DEVELOP3D - Technology for the product lifecycle

This is an interesting move by Dell, who has just launched a workstation specifically designed and certified for AutoCAD. OK, so the fact that it’s designed for AutoCAD is unlikely to make most DEVELOP3D readers sit up and take notice, but what they might find interesting is that the Precision T1500 is based on Intel’s new Core i5 (or Core i7) processors. This is a first from a major workstation manufacturer, whose current lines are predominantly made up of Intel Xeon processors, which are more expensive but don’t offer much additional benefit.

The main difference between Intel’s Core i5 / Core i7 and Xeon processors is that the Xeon supports ECC memory, which is designed to correct any data errors that may occur, a benefit that is pretty hard to quantify. Xeon is also the only Intel workstation processor that is available in pairs, which is often required for CAE and rendering.

With a choice of entry-level graphics in the form of AMD’s ATI FirePro V3750 or Nvidia’s Quadro FX 580, the Precision T1500 is a bit limited in its graphics options. However, what it may do is push the other workstation vendors to launch price-conscious Core i5 or Core i7 systems that raise the graphics performance just a little, making them ideal for most mid-range CAD applications.

If you’re a follower of design technology then chances are you’ve come across C Sven Johnson, former blogger on Core77.com and author of the ReBang blog. I noticed that he’d been talking about a KickStarter project during a recent twitter stream and took a look, finding the results fascinating. When we’re facing a constriction of design freedom, due to economic pressures, with those that hold the purse strings clinging onto them for dear life, one option, particularly for the independents, is to go it alone. Develop a product, take it to manufacture and sale. But of course, that takes one thing that’s rarely in abundance – cash.

This is where something like KickStarter comes in. You get an idea, you detail it and you hope that the community stumps up the cash to help you out. It’s not crowdsourcing in terms of creativity (I’ll save you the usual drivel about threadless et al), but it certainly is crowdsourcing of funding. So, I caught up with C Sven and asked him to give us the background on the project, where it came from and what he’s working on.

The development idea for 100K Stray Toastheds is itself the product of a few years of conceptual gestation. Back in early 2006, before Fabjectory, Ponoko, Figureprints and other fabbing-centric sites popped up, Pete Cashmore, Mashable’s founder, contacted me. He’d come across my blog (via Wired’s Chris Anderson’s “Long Tail” blog entry on my 3D ripping example) and asked if I was interested in setting up a 3D printing service fabbing avatars (I wanted to fab jewelery). As it turned out, what we were chasing was very much what Ponoko has done with 100KGarages; only geared towards service bureaus instead of home-based CNC users. Unfortunately we ran into a few snags, including a general lack of interest from the service bureaus who, for the most part, didn’t grok what we were doing or how it might benefit them.

Mashable, of course, began to take off quickly around that time and I was starting work on MTV’s first 3D virtual world project, so our informal partnership fizzled. However, the idea stuck with me, and towards the end of the year, as my contract on the MTV gig was nearing completion, I realized that the only way around the reluctant service bureaus was, eventually, to go to the people using their own 3D printers. With that in mind, I backed out of my virtual world development consulting and shifted back to regular product development; I didn’t want to get too far away from tangible goods.

Continuing to look for ways to set up a decent service, I determined that the biggest hindrance to acceptance by the product development community was the potential for 3D file “sharing”. A thread on CGTalk had stuck with me over the years and I kept imagining how most industrial designers would react. So for a long while I spent a lot of time watching the music industry, the problems cropping up on Flickr and in Second Life and around Facebook, and trying to wrap my head around reputation systems and intellectual property.

About a year ago or so I realized what was needed for an online distributed system to work; not just for 3D files but for most if not all content. Lacking that application, one of the first things I did when 100KGarages was announced was see how it handled file “sharing”. It doesn’t. It’s going on the honor system, as far as I can tell.

In the meantime, Jerry Paffendorf, a friend of mine from my early 3D ripping exploration/Second Life/MTV virtual world days had gotten into the Kickstarter beta and phoned me to brainstorm some ideas for a project he was considering. I was curious about Kickstarter, but initially underwhelmed. Kickstarter, for me, is an idea that probably a lot of people have but no one ever actually thinks could work, so they dismiss it without a second thought. The brilliance isn’t the idea; it’s in not dismissing the idea. As Jerry launched, met his first funding goal and then proceeded into a second round, I took notice. Other projects were getting funding as well; including some which really didn’t seem like something I’d expect would be funded. I kept wondering, “Where are the humanitarian projects, like ...”? And then finally it hit me.

