on it bends the seat to your tush and back. The lateral parts of the frame are also built into the chair’s sledge base, providing the Mµ with just a little more natural give than any plastic chair. While it may feel like…

It’s been long suspected that Onshape would eventually land in the hands of a larger enterprise product development (or non-product development) company — that day is here. PTC has just announced the acquisition of Onshape, web-based 3D product design platform, “for approximately $470 million, net of cash acquired.” The deal is moving fast, expecting to be completed in November 2019. PTC went all-in on IoT, since acquiring ThingWorx in 2013 and Axeda in 2014, and AR, acquiring Vuforia in 2015 and Waypoint Labs later in 2018. Now it seems they’re in a move back to 3D, acquiring generative development software company Frustum a year ago and sealing off 2019 with…

Built to meet the needs of the full design process in a wide range of industries including consumer goods, consumer electronics, automotive, and even educational settings, the new Stratasys J850 3D printer from Stratasys puts a focus on both speed and quality—including full-color PANTONE® color validation and multi-material capabilities via a PolyJet system. Claiming to be ‘Designed for Designers’, the printer brings considerable details to the table for design and engineering teams looking for high-quality prototypes, fast. The inclusion of PANTONE® color validation and multi-material capabilities aims to bring a new level of realism to every stage of the creation process—including glass and acrylic simulations with the new VeroUltraClear material,…