For years we’ve been watching industrial designer Eric Strebel’s insightful design process videos; videos that show how he goes about making products from start to finish. Starting with concept sketches, he follows a traditional design process of moving on to CAD models and then various forms of prototyping—yet, we’ve never really heard the man speak on what’s needed when it actually comes time to getting bids for getting the thing made. A ‘design guide’ is what he refers to as “the documentation that you give to a manufacturer to have your thing made.” This informative guide for includes the product dimensions, materials needed (or a BOM), and the procedures you…
Researchers at the University of Michigan have developed an extremely interesting process that is quite different from current approaches to 3D printing with photopolymer resin. The researchers sought to eliminate one of the most pervasive problems when 3D printing photopolymer resin: window adhesion. Window adhesion occurs when the light engine solidifies liquid material at the bottom of the resin tank through a transparent window. The problem is that the newly solidified material also sticks to the window itself, necessitating special action. Earlier resin 3D printers simply stopped printing and made the machine perform a mechanical maneuver to rip the fresh layer off the tank, then allow fresh liquid resin to…
Do your 3D models fall-over when you edit feature dimensions? How about when you use that nifty dynamic drag feature? Does everything go wonky? Well, chances are your geometry is not locked down. What I mean is your model most likely suffers from a poor dimensioning or constraint strategy at the 2D sketch level. If you answered yes to my first two questions, then I’d encourage you to take a step back and review with me some of the basics about dimensions and constraints. I’m betting this may be just the ticket for you! I’m always on the lookout for tutorials, tips, and tricks to help me continue to cultivate and hone my 3D…
You may know Airbnb as the website you visit whenever you forget to book a hotel and need a place to crash during your vacation. What you probably didn’t know is the company has an experimental in-house design studio called Samara that works on projects far beyond home sharing and the ethics of using someone else’s bathroom. Spearheaded by Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia and consisting of industrial designers, interaction designers, architects, roboticists, mechanical and hardware engineers, material specialists, policy experts and a screenwriter for storyboarding new experiences, the studio aims to expand Airbnb’s range of products including architecture services and urban planning. One of Samsara’s projects, Backyard, investigates how buildings…
Long considered an indispensable asset for anybody working in CAD, the 3D mouse is a quintessential tool that belongs on the desktop of any industrial designer or engineer. Within a 3D application such as SolidWorks, Rhino, Fusion 360, or Keyshot, the directional, zoom and rotate functions provide an intuitive extension of the users’ design intent. To put it quite simply, a 3D mouse helps get rid of those annoying repetitive keystrokes and allows the designer to come as close to possible to holding their digital 3D design in the physical world. As pioneers of the 3D mouse territory, 3Dconnexion has blazed a trail with their SpaceMouse collection. And when it…
It’s time for another round of apps that cover the spectrum of your beloved smart device(s)! The Weekly App Smack is the best of new or updated design and productivity apps (and maybe a couple of fun ones, too) for the busy design or engineering professional. This week we have a list sure to make you more efficient. Do you have an app suggestion that has made your life easier or changed up your workflow? Let us know in the comments below or send it into tips@solidsmack.com. Hit it! Paste by WeTransfer (iOS — Free) Paste is where your ideas come together. From strategy decks to design proposals, Paste automatically formats…