My first stab at a project was to make a product for developing countries. It was with that project in mind that I approached Jerry asking to be put in touch with Kickstarter’s founders so I could launch that product development project. On Jerry’s recommendation, they contacted me. They didn’t know the details of the project I was wanting to pursue, but I was invited to join.

However, after a couple of weeks of initial research into my humanitarian product idea, I ran into a bit of reality: the likelihood that the problem I was hoping to address wasn’t a product issue but a cultural issue.

Putting that idea on slow burn, I decided to look for something less ambitious to simply test the concept of going to the community for product development funding. And that’s when Ponoko launched 100KGarages. I immediately knew what I wanted to do, and fortunately I found a perfect candidate product.

The Toasthed Pull Toy was originally a school project; one I didn’t want to do because we’d already done toys and I wanted to do a medical product or something similarly sophisticated. I did three pages of sketches; the first filled with a variety of pull toy forms, picked this one, and did a couple more rough sketch pages to figure out how it might work. From there I banged out a foam model.

For me, it was a quick, class-required effort; not something of which I was especially proud. Surprisingly, it got an excellent response. If it hadn’t, I’d probably not have bothered photographing the model.

As it turns out, however, because the Toasthed toy was left so unresolved yet so seemingly finished, it makes an excellent test case for Kickstarter. Because there’s a decent model, people are more apt to believe in the project’s chances for success. If it’s nothing more than what they see, that may be good enough.

My intentions, however, are to revisit the design with both a better attitude and 16 years of experience under my belt. I now see this toy becoming a kind of platform for customization (as indicated by my reference to Build-a-Bear on the project page). That opens up some interesting possibilities; not just in the product but in how the community grows the product on its own.

We’ll see how it goes. While the design is of renewed interest to me, it’s the circumstances surrounding this project which are of greater interest. I don’t know of any other product being “crowdfunded” in this way. And if I get funded and can set a good example, it opens the door to other industrial designers with good ideas and not enough funds to make them a reality. Given the state of the economy, Kickstarter and its eventual imitators may provide a springboard to something pretty interesting. That’s what this project is really about, as far as I’m concerned.

I find this fascinating. The idea that it might be possible to take a product at least to a pre-release manufacturing state, share both the intellectual property and any rewards, without formalised backing. That’s an indication of a shift. Crowdsourcing is a phrase often bandied around as is Community, when dealing with online activities. If you look at an example where the two work together very successfully, look at threadless and the many other t-shirt community sites out there. They source graphic design work from their community, find which designs are popular, then print those up – and sell them - and in some cases, sell a LOT of them. The designer gets a decent fee, no set-up costs and fame and glory. The company makes a crap lot of cash – by using the community to reduce the risk of failure of a product, by having a self filtering system for its products. But that’s just t-shirts.

C Sven is talking about hard products, products which are ‘more likely’ to be involved in legal and liability action, should faults occur (after all, you’d have to be pretty unlucky to choke on a t-shirt). The legal problems are discussed in the comments on the project page. We were so taken with this that we chipped in a few quid but he’s still got a way to go, if you’re interested, then the project page is here and all donations are, I’m sure welcome. Whether this project gets the green light or not, as he says, doesn’t really matter. What I find most interesting is that this sort of thing is possible at all. It’s certainly not going to replace how things are done for the 99.9% of us, but for those with a good solid idea, it’s another avenue to explore and see where you can go.

Dassault’s 3dvia group has finally released the iPhone app for interaction with the 3d-centric community portal, first demonstrated at DEVCON earlier this year. As hinted at in the demonstraton, the App gives users the ability to interact with the community aspects of the service, giving users a fully manipulable 3D model, search functions as well as all that good social media-related stuff (rating, commenting etc).

The multi-touch interface is exceptional (except a lack of landscape switch-a-roo goodness), with a single finger rotating the model, two fingers panning and the ninja-pinch for zoom in/out as you’d expect. You can search models on line (here’s a LOT), view and comment on them. If you’re rocking the iPhone 3GS, you can also use the built in camera to capture an image and integrate a model for a variety of purposes.

