‘REVIEWS’ Category

Hello World, I am SUMPOD!

The SUMPOD 3D Printer [Review]

22 Mar, 2012 by in FAB, REVIEWS

Fantastic technology has been cooking up on the other side of the pond. I’m talking specifically about the SUMPOD 3D printer. The desktop printer is designed, built and sold by Richard Sum of Sutton-in-Ashfield, UK. Another addition to the family of RepRap derived 3D printers, the SUMPOD features quite a few additions not found among its brethren. For instance, it features an attachment for a Dremel allowing light CNC routing and… get this, PCB making. One more step closer to self-replicating every part for another 3D printer. Amazing.
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3DConnexion SpaceMouse Pro [Review]

14 Mar, 2012 by in CAD, REVIEWS

The 3D Mouse. Quite the visage of refinement in the 3D CAD World. Sitting slightly to left of your keyboard in all its glory, carried in its padded case to and fro, even securing a special place on the nightstand next to your bed… ahem. The 3D Mouse. People love’em or… don’t use them. We’re taking a look at a new one. The SpaceMouse Pro from 3DConnexion.

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KeyShot 3.1 Released with Massive Features for Your Models

13 Mar, 2012 by in CAD, NEWS, REVIEWS

KeyShot 3 came out a mere three months ago. Now, KeyShot 3.1 is here. It’s a mere point release later, but they’re slamming out a slew of new features and improvements with the update. Features like Environment Editing, Material Templates and Network Rendering. They’re adding supprt for 3DConnexion devices and improving the animation debuted with the KeyShot 3 release. Here’s a quick look.

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Lexip Pro. The All-in-One 3D Mouse [Review]

01 Feb, 2012 by in REVIEWS, TECH

It’s a mouse. It’s a 3D mouse. Actually, it’s BOTH. It’s the Lexip 3D mouse and it combines the rotational power of a 3D Mouse with the click control of a traditional mouse. Lexip is a start-up out of France with a recent patent on the idea of a multi-axis mouse. If you’ve often feared the ramifications of wielding so much functionality in a single desktop device, not to worry. We were able to get our hands on the Lexip Pro and have all the details for you NEXT.
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Fully Reviewed: Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet

29 Nov, 2011 by in REVIEWS, TECH

I declared a couple of months ago that Lenovo had marketed its ThinkPad Tablet to the wrong crowd. It’s 10″ screen and pressure sensitive stylus made it stick out as the first real contender for the title of Cintiq-on-the-cheap. Lucky me, someone at Lenovo read the post and offered up a review unit. Of course, I couldn’t pass that up. So… after a few couple of months using this thing as much as I could, I am walking away with mixed feelings about the device. Overall it’s a good piece of equipment, but depending on what you are looking for out of a tablet, it is either the solution you’ve been waiting for or yet another tease. Hit the jump for a full review.

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HP ZR30w LCD Monitor Hands-on [Review]

04 Oct, 2011 by in REVIEWS, TECH

The viewing area is six inches smaller than my television. The front of it is sitting six inches from my face… give or take a few inches. It’s an HP ZR30w 30″ Monitor and, well, it’s massive. I had the opportunity to receive one from HP and the subsequent joy of basking in 1.07 billion colors of warm LCD power over the past month. This is HP’s largest LCD monitor, beaming 2560 x 1600 high contrast pixels into your eye and borders the line where people freak out about the size of an object on your desk. It has replaced one of my 24″ monitors, has changed my screen usage and has proven new ways to heat small office spaces. Here’s the rundown.

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Creo Sketch. PTC’s First Free Concept Design App.

09 Aug, 2011 by in REVIEWS

So, you’re toolin’ around the neighborhood in your hatchback, boppin’ your head to the best of Van Halen when suddenly an idea pops in your head. You need to sketch. Now typically, you would grab anything within reach – a receipt, a napkin, a freshly shaven chihuahua. But let’s just say you have a laptop and on that laptop, you have Creo Sketch.

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Render with KeyShot. The New Features and What’s to Come.

07 Jul, 2011 by in REVIEWS

I’m convinced ‘Reality’ is a guy named Milo with a spray tan and a well-groomed mustache. He gets up at 6am to have a semi-artificial, vitamin D fortified breakfast, then heads off to work to sit at his laminated desk for 10 hours, during which time he rocks out ultra photo-realistic renderings. He may use KeyShot to do it. And if he’s using the latest version of KeyShot, he’s got a lot more capabilities than previously in one of the easiest to use 3D rendering programs ever created by elfin magic. Here’s a glimpse at what makes it better and what you’ll want to know about the soon to be released KeyShot 3.

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The (Kinda) Anti-Benchmark NVIDIA Quadro 2000 Review

30 Jun, 2011 by in REVIEWS

Imagine the possibilities of having all the raw GPU power you can handle. Then imagine a bit less, then just a tad more. That’s where NVIDIA’s Quadro 2000 sits, right in the middle. The Quadro 2000 is NVIDIA’s latest mid-range graphics card pushing memory up to 1GB from the previous Quadro FX 1800 and updates the CAD crunching computation of their CUDA technology. It was just last year that NVIDIA launched the Quadro 2000. We talked about it of course, but now we’ve been able to test it out. You’ll see no benchmarks here though. Foul things. We’ll tell you what works, what doesn’t work and ultimately what you need to look for in a GPU for 3D modeling.

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