In this interview with Dr. Logan Rodriguez Graves, we learn about how gigundous, expensive mirrors in observatory telescopes are made, medical imaging, and other things you can do with a degree in optical science. https://youtu.be/MT0BLowdjlw Medical Imaging for Diagnosing Colon Cancer As an undergrad, Graves worked in a University of Arizona group that researched new…
Do you ever wonder how class-A surface modelers get their jobs putting the polish on race car CAD? We interviewed Adam Kenney, a pro, class-A surface modeler who’s worked on projects for Lotus and McLaren to find out! https://youtu.be/0G0esw_dXe8 What Exactly IS Class-A Surfacing? Adam tells us he is often mistaken for the industrial designer…
Investing in a high-end 3D printer can almost always guarantee you quality prints. However, given the plethora of choices in the market, you might end up suffering from buyer’s remorse. That is why inspecting their features, capabilities, and capacity are crucial. Through the help of our team of experts led by technicians, 3D enthusiasts, and…
Back in the day I made my living reshaping the skin of what we now call “classic cars”. I’m talk’n late ’70s Camaro and ’69 VW Karmann Ghia kinda stuff. Through my artistry, I was able to reclaim what rust and decay had stolen. But sadly some vehicles were too far gone to be safe on the…
It easy for makers, creators, and builders to shut themselves up in their workshop hours on end to get their design just right. Working in solitude can help get the job done, but sometimes you want to get feedback from others. Whether you’re looking for feedback, advice, or inspiration, sometimes you need to get someone…
CLO is to soft goods what SolidWorks is to machine parts. Game, consider yourself changed. https://youtu.be/wvS2QZdysDo How we can illustrate this? Hmm. Ah yes… Form-fitting Spandex Activewear. For Dogs. You awake with clammy forehead skin, itchy fingers, and the germ of an idea that will change the world. You roll out of bed, gorilla walk…
In this video tutorial, I offer up a brief modeling tutorial on how to use the engineering draft feature inside PTC Creo Parametric modeling software.
Last week we sent out a quick post to spread the word about Sketch Browser beta. This week I had the opportunity to delve a little deeper. So when I fired up the App, Mr. my.SketchUp himself “Josh” (the avatar, no relation to Señor Mings), greeted me with a casual but blank stare. He made me feel…
Our culture’s obsession with the 3D experience permeates our daily news. Do you want to see the latest Marvel film in 3D? How about a flat screen TV that plays your favorite shows in 3D? Virtual Reality is real! The technology isn’t new; it’s been used in movies as early as the 1950s. So why…
3D modelers of both the engineering and artistic flavors can probably agree that seeing the realization of their digital models is one of the most rewarding aspects of the job. Bringing digital dreams into the physical realm is what defines our current era, and it is the challenge of constructing unprecedented objects that pushes us…
When you look at an ordinary photograph, the image remains the same regardless of how you illuminate it. That’s great if you don’t want any additional realism in your High School Yearbook (seriously, what was I thinking with that shirt? And that haircut??) However, if you would prefer to view those captured memories in more detail,…
There should be five things that you do today. They should all involve string, live bait and an assortment of wild animals. Oh, and this, KICK IT.
When the bluebonnets are dancing in the field and you feel a large antler near your spine, it’s best you not turn around. Simply put your headphones, tighten your belt on and scream, KICK IT.
I know it’s the weekend. Time to work on the tan, take the horse for a ride, wax your bike and maybe even make that crumpet basket you’ve been reading about. But before you do all of that, sit back, relax and enjoy 3 minutes and 42 seconds of bliss. KICK IT.