Here’s a quick video on the basics of the App

I caught up with David Laubner, Director of Product Marketing for 3dvia online and the first question was the big one:

Why?

We must deliver our products and services where our users expect and want to have them. With the massive popularity of the iPhone, we need to make sure that we have an offering to suit this growing communities needs.

What purpose do you think the application will serve?

This first application for Dassault Systemes is primarily targeted at the existing 3DVIA.com user base of 120K+ users. It brings most of the functionality of the site right on to the iPhone including 3D model search and interactive 3D view. Users will have access to their own content and network allowing them to interact right on their phones.

It also include the 3DVIA Collage feature which allows users to combine most of the 15K+ models on the site with pictures from the iPhone. This application is both viral and practical at the same time. For designers and 3D artists, you can create environments on the fly for your work right on your phone. As shown in the “I Wonder” video, consumers can use it to visualize changes in the real world. A consumer looking to add furniture to their home could take a picture with their iPhone and position various 3D models of couches from our partner Mydeco.com until they find the right one.

The viral aspect of this feature is easy to see. Users are already using it just create funny pictures with some of the more artistic 3D models from the site.

Can you open 3dxml files that have been mailed to you?

Indirectly – the model would have to be uploaded to the 3DVIA.com site and then you can access it from your “my3DVIA” tab on the phone. Users can access their private models if they need to keep it out of the public view.

What are the differences between the iPhone and iPod Touch implementations

Primarily it is the lack of the camera on the touch blocking the use of the Collage feature. Additionally, it will only work on the 2G and not the earlier version.

3dvia Mobile is about providing access to content on 3dvia.com – a community web-site – so why charge users? it’s not inline with the community ethic?

This was a strong debate for the group but it fits with some of our plans as we move forward and look to develop both the product offering and the business model. Our intent is to continue to develop the offerings on 3DVIA.com and always have a strong product at either free or very inexpensive price points.

Although the free period that we are offering right now will have a bit of a marketing boost, it is being offered to help support our key users that have been deeply engaged with the site for so long.

At the moment, the app is live on the Apple App Store and is free, but will eventually be chargable at $1.99 (estimated). While initially this seems like a throw away application, looking at the numbers within the community, the potential for closed session discussion and the ability to quickly share your models, you’ve got something intriguing.

You can upload data to 3Dvia.com via all manner of means and using a variety of formats including .3ds, .obj, .dae (collada), .kmz, .vrml, .3dxml, 3dm (rhino) – strangely no SolidWorks native export (but SWx does export 3dxml and collada). There’s even a handy tutorial for uploading and ensuring the best data translation from Catia available here. There’s a couple of blogs running that will be covering the app, so take a look here and the 3d perspectives blog here.

With the Autodesk SketchBook Mobile annoucement last week and now this, it looks like vendors are taking mobile devices seriously – performance on these devices is getting better, the interaction methods are increasingly intuitive – leaving the keyboard and mouse combo for dead when it comes to visualisation and manipulation of 3D data. Yes. The screen is small, but the potential if huge. Bring it on.

Big news just in. Autodesk has just launched Project Twitch on its labs web-site. This sees an experiment start in delivery of the company’s flagship products, AutoCAD, Maya, Inventor 2010 and Revit 2010 over the web. Not downloaded, not maintained, but hosted online.

At present there’s some pretty hefty restrictions on the use of the services. For example, you need to be running on Windows (XP or Vista), using IE (7+) or Firefox (3.x). You can’t upload, download or save files (the apps are provided with sample files). But perhaps the biggest restriction is that you need to be within 1,000 miles of the data center hosting the applications. As you’ll see from the image below, the data center is in San Francisco, which makes a large proportion of the potential users in terms of reach, either fish or aquaman.

Hosted apps are the future – that’s pretty much certain (look at the rise of google’s various apps) and several CAD vendors have already started to experiment with hosted applications. Dassault have been working towards this with Catia for several year. SolidWorks has been pushing out trials of online drawing apps with BluePrint Now and Drawings Now). But this is perhaps the first time that a truly mainstream set of applications has been delivered in this way. It’s a brave new world people. Strap yourselves in. If anyone is in that demographic (presumably sans scuba gear) and gets this working, let us know how it goes.

