I’m reading a detailed post by Ars Technica on automated theft of AutoCAD designs, but is this also applicable to 3D print designs? The post explains that multiple nefarious characters have long been using scripts as a means of industrial espionage. These scripts are secretly installed on Autodesk AutoCAD instances, and then silently relay encountered…
FoldStar provides a very unusual 3D model generation system. The New Jersey-based company’s product, by the same name, is a generative system to dynamically create 3D models of folded geometry. Here’s how it works, in their words: Doubly-Periodic Folding Tessellations are a versatile family of deployable materials that repeat a pattern in “row” and “column”…
Entertainment giant Disney has published (pdf) an interesting study on a compliant mechanism system they’ve developed to assist in 3D design, which could be very useful for 3D printing. What is a “compliant object”? They explain: Fueled by progress in technology and computation, however, many fields of engineering have started to embrace deformation and to leverage flexibility…
A Montreal-based startup is about to shake the world of design automation. Vention, a new browser-based machine builder platform, launched in beta today. They provide a social marketplace of industrial equipment for purchase and a 3D machine builder with library of components to construct your own equipment. The platform and 3D machine builder is 100% free…
Creative Commons recently held a workshop to identify ways to move forward in providing better ways to license 3D content. While “CC” licenses have long been used to protect digital assets such as software, images and video, the usage for 3D models has been less widespread. Some printable 3D model repositories offer the ability to…
As any designer or engineer knows, the sky is the limit when it comes to staying on top of 3D software and workflows. While becoming an expert in one or two software packages may make sense for your day-to-day projects, it never hurts to stretch that 3D content creation muscle – even if just a little…
The new Haptix motion controller just one-upped the Leap Motion controller in a big way. Last week we saw Elon Musk fiddling about mid-air with a rocket engine using the Leap Motion, while weeks before the Haptix device was launched on Kickstarter. While similar to the Leap Motion, it looks down on your nubbin’s instead…
Not to get all personal with you on a Tuesday, but how many different design apps do you use? The non-CAD variety – the apps that help you document, store, take notes and generally be a nuisance to those who don’t like your repeated requests to join GMail or a Dropbox? There are likely a…
What’s happening in this video? It’s something to do with a fast motorcycle, an alien spaceship, and a shockwave that sends the fleshy jowls of a middle-age man into a flapping mess against his head bone. Oh, and this guy is spilling his coffee, looking quite like he just was bucked between the legs by…