Formlabs announced a new “color kit” for their equipment. The company has marketed resin-based desktop 3D printers for years now, but until recently had a rather limited selection of resins. At the beginning they had only a standard utility resin available in grey and clear colors. Times have changed; Formlabs now offers a wide variety of functional resins ranging from flexible, to “tough” to medical quality products. They also offer a specialized “Form X” program in which operators can disable the normal controlled resin environment on the Form 2 to enable the use of any resin you’d like to try. But if you do, you’re on your own for finding…
Onshape has some clever cooks sitting around their mobile CAD kitchen, pouring the gravy on pretty thick from the beginning. Earlier this week, I posted on SmackTalk about a new Onshape patent that popped up. The Touchscreen Precise Pointing Gesture patent. This is (I beleive) their 7th patent, after their last was published in Auguest of this year for Force Touch Zoom Selection. You’ll be familiar with both if you’re a user of Onshape Mobile. The precise pointing (or precision selector as they call it) displays a target selector offset from your finger tip, allowing for more precise selection, while the force touch can be used to zoom in when applying…
SkillCoach is a new series where Product Dev. Professional, Vince Haley, provides a virtual design critique of a new design or submission we’ve received. Give us your feedback in the comments! Connect with Vince on Linkedin here. Have a design you would like to submit for a review and critique? Contact us here. Welcome to the SkillCoach series! I’m Vince Haley and, though you’ve seen my writing here on SolidSmack, I’ve been in the consumer product industry for years in roles such as Principal Industrial Designer, Lead Product Designer, and Lead Design Engineer to name a few. I’ve also taught ID at multiple universities. It’s an honor to use this…
Since its release in 1959, Henry Dreyfuss’ The Measure of Man and Woman: Human Factors in Design has been an invaluable resource for designers, engineers, architects, and anybody else responsible for shaping the manufactured world around us. The indispensable resource, which contains thorough and accurate measurements for children, teenagers, adult men and women, and those with physical handicaps, has allowed designers to accurately define the dimensions of their products to suit the immediate needs of their users. Additional data guidelines for the visually and hearing-impaired, as well as other differently abled individuals, have helped shape the standards for numerous government-defined disability acts. Suffice to say, this book is the real…
With the new year approaching, many people are already starting to think about what they may want to do differently starting in 2018. For some, it may be developing healthier habits or reading a certain number of books each month. For many, getting a leg up in their job and career is certainly somewhere near the top of that list. Sadly, many people who embark on switching up their careers or otherwise advancing in their current career may not be properly equipped with the self-marketing know-how to get the position they deserve. Don’t let this happen to you! With over 151 lectures and 6 hours of content available 24/7, this…
Gone are the days of the simple computer monitor. These days, curved screen dimensions, color profiles, resolutions, mounting capabilities, and connection ports sit amongst the top demands of professionals. Among others, Phillips wants in on some of that high-end market in 2018. Hitting stores in January (only in Europe – North America expected later), the company’s 328P6AU and 328P6VU monitors offer gorgeous 32-inch displays with 2560 x 1440 QHD resolution and 3840 x 2160 4K resolutions, respectively. With an integrated USB-C dock and ethernet connections on both models, the company aims to streamline and altogether eliminate many of the headache-inducing connections and cord management systems that plague professionals today. Both…