Do forgive me for this, I didn’t get the chance to get this posted while out in Korea, so here’s the second day of the event’s thoughts and ponderings:

After an evening spent with some wonderful company in a traditional Korean resturant, the first day was all about 3D design and development tools, the second day of the Tech Summit is all about manufacturing and production, starting with PowerMill 10. This is the first of two releases this year, with PowerMill 2010 coming later on. The reason for this is that Delcam has added two key technologies that it’s customers have been crying out for. The first is multicore support has been added into PowerMill 10. This will split a tool-path into segments (according to the number of cores you have) and calculate one of each core. As with many things, some processes are more suited to parallel processing than others. In the world of CAM, it’s most useful when you’re using raster tool-paths. The good news is that many of PowerMill’s functions are raster based. The other operation or process type that gets real benefit from this is stock calculation, where the model is processed after each tool-path’s creation to maintain an accurate model of the remaining material.

Alongside this, release 10 also gets background processing capabilities. In the current release, you define your tool-path, then calculate it. This locks up PowerMill while the chunking is done. From the release 10 onwards, you can set-up tool-paths, add them to a queue, then continue to work on your part, adding more operations to the queue while your machine is calculating the tool-paths in the background.

Where the benefits can be gained with multi-threading support

It’s important to note two things, the background processing does not require multi-core workstations. The other relates to working on multiple jobs at one time. As default, PowerMill allows two sessions. In previous releases, this allowed you to open two jobs you’re working on and run them both in parallel. But the background processing tool uses one of those session licenses. So, while you can queue up multiple calculation tasks, you’re not going to be able to run two sessions without an additional license. If you have networked flex licenses, this shouldn’t be a problem, but if you’re running a standalone workstation and often use two sessions, you might run into difficulties.

PowerMill 2010

While these new tools are going to the PowerMill 10 release, Delcam aren’t done for PowerMill for this year. PowerMil 2010 will be another major release later this year, with redesigned forms and dlalogs giving you access to operation variables in a much quicker way without switching dialogs. There will be new roughing operations that will avoid thiun slithers of material, which is something those of you using insert-based cutter will know is a problem (the slithers can rip the inserts straight out and these things ain’t cheap). Corner Clearance when roughing is going to be improved and will removes materials left in corners in successive layers – it’s similar to trochoidial roughing, but works across more operations.

The last two major updates are a new smoothing algorithm which can be applied across a whole toolpath, adding arcs across all areas of a toolpath to create a seemless toolpath – previously, the addition of arc was reserved for corners – and should give you a much better surface finish. Finally, the new Tool Holder Profile tools can help you to find the most appropriate toolholder for your machining task. This is done by finding the minimum profile that can safely fit into every area of the part across all of the tool-paths. It then gives you that information when you’re working on tool holder selection(by means of a graphical representation), allowing you to find the best holder for the job and to make adjustments to other settings (such as overhang) to get the best results.

Oh and there’s also new tools for assist with collision avoidance in 5 axis operations. While it’s not a new feature per-se, it’s been optimised to give you a much smoother tool-path and machine movement (previous releases could give you quite harsh machine movements).

Delcam PartMaker

This is another company that Delcam acquired a few years ago. PartMaker is predominately used to program both swiss lathes and turn mill applications. For those unfamiliar with Swiss Lathes, they’re typically used to create smaller parts using sliding stock and multiple spindles. The combination of constant feed and moving material and the multiple spindles means that you can highly compress and optimise your operations (synchronising between the two machining spindles) and build parts at a very high rate.

Of course, the programming software is essential, because if you can shave fractions of seconds out of a single part, then when you multiply that by part volumes (we’re talking 100,000+ units), even the most modest of time savings can quickly stack up to greater productivity. Also, the complex nature of these types of machines, particularly when you consider some have 11 or more axis of movement, means you need some bullet proof coding tools.

Updates for this release are the introduction of 5 axis operations. There’s also greater integration with PowerMill, allowing you to switch data from PartMaker to PowerMill to work on very complex operations, then integrate those operations back in PartMaker. While the origins of the Swiss lathe lies in the Swiss watch making industry, the machines have been adopted across many industries sectors, from aerospace to medical, so while the term lathe may give you an impression of axisymmetric parts, almost anything can be machined as long as it can fit within the bar size.