Who cares about the Cloud, when the ability to grab our models is out there? Virtually, that is, in a very awkward, ‘why is this sneeze guard in front of me’, ‘dangit I spilled the ranch dressing on the sunflower seeds’ type of way. Yet, as we fall down the rocky gorge of 3D software…
Well now, I hear some of you are in the mood for a really broad question with a very broad and generalized set of choices. EXCELLENT, I say! We’ve got just the question. Today, we’re wondering what topics about 3D, design and any combination of the two, interest you the most. Why? Because there’s an…
I found it, you! Sneaky it may be, but you don’t see me tossin’ arms and oatmeal about it. Good point though, it does go well with these links more than most forms of death. Brian Despian – Robots and other Illustration like none other. Really, you may start to like robots and hat wearing…
How many times do you look at somethign and say, “yeah, that would be MUCH COOLER in 3D.” Ya know, stuff like a book, a movie, or set of schematics for a miniature fusion reactor. Yet, with all of the possibilities, there’s just something way to simple about the glyphs representing the English alphabet and…
So how many of you tore yourself out of a paper bag this morning ready to play with 3D online? hmm, nobody? Well, some of you may have a bit of an mild obsession itch about getting away from program installations and tedious upgrades to create and manage 3D online. Wild Pockets is on the…
So much for inspiring kids to grow up becoming managers of salty, high fat, carb ridden fast food chains. Let’s inspire them to become engineers with the ability to bend biological matter (i.e. paperboard cutouts) to THEIR WILL. Chick-fil-a is featuring ‘3-D Insect Models’ as toys in the Kid’s Meal. Cool – introducing small, hungry…
There is a mess of media with multi-touch this amd multi-touch that, but the single person that inspiring much of it is none other than futurist, John Underkoffler. You may not have seen him, but you would recognize his ideas for human-computer interfaces that have appeared in IronMan as well as Minority Report, Hulk and…
Wow, 3D and multi-touch. Who woulda thought of that. It’s like putting peanut butter on bread. What’s interesting about this is that it’s being used in public to get some collaboration going on with residents in Helsinki. CityWall is a large multi-touch display… which acts as a collaborative and playful interface for the everchanging media…
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…
You all are gonna flip, or rather, explode, when you see this. I’ve been looking for 3D CAD news out of Siggraph08 that happened last week, but have not found much beyond some announcements about rendering models. Fortunately, Mark Treadwell from Premier Rides came across some info and filled me in. A team from Berkeley…
It’s both parametrically intense and oddly invigorating to look at. It’s like jumping in the air through a small hole and coming out on the other side with all the knowledge of perspective while marching rhythmically outside the confines of an inverted parallelogram. What is it? Surrealism. An artistic expression of the early 1900’s that…
I see you wavin’ your hands around like your folding laundry, but that imagery floating around you is just all kinds of freaky… OHhhh, those are holograms and your moving them around with your knuckles and those sensors in your hands. I shoulda known. It’s here. Obscura Digital is using their multi-touch technology along with…
It’s absolutely insane, I tell you. How are you suppose to get a good nights sleep when your brain is obsessing about the intricacies of how to model inventive new products? I wonder what it is that makes us bring our 3D models into our nightmares dreams. Is it the challenge? the hours? subliminal messages…
3D online maps are so yesterday, and so is the news of Google’s new web-based 3D Virtual World, but after looking into it more, I had to let all of you interested in 3D and CAD know what the possibilities could be. You may know about the popular Virtual World SecondLife. It’s a full-featured World…
I know what you’re going through. Every time you boot your computer the Windows ‘Bliss’ background, circa 2001, burns holes right through your retinas. You desire something with a little more snap. Maybe a cool looking product design. huh? yeah? Then check out the SolidWorks World Wallpapers site. This isn’t new though. It was put…
Lena Gieseke has taken Picasso Guernica and transformed it into a version of the painting that will leave you deeply immersed in the canvas of the Cubist master, Picasso. Guernica has got to be incredible to see up close (it’s currently at the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid, Spain), But when you look at it…
I’ve been playing with the Spore 3D Creature Creator for the past couple days and I gotta say it is one of the funnest, most addictive ways to create creatures that I’ve ever seen. Not only that, the 3D controls and manipulation are just amazing. It’s drag-n-drop-n-modify creature makin’ hilarity at it’s best… and it’s…
