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Archive for June, 2010

5 Things You want to Know about Siemens, Solid Edge and NX

28 Jun, 2010 by Josh Mings in NEWS
3D Human CAD Models

Sometimes you wake up in the morning, stretch, slap yourself and get a grin on your face right before screaming ‘PLM!’ in your best Robert DiNero voice. Sure, it’s completely traumatized the kids, but you’re amped and ready to start your day.

It goes without saying then, that you’ll want a nice dose of what Siemens is up to. They’re screamin’ PLM right along with you and what they featured this week, at their annual PLM Connection event, is a sure sign they’ve got some brilliant ideas for product development.

There are at least five things you will want to know about Siemens, NX and Solid Edge. So, down that scalding coffee and crack your knuckles, cause here we go.

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Grow Your Own City. Suicidator 3D City Generator for Blender

25 Jun, 2010 by Josh Mings in RESOURCES

Sure you could fritter your time away and fiddle with a 3D City on an iPad, but what if you could create realistic 3D cities… with a push of a button, and for free? That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

It’s also what Arnaud Couturier is talkin’ about. He’s developed the very fast, very cool Suicidator City Generator for Blender. It’s a lightweight python script that allows you to set parameters for textures, streets and size, then generate cities in an instant. That’s the easy part. Only thing left after that is to apply your Blender skills to get realistic renderings.

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This 3D City iPad Apps Will Absorb Your Soul… Not Really.

25 Jun, 2010 by Josh Mings in ROCKIN'

Don’t look. Do NOT LOOK! Oh, well, now you’ve gone and done it. You were curious. You hear ’3D City’ and you just can’t help yourself. Now you’re questioning your very existence. It’s ok though, because it’s just an app and only looks like it will suck you right in.

The people responsible? Newscape Technology. They have a bit of a handle on 3D and mapping and they’re going up against the likes of Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth to prove it. They gave you a taste with the 3D Paris and Mobile 3D city apps for the iPhone.

Now, they’re developing the iPad versions and the results are impressive, especially the speed at which it renders. Take a look.

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Friday Smackdown: Dagger Black

25 Jun, 2010 by Josh Mings in SMACKDOWN

Oh, it was a dark and formidable time. There was the constant sound of gears churning in the distance, the laughter of bears jumping on trampolines, and these links popping you in the eye whenever you turned a corner.

Dennis Allain – Fabutastically detailed architectural work. Be sure to check out the design process on some images.
15 Facts about caffeine – I don’t need 15 facts. I need 15 cups of coffee flavored coffee… black.
Battle of the Bulge/Budget – Great (funny) article from Motley Fool’s Robert Brokamp on money and blubber management.
Home-made Nuclear Reactor – It’s simple after you suck the atmosphere out of the vacuum chamber. You could do this too.
Baby DJ Decks – An iPad app with two cute, little turntables to turn you into the mixmaster of the party.
Lightning strike 3X – What does it look like when three building are struck by lightning simultaneously? Cool, like this.
5 True War Stories… – that put every action movie to shame.

How To Go from SolidWorks to Full Color 3D Print with Shapeways

23 Jun, 2010 by Josh Mings in FAB

Put on that shiny, gold vest that says “SUPREME MASTER of COLOR” across the back, because you’re about to get busy pitching pasty ABS prints and adding some color to your fab process.

Now that you have Shapeways plugin for SolidWorks, Duann at Shapeways has put up a quick tutorial to show you how to print full-color parts using SolidWorks. It’s simple and the steps are probably already familiar to you. Here’s the full-color, five-step process you’ll go through, that will make you even more worthy to sport that vest.

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Fresh Threads from modo Will Make You Drop that Bolo

23 Jun, 2010 by Josh Mings in ROCKIN'

Whether you’re a render scene slayer or just want to pose like you’re the HDR playa, Luxology has you covered… literally, with soft, preshrunk cottony goodness.

Each year the crew behind the modo all-in-one modeling, rendering and animation program put out a ‘limited-edition’ tee to help you show just how much modo mojo you’ve got. You might not even use modo. I say, so what. This year’s tee is a bit lighter, a bit rockin’ and bound to make your grandma say, “Wassuuup!”

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Dassault Kicks 2D to the Curb. Launches Free 2D, DraftSight (for Windows, Mac and Linux)

22 Jun, 2010 by Josh Mings in NEWS, RESOURCES

The circle of drawing programs dancing ‘happily’ around the flames of the DWG format just got kicked to the curb. Today, Dassault Systemes launches a free, open to the public, 2D drawing program, DraftSight.

Even though it’s just 2D, this makes the whole line-by-line drawing space much more interesting. DraftSight brings a full set of 2D drawing features to users and has full .dwg and .dxf compatibility. It can be downloaded now for Windows and will be available later this year for Mac and Linux. Here’s whatcha want to know.

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How to Easily Create Curved Features Using Boundary Surfaces in SolidWorks

21 Jun, 2010 by Josh Mings in CAD

Ya know, when you’ve come inside from a hard day of unnecessary antelope slapping, there’s bound to be some thoughts going through your head about how to make curved shapes in SolidWorks without overwhelming your mind.

Over at the 3DVisions blog, chief antelope slapper and CSWP, Randy Simmons shows you how to make a Quick surface curved 2 directions. It’s a great technique. One we want to slap into the ground like an unruly Kudu that’s had one too many ginger ales. Here’s how it’s done and a little example to give you an idea about some applications.

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What are All the Cool Kids in the CAD Industry Scene Listening To?

21 Jun, 2010 by Josh Mings in ROCKIN'

Coffee. 3D. Headphones. The purest ingredients in the day-to-day dance-off between your brain and that 3D geometry jittering to the succulent sound-waves in your ears. Oh yeeaah. You are in the groove.

So are a slew of other people you may know of. Thanks to the relationship between Facebook and Pandora a few weeks ago, you can now see what your Facebook friends are listening to on your Pandora Radio interface. You can even listen along, or make fun of them for bookmarking Morrissey.

You can learn about a lot a person by what music they listen to. Namely, how cool they are. Here are 15 people in the CAD industry scene, that I’m friends with (till they see that I’ve posted this), and the music they listen to while livin’, workin’ and groovin’ to the beat.

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Start Your Printing. Shapeways 3D Print Plugin for SolidWorks.

18 Jun, 2010 by Josh Mings in FAB, RESOURCES

What’s better than exporting out an .STL file and uploading your precious 3D geometry to be printed? Not exporting an .STL, that’s what.

Today Shapeways releases their 3D print add-in for SolidWorks which allows you direct upload capability from the SolidWorks user interface. There are other 3D print add-ins for SolidWorks but none with the visibility that Shapeways has and certainly none with the same amount of options and materials to go from digital to physical overnight. Here are more details to get you printing.

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