FeatureCAM

FeatureCAM is another of Delcam’s recently acquisition that’s become more integrated into the product portfolio. Alongside PowerMill and PartMaker, it may seem redundant that Delcam has another part programming tool, but each has it’s own areas of speciality and concentration – and as such, there’s different language and terminology for each. To give you an idea of what FeatureCAM is about is about firstly formalising your knowledge and best practice in terms of machining operations variables (speeds, feeds, step-over etc), cutter preferences and such. It’s then about providing a knowledge-based environment in which you can generate part programs very quickly indeed. It does this by recognising features within your parts (as such, it’s inherently most suited to prismatic parts) then generating operations to create those features. The feature-based nature of the system also gives a better environment for CAD/CAM integration, as the system can reload updated geometry, find which boundaries have changes, which features have shifted, been added or removed, then update the program accordingly.

Where the benefits can be gained with multi-threading support

It’s important to note two things, the background processing does not require multi-core workstations. The other relates to working on multiple jobs at one time. As default, PowerMill allows two sessions. In previous releases, this allowed you to open two jobs you’re working on and run them both in parallel. But the background processing tool uses one of those session licenses. So, while you can queue up multiple calculation tasks, you’re not going to be able to run two sessions without an additional license. If you have networked flex licenses, this shouldn’t be a problem, but if you’re running a standalone workstation and often use two sessions, you might run into difficulties.

PowerMill 2010

While these new tools are going to the PowerMill 10 release, Delcam aren’t done for PowerMill for this year. PowerMil 2010 will be another major release later this year, with redesigned forms and dlalogs giving you access to operation variables in a much quicker way without switching dialogs. There will be new roughing operations that will avoid thiun slithers of material, which is something those of you using insert-based cutter will know is a problem (the slithers can rip the inserts straight out and these things ain’t cheap). Corner Clearance when roughing is going to be improved and will removes materials left in corners in successive layers – it’s similar to trochoidial roughing, but works across more operations.

The last two major updates are a new smoothing algorithm which can be applied across a whole toolpath, adding arcs across all areas of a toolpath to create a seemless toolpath – previously, the addition of arc was reserved for corners – and should give you a much better surface finish. Finally, the new Tool Holder Profile tools can help you to find the most appropriate toolholder for your machining task. This is done by finding the minimum profile that can safely fit into every area of the part across all of the tool-paths. It then gives you that information when you’re working on tool holder selection(by means of a graphical representation), allowing you to find the best holder for the job and to make adjustments to other settings (such as overhang) to get the best results.

Oh and there’s also new tools for assist with collision avoidance in 5 axis operations. While it’s not a new feature per-se, it’s been optimised to give you a much smoother tool-path and machine movement (previous releases could give you quite harsh machine movements).

Delcam PartMaker

This is another company that Delcam acquired a few years ago. PartMaker is predominately used to program both swiss lathes and turn mill applications. For those unfamiliar with Swiss Lathes, they’re typically used to create smaller parts using sliding stock and multiple spindles. The combination of constant feed and moving material and the multiple spindles means that you can highly compress and optimise your operations (synchronising between the two machining spindles) and build parts at a very high rate.

Of course, the programming software is essential, because if you can shave fractions of seconds out of a single part, then when you multiply that by part volumes (we’re talking 100,000+ units), even the most modest of time savings can quickly stack up to greater productivity. Also, the complex nature of these types of machines, particularly when you consider some have 11 or more axis of movement, means you need some bullet proof coding tools.

Updates for this release are the introduction of 5 axis operations. There’s also greater integration with PowerMill, allowing you to switch data from PartMaker to PowerMill to work on very complex operations, then integrate those operations back in PartMaker. While the origins of the Swiss lathe lies in the Swiss watch making industry, the machines have been adopted across many industries sectors, from aerospace to medical, so while the term lathe may give you an impression of axisymmetric parts, almost anything can be machined as long as it can fit within the bar size.