Ok folks, so here it is. The beginning of the end of the mouse and 3D desktop controls. The first I saw of this was a craptastic video back in March of some guys fiddling with a glove and a wiimote to control SolidWorks. Little did I know, a cool guy named Brian put up…
The brand spankin’ new 3D technology magazine, Develop3D, has just gone to print. You’ll definitely want to get your hands on this, because for one thing, yours truly is a columnist for the fine outfit based out of UK. I gotta say, I’m not a regular industry magazine reader, but the way this is laid…
SolidSmack has been around for just over a year and I’m lovin’ every bit of every juicy 3D/Tech/Design/SolidWorks Tip post I put up, but last night in the wee hours of a foggy night I wondered, “What the heck do all the wonderful people that visit SolidSmack like (not like) about the site?” So, the…
If you look over the edge of your coffee cup you’ll notice everything is going 3D. There’s more news about 3D maps, 3D TV’s and 3D games than ever before. Then I see this article from the January 1931 issue of Modern Mechanix about a 17,000 sq. ft. model of what modern day (1980) New…
Close your eyes. Imagine sending a plain ol’ PDF to someone. Ok, now imagine sending a 3D PDF… got that? Now, picture being slapped out of your daze by the Adobe Acrobat development team and having the ability to send someone all your project files in a single PDF, upload, share and discuss it with…
The Google I/O conference is in full swing with all sorts of goodies coming out. But, what’s really cool and going to affect how you view the world and map-based web apps in the future is the announcement of the Google Earth browser plugin. No longer will you be isolated to two dimensions of movement…
Yes folks, the CAD industry is alive and well with the raging pulse of an over-achieving band of gypsy circus performers. You won’t see that description in the latest CAD Report from John Peddle Research though. What you will see, is a $5,000 price tag and words like renaissance, combined revenues, emerging economies and my…
There’s not enough explodin’ stuff in CAD these days. It’s all sketch this, extrude that. So, when I saw this, I just had to show it to you. Some of the 3D visualization out there just amaze me. But this video, blows my mind. “TSNStudio’s Extreme Loading® is an engineered simulation technology originally designed for…
Out of NOWHERE, your overwhelming hunger to stack colorful blocks, creating cities and worlds unknown… has been satiated. CubeScape puts the ability in the tip of your mouse-clickin’ finger to build isometric creations, watch replays, and then save it to share your mad creation with others. Cameron Adams of The man in Blue came up…
It looks like a pre-programmed bunch of flippy things making your phone look cooler than those plain jane iPhones, that’s what it looks like. The HTC Touch Diamond is the next amazing 3D interface stuffed into a tiny 2.8 inch display to make you strap that drool-cup on again. Sure its tiny, but you can…
If you were standing on the corner of the CAD block yesterday, you had obscure CAD terminology splashed all over your new pants. Everyone and their step-uncle’s mom was waxing intellectual about the ‘newest-in-new, right-up-in-your-face- and-hit-you’ CAD tech announce by Siemens PLM called (prepare for large phrase that makes you mildly uninterested)… ready… “Synchronous Technology.”…
If you’re involved in plastic design you may have heard of Protomold. If not, they’re a Rapid Injection Molding outfit. You can send them your 3D models and have a prototype created super fast for as little as $1795. If you just completely glaze over when somebody mentions plastic design or want a interesting purple…
I’d like to hear it from the man himself, but according to DesignNews Jon Hirschtick, the nicest guy and founder of SolidWorks, was one of the original MIT blackjack team members depicted in the upcoming film, 21. The movie, based on the book of the real events, stars Kevin Spacey who leads a group of…
Ya know, I’ve heard about people drawing 3D models in the air, but this is the first time I’ve seen it. To me it seems like a bunch of ‘keyboard-like’ commands in the air but, wow ya know, pretty close to what you might imagine huh? 3D hand input modeling system You can see another…
A very new and very large report on 3D Technology came out this month that “takes a realistic view of 3D display technology and its future in the professional and consumer electronics sectors.” Being familiar with developing a product in 3D, you may like to know 3D display technology is spreading and could affect how…
Really now, that wall you currently have built between you and the outside world with cereal boxes and plastic spoons is lookin’ a bit dated. It’s time you had a look at Bloxes. Bloxes is a unique and completely cardboard way of creating or recreating that bubble of nonconformity you live in. Heck, you could…
If you do a lot of searching for photos or just like better ways to search for things I think you’ll like these two plugins from Cooliris. PicLens PicLens is an incredibly slick and easy way to search and view images. You can search Google, Yahoo, Flickr, PhotoBucket, DiviantArt and some others. What would be…