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Fab Freaks UNITE. Crowdsource Your Manufacturing the MakerBot Way

10 Aug, 2009 by Josh Mings in DESIGN
3D Human CAD Models

Prepare your drive systems and Plastruders my Cartesian coordinating friends. The great “Horn of DIY Fab” has sounded and the battle to maintain your 3D print fix and MakerBot units sold is EMINENT.

Since MakerBot released it’s printer mid-April 2009, demand has been so high they’re turning to the MakerBot community to keep production of the cutest, little 3D printer rolling. The added benefit? You can get paid to enjoy doing what you love to do – printing 3D parts to print other 3D parts to print other 3D parts… yes, it’s mind-numbing, but OH, so genius.

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Friday Smackdown: Depth Vessel

07 Aug, 2009 by Josh Mings in SMACKDOWN

Ya want me ta blast it!! I’ll bet half a bottle of whiskey and a old, crooked post against making it through a ring of bunnies of that caliber. You’d need at least five direct hits and links so vicious it’d make yer feet swell!

Experience the Planets – Because you can’t breath in space on your own, these artist are here to help you imagine it, space that is.
SuseStudio – Wow, nice. Customize and distribute your own Linux build. This makes other OS’s look dumb.
iPhoneARKit – Augmented Reality Kit… for the iPhone. Pure AR geekery to get you building into that portable drug.
Spezify.com – A cool new visual search engine, with an interesting UI. Flash based, so no play with mobiles.
How to naturally Reset Your Sleep Cycle in One Night – Just don’t do it back to back or after passing yourself in a wormhole.
Bobby McFerrin Hack Your Brain – In less than a minute, Bobby has the audience doing the pentatonic scale. [Youtube]

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The Cheapest Route to SolidWorks World 2010 Is Not on A Pack Mule

06 Aug, 2009 by Josh Mings in NEWS

In fact, you would probably go through a few pack mules depending on the number of intersections you cross and your ability to steer a loaded ass from your hometown. So what’s the cheapest route?

You could actually go for free, but you’ll have to do a presentation, get hired by SolidWorks or get on the press list by writing for a ‘zine or posting pointless articles online. Other than that, here’s how to go about getting to the conference for the cheapest price possible.

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Bunkspeed Pumps Out the Bump Out with Hypershot 1.9

06 Aug, 2009 by Josh Mings in NEWS

Pump up the Thump on the Bump man! Your renderings of soup cups and cyborgs just might get a bit more realistic, and guess what, it won’t require any harmful immunizations or soap throwing.

Bunkspeed has released Hypershot 1.9, the latest version of their rendering software. If you’ve read the press release, you’ll see it will give you an “even more realistic look,” but what is it that actually helps your materials look more realistic? Thomas Teger was around help us understand and fill us in on plugin updates.

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How To Take A SolidWorks Assembly Top-Down In A Single 3D Sketch

06 Aug, 2009 by Josh Mings in CAD

If you’re the type of person that can turn peas into peas soup with a loud grunt from a squat position, this post may not be for you. However, if you’re mildly pea-challenged, like myself, and also wondering about constructing sub-assemblies to control them in other assemblies, read on.

Often, you’re using SolidWorks, taking measurements and changing dimensions to make it fit into another assembly. Well, there’s a cooler way to do this and it’s much easier that changing the matter of a pea with the power of your mind.

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What In the Wide, Wide World of Sports Is 3DVia TV?

05 Aug, 2009 by Josh Mings in RESOURCES

Last week 3DVia started shooting broadcast signals out it’s eyes straight into your cerebral cortex. For some this may be disturbing, for others that use 3DVia products, it may be a long awaited resource for video on using them.

3DVia is part of the Dassault family, to which Catia and SolidWorks also belong. 3Dvia has a few products of their own that are pushing the bounds of what’s possible with 3D online and offline. So why the new site? David Laubner in Product Marketing had this to say.

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So, Was Hangin’ Out in CahnCord at SolidWorks HQ, and…

05 Aug, 2009 by Josh Mings in NEWS

…there was no mass hysteria, freestyle finger punching or the slightest mention of how to blow a wasabi peanut out your nose. Disappointing? No.

Earlier this week, I had the privileged of spending 2 days with 8 other bloggers as guests to the SolidWorks User Experience Group, Labs, and Product Development Team. Yep, they flew in some bloggers, people that write about SolidWorks, sure, but these people are also users, some of which are beta testing and providing direct feedback to development on SolidWorks 2010. That’s why we were there. Here’s the rest.

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Maximum Material Mischievousness for Engineer and Industrial Designer.

03 Aug, 2009 by Josh Mings in RESOURCES

Trust me, you’ll want to remove yourself for a few moments from the pile of various material samples heaped upon your pale face. You may also want to clear out some space in your “Useful Resources” bookmarks.

The Material Information Society (ASM International), known for their material workshops, also has a very helpful material database to aid you in the next great product design or to simply help you remember what aluminum looks like. But viewing cool materials is just one aspect.

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Friday Smackdown: Beaky Cranker

31 Jul, 2009 by Josh Mings in SMACKDOWN

I see laddie, plenty of gopher throwin’ goin’ on here I see, I do. Must be it’s time ta send yer’ granny up to MCClatty’s butterfly farm again fer’ more o’ thos’ magic darts that come in so handy. In the meantime, use these links.

Fanatastic Mr. Fox Trailer – It’s Oceans12, but a stop-action Fox and his wily gang of miscreants. Really, George Clooney, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson. Superstar.
The First 10 Free Apps to Install on a New Windows PC – They left off Picasa, and I’d choose AVG for antivirus fun, but yeah, go for it.
How to Build Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn – A little more juice for trickin’ out your online profile/job gettin’ site.
Desktopography.net – A Desktop Wallpaper design exhibition. You know there’ll be some good ones, may some weird ones too.
Zombie Boot Camp – It’s the first search result you get so it must be cool.
SmoothWheel – A firefox Extension for smoooooth scrollin’ – your eyes will finally stop jittering.
Mexico Delicious! – kind of a tattoo-ish lookin’ shirt from Camiseteria.

The Vinyl and Resin Custom ‘Toy’ Intensity of Cris Rose

30 Jul, 2009 by Josh Mings in DESIGN

They’re among us. Little robots flitting about, busy with the task of taking over this part of the world and demolecularizing that part of the world, exploring caves and enjoying the natural setting of coastline and atmospheric radiation. It’s all but a few know of… till now.

Cris Rose, supreme leader of all creatures mechanically inclined to be experimentally adorable and mindfully anamorphic, invites you to mingle amongst the outer reaches of a damp, mossy tundra to meet his mighty armada of vinyl/resin figures.

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