FeatureCAM

FeatureCAM is another of Delcam’s recently acquisition that’s become more integrated into the product portfolio. Alongside PowerMill and PartMaker, it may seem redundant that Delcam has another part programming tool, but each has it’s own areas of speciality and concentration – and as such, there’s different language and terminology for each. To give you an idea of what FeatureCAM is about is about firstly formalising your knowledge and best practice in terms of machining operations variables (speeds, feeds, step-over etc), cutter preferences and such. It’s then about providing a knowledge-based environment in which you can generate part programs very quickly indeed. It does this by recognising features within your parts (as such, it’s inherently most suited to prismatic parts) then generating operations to create those features. The feature-based nature of the system also gives a better environment for CAD/CAM integration, as the system can reload updated geometry, find which boundaries have changes, which features have shifted, been added or removed, then update the program accordingly.

Point of thought

The past two days brought home something I’ve been thinking about for a while and that’s the CAM industry in general. While there’s an increasingly degree of consolidation (something that’s only going to increase), it’s still a highly fragmented industry, both in terms of geography and in terms of functionality. While the geographic fragmentation isn’t going to change much until the larger vendors start to swallow up the smaller vendors out there and others disappear. Obviously there’s an economic crisis which might see smaller CAM vendors get into trouble and sell out before it’s too late, but there’s also an age issue. Quite a number of CAM vendors are privately owned by the person or people that started them in the late 70s and 80s. Many of these people are getting towards retirement age and you’ll see greater consolidation due to that reason alone.

In terms of functionality fragmentation, this is also something that’s inevitable. Within the world of CAM, there are many processes, many machine types and many different variables, meaning that the proliferation of systems is natural. The type of machine tool you run often filters out your list of software available, particularly if you choose not to go with your machine tool vendor’s recommendations. While if you’re running a 5 axis machine tool, you have a wide selection, when it comes to systems such as the more complex mill/turn or swiss lathe type machines, the list isn’t as quite as extensive.

Also consider your company’s requirements and where you need to place the priority for your CAM work. Are you looking for the greatest surface finish on a highly complex part, are you looking to create high volumes of parts using a mill/turn where reduction of part cycle time is key or are you looking at quick turn around one offs or small volumes with minimum machine set-up time, where part programming needs to be quick.

What’s interesting is it’s a rare occasion indeed when you’d find tools to support all these options and requirements from a single vendor. While Delcam’s name was built within the world of mould and die design and machining, the last 10 years have seen the company hugely expand its offering, both in terms of a wider spread of CAM-variants, but also in terms of new processes, both upstream and downstream. The solution set now covers everything, from conceptualisation and design, through tooling design, NC programming right through to inspection. you’re now seeing greater integration between all of the systems and cross pollination of technology between the various constituent systems. PowerShape gets mesh handling tools from CopyCAD, PartMaker now swaps data with PowerMill etc etc etc. It’s highly impressive and something that many other vendors could learn a thing or two from.

Image Courtesy of Andrew Meehan, industrial designer

Fresh from DEVELOP3D.com’s sister web-site, Mac:Design: Tomorrow (if all goes according to plan), Autodesk will launch it’s first commercial application for Apple’s iPhone platform. Taking its technology based from the SketchBook products that have been Windows and Mac-based for sometime, the system strips things down to the basics and provides a mobile platform for sketching – using iPhone (or iPod Touch) multi-touch interactivity.

I had the pleasure of having this application (which has been in Beta for sometime) on my iPod during my recent travels and it’s compelling indeed. Sketching is perhaps the one thing that connects designers, engineers and civilians – everyone doodles, sketches and draws – it’s just that some are better than others. So let’s take a look at what we’re got to play with.

A quick download from the App Store and an install (the app will cost 2.99 in the US, 1.79 in the UK, 2.39 euro) later you’re ready. Hit the Icon and up it loads. The system gives you a quick walk through of the key functions and shortcuts and interactivity (as well as their being a complete help system embedded in the tool). The interface is pretty transparent. You’re presented with a full screen drawing surface. While the iPhone’s display runs at 480x320 pixel, what you’re actually look at is a 600x400 pixel drawing area. two fingered pinch gives you zoom, dragging those dual digits gives you pan, allowing you to work at the level and in the area you choose. Images can be brought in from the iPhone gallery and used as the basis for a sketch (or as I used it for, for mark up – making it a slick workflow tool) or you can dive in and start drawing.

The tools and options are all accessed through the small icon to the bottom of the screen, tap this once and a marking/radial menu pops up. This gives you the most commonly used commands. From the top and clockwise, you have pencil, airbrush, paint-brush, eraser. You then have the brush control (more on that shortly), layers (the system supports transparent layers – six for the iPhone 3GS but three for other variants – due to lower processor speed), the colour wheel (controlled using swatches or a colour wheel) and perhaps most interestingly for the technical/ID user, Symmetry.

Symmetry lets you build up both sides of a sketch quickly and easily, then you turn it off to add detail. Image courtesy of me (which is why it’s crap)

Depending on your orientation (portrait or landscape), SketchBook Mobile will take readings from the iPhone sensors and assign symmetry centrally and vertically (if you have it in landscape, it’ll run the axis of symmetry up the centre of the page). In the centre, you have the brush resize control – tapping, holding and dragging left/right will change the size of your brush, with a value readout.

Brush presets and control is first class and something often missing from other iphone drawing apps

In terms of brush options, there’s a veritable feast of options, using the same brush engine as the desktop version of SketchBook Pro – you’ve got full control over size, width, transparency for pencil, brush, airbrush, different stroke type and texturing tools – there’s also, of course, the flood fill command too.

The layers are a tool that’s going to make life much easier, as we’ve already said, there’s 3 available on the Ipod Touch while the 3GS gets 6. Even with 3, that’s pretty usable and the ability to merge layers down gives you added flexibility and control. Multi-touch and multi-tap is used where sensible, the corners of the UI are ‘hot’ – for clearing a layer, fit to view, undo and redo (10 levels of both), while tap hold brings up a colour picker tool.

Alongside preset swatches, the colour wheel gives you full colour control.

All in all, the whole experience is pretty wonderful. There are other drawing applications out there for the iPhone, but this is a professional grade tool, layer control and symmetry bring the tools a design-led user might need and you’re working on an image big enough for real communication, rather than a quick thumbnail.

There’s a video tutorial coming shortly, but in the meantime, take a look at the Flickr page for the beta testers, download the application (come on, it’s only 3 bucks – probably the cheapest Autodesk product out there) and have a bash.

Sketching is still the predominate method of communication all the way through the design process and while the moleskine and pen combo isn’t going to go away and this isn’t going to change the status quo, it is a nice indicator of where things might be headed. As Carl over at Core77.com said in his post on the app, “the tactile feedback that makes paper such an enduring medium is unchallenged here, though they’ve given it a good shot: there’s some very good brush rendering technology that makes pencil strokes look like pencil strokes, and “synthetic touch sensitivity” to simulate the effects of increased pressure, despite the lack of true pressure-sensitivity in the iPhone screen.”

Simple tools are often the best and while SketchBook Mobile has a few things missing (text would be handy, as would a sync app – you currently need to email or post images out), it’s as near a complete set of sketching tools as anyone would need. The best thing is, it’s cheap as chips, so if you’re iPhoned up, then have a bash. And post your results on the Flickr group if you dare.

Just remember, if you do happen to be sketching Stonehenge, remember to put the correct dimensions on it.

Get it from the Apple Store

First up is Hankook Delcam’s chairman, the ever charming Mr Jeong, former doorman and teacher. He’s quite the gentleman and has become something of a legend. his attitude shows his background, believing that if you’re a good teacher, then you can become a success is business, particularly when you find the right staff and help them to become success, through both mentoring, support and a lack of blame culture within his organisation. That and whatever his competitors, his company will do it at least twice as big, whether that’s magazine advertising or trade show stands. And it seems to work has Hankook Delcam is the largest CAD/CAM company in Korea.

Next up is a look into Delcam’s Tribrid modelling approach. yes. Tribrid modelling. Let me explain. the term hybrid modelling has been around for sometime, where systems allow you to work with both solid and surface modelling technology in equal measure. What the ‘Tri’ tag brings into this mix is the ability to work with solids, surfaces and tessellated meshes. Where this becomes useful is the integrate of geometry more complex than surface models, typically either reverse engineered or modelled to represent highly organic features, whether that’s texture, decoration or other complex features.

For sometime, Delcam has had the ability to work with these three types of geometry (solid, surface, mesh) in separate applications. For example, PowerShape took care of solid and surface modelling, while CopyCAD (for reverse engineering) and ArtCAM (for decoration design) handled mesh-based geometry. Now you can work with all three within PowerShape and use the most appropriate modelling methodology to solve your design problems. (we took a look at this new offering back in June 2008, so check the web-site for back issues) and of course, take them through to manufacture.

Finally, there’s big news on the solid modelling front is that in the next major release, PowerShape will see the integration of the Parasolid kernel. Why? the reasons offered are that it gives PowerShape a faster, more robust geometry modelling system, better interoperability, which then brings a better solution for those working in a supply chain environment.
To support this, the next release, PowerShape 2010 will see the introduction of the Solid Doctor to assist with converting poor quality data into reliable Parasolid models, by initially categorising faults, then providing fixes to build a watertight model. While for simple model this isn’t much of an issue, but when it’s customers are receiving poorly quality models, featuring 10,000 surfaces from Catia, then something is needed to provide some assistance and get the job done.

Delcam in Footwear

Delcam has always been active in the Footwear industry (naming Nike, Adidas and Wolverine amongst many others as clients), but the company’s acquisition of Crispin Systems in 2007 gave this a greater boost in the last few years. For those that haven’t looked at it, Footwear design is a very complex process, not only because of the various constituent parts (sole, upper, etc etc) but of the non-proportional scaling to create the multitude of international footwear sizes (referred to as grading).

Footwear design begins with a Last, to provide the basis for the shoe design, and the Crispin tools allows you to reverse engineer these from scanned data (they’re typically handcrafted). you then use a series of specialist tools to create the detail and form of the shoe, then create the flat pattern for cutting materials from sheets. Of course, this is Delcam and the company also provides the tools to create the production ready data, both in terms of mould development and machining for soles and other components, but also production and documentation for TechPacks (which define the production and assembly information) as well as tools for nesting (to reduce scrap wasted material) and cutting components from both paper (for patterns) and leather.

Setting out Healthcare plans

The big news for this event is the launch of Delcam’s Healthcare Division, which formalises and expands the company’s existing activities in the medical field. Chris Lawrie, Healthcare Business Development Manager explained how lessons learned and technologies learned in the engineering sector can be applied to the medical world.

Current medical activity maxillofacial (facial reconstruction), dental, prosthetic limbs, orthotic insoles, shoes and implants, general implants, dental reconstruction and cranioplasty. What makes the huge difference is customising each of these for the form and needs of each patient. Of course, capturing this data requires that the form is captured, which Delcam solves at present by taking CT data and converting them into useful 3D data using a system from Simpleware. Once that data is captured, the tools within Delcam’s tools (solids, surfaces and mesh modelling) are used to create and re-engineer the components required, then manufacture them. Many of Delcam’s products are already used in medical, for example, PartMaker has 70% of it’s customers in the medical field (as swiss lathes, with PartMaker specialised in, are commonly used to provide components at very high part rates).

What’s interesting is that the medical field is crying out for assistance with these process and according to Lawrie, there’s a huge opportunity for companies with experience within the aerospace field (due to the knowledge of handling and machining complex alloys and metals) to readapt that experience to fulfil this need

Alongside the use of Delcam’s existing and generally applicable tools such as PowerShape and PowerMill, the company is also developing bespoke applications for the medical field. A good example is the DentCAD and DentMill set of tools which allow you to reverse engineer from teeth, then manufacture implants and such.

Delcam are tagging their set of tools as the Digital Laboratory and the aim is to assist the medical professional with bringing these technologies and production processes to the mainstream by taking their technology, adapting the language and inputs within the field and creating a set of tools that allow the medical sector to reduce both costs and time scale (casting is commonly used, but is a very lengthy process) – but also to create solutions which speed recovery times and improve the life of patients. Take the example FaceMaker being used to assist someone suffering from facial cancer. Rather than increasing patient trauma by putting them through the lengthy process of building a physical cast from their face, the systems Delcam are developing can capture the data needed within seconds, without any form of invasion and deliver a better prothetic that better suits their needs. Then, when repeat prescriptions are needed, a replacement can be manufactured without further invasion or stress.

In terms of process support, Delcam are also developing a set of web-based tools for workflow and process management (based on their PS-Team system) that allows everyone involved in the process (which are typically geographically dispersed) to see the process and how each project progresses, from store front, through design and into production, delivery, implementation and invoicing. All fully traceable and auditable, which for the medical field is a huge issue.

That about wraps up the presentations for today, and we’re off to visit Hyundai Motors, so I’ll be back at you tomorrow with more. Toodles.