Workshop kit guide P28 CADsoma P46 Thinkstation P360 P54

TECHNOLOGY FOR THE PRODUCT LIFECYCLE FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 | £6 | € 7 | $10 | DEVELOP3D.COM

GLAZE
OF GLORY
How a historic British
tilemaker is transforming
surfaces old and new

WHEELCHAIR DESIGN PORT-TO-PORT SEAGLIDER AI & SCENE GENERATION

p01_D3D_FEBMARCH2023.indd 1 09/02/2023 16:07
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 WELCOME
EDITORIAL
Editor
Stephen Holmes
stephen@x3dmedia.com
+44 (0)20 3384 5297

Managing Editor
Greg Corke
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+44 (0)20 3355 7312

Staff Writer
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Consulting Editor
Martyn Day
martyn@x3dmedia.com
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S
DESIGN/PRODUCTION
Design/Production
pring is a time of growth and renewal, so we’re firing into the
Greg Corke
greg@x3dmedia.com new year with some excitingly fresh features.
+44 (0)20 3355 7312 Our cover story sees Claudia head to one of Britain’s oldest
purveyors of tiling, to learn how digital tools keep it at the
ADVERTISING forefront of its industry. Craven Dunnill Jackfield has leveraged
a university graduate scheme to enable its skilled craftsmen
Group Media Director to increase production of even the most complex tiles, many of
Tony Baksh
tony@x3dmedia.com which feature in some glorious restoration projects.
+44 (0)20 3355 7313 While the D&T education sector remains under the cosh
here in the UK, we managed to find some interesting glimmers of hope, with
Deputy Advertising Manager two comment articles this month from educators. These cover TEDI-London,
Steve King the capital’s newest higher education provider devoted to engineering and
steve@x3dmedia.com
+44 (0)20 3355 7314 design, and from across the pond, a viewpoint from Wayne State University in
Detroit, Michigan, on how a new breed of mobile device-based design tools are
US Sales Director democratising the teaching of key skills.
Denise Greaves As CAD technology suppliers evolve their business models, there has been a
denise@x3dmedia.com
+1 857 400 7713 significant reduction in the number of resellers, hindering customer adoption of
useful third-party plug-ins. This issue, we find out more about CADsoma, which
aims to become the ‘Amazon of CAD tools’, supporting these products and their
SUBSCRIPTIONS developers, and introducing customers to new ways to get jobs done.
Circulation Manager Given the hype and hope around new generative AI tools in many sectors, we also
Alan Cleveland spoke to Paul Powers of Physna. When Paul realised that nothing really existed
alan@x3dmedia.com
in this category for the 3D design sector, he and his team set out to build such a
+44 (0)20 3355 7311
` tool in just two weeks, with just three engineers, and training the AI on just 8,000
models. If such AI tools are to be the future, then this Physna project is definitely
ACCOUNTS worth a closer look.
Accounts Manager Equally, with ‘digital twin’ being the buzz term for all the major engineering
Charlotte Taibi software companies this year, we asked Laurence Marks to dig into what the term
charlotte@x3dmedia.com really means and how design processes might benefit.
Financial Controller Finally, if you’re planning to bring more prototyping in-house in 2023, then
Samantha Todescato-Rutland we’ve got a list of products that might just fill some gaps in your arsenal. From
sam@chalfen.com dinky desktop CNC mills to a tough-cutting waterjet, we’ll definitely have listed
something that will have you eyeing-up that small patch of remaining benchtop in
ABOUT your workshop.
So there it is. You’ll be outside frolicking like lambs soon enough, but hopefully,
DEVELOP3D is published by this issue gets you through the remaining early nights and dark mornings.

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 d*
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Save the date

20 September 2023
Warwick Arts Centre, UK

Accelerating product development

to manufacture
develop3dlive.com

02 23 - Save the date.indd 1 09/02/2023 10:37

 CONTENTS

FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 ISSUE NO. 138

6 NEWS
Ultimaker launches new S7 3D printer, Formlabs
unveils its Automation Ecosystem, Intel announces
new mobile and desktop CPUs, plus lots more

FEATURES
10 Comment: Claas Kuhnen on giving students new design tools
12 Comment: Judy Raper on real-life experiences in education
14 Visual Design Guide: GE Profile Smart Mixer
20 COVER STORY Traditional tilework meets technology
28 Workshop kit: D3D’s guide to the best prototyping products
38 Physna experiments with AI-enabled scene generation
42 New horizons: The Freedom One Series 5 wheelchair
46 Introducing CADsoma, a marketplace for third-party apps
48 Opinion: Laurence Marks on digital twins and simulation
50 Port-to-port transport: Hop aboard the Regent Seaglider

REVIEWS
54 Lenovo ThinkStation P360 Ultra workstation

58 THE LAST WORD

With the December arrival of his baby son, Stephen Holmes
had ample time on the maternity ward to consider how
comforting a mundane but familiar object can be during
challenging times

2023

The wood used to produce this magazine

comes from Forest Stewardship Council
20 September 2023
certified well-managed forests, controlled
sources and/or recycled material
Warwick Arts Centre, UK

DEVELOP3D.COM FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 5

p05_D3D_FEBMAR23_Contents-JLT.indd 5 09/02/2023 12:50

 NEWS
NEWS
ULTIMAKER LAUNCHES NEW S7, WITH FOCUS
ON EASE OF USE AND PRINT RELIABILITY
» The newest addition to the company's line-up of 'S' 3D printers is here, with a range
of sensors and tweaks engineered to help users get every print right first time
T
he launch of the UltiMaker
S7 3D printer gives us a
first glimpse of the strong
partnership that has been
forged since desktop additive
manufacturing stalwarts MakerBot
and Ultimaker merged last year.
The S7 is an updated version of the
popular UltiMaker S5, reportedly in use by
over 25,000 customers. This new model
gives users a large 330 x 240 x 300mm
build volume. It also introduces a range
of new features focused on ease of use
and print reliability. A new flexible build
plate makes removing prints a breeze. An
integrated air filter is claimed to remove
up to 95% of ultra fine particles (UFPs)
and improves temperature regulation. The
S7 also features improved automated bed
levelling for reliable first-layer adhesion.
“The UltiMaker S7 is a fantastic addition
to our S-Series of printers,” said UltiMaker
CEO Nadav Goshen. “As more customers
are using 3D printing to grow and innovate
their business, our goal is to provide them
with a complete solution to be successful.”
UltiMaker CTO Miguel Calvo explained
that while the base electronics are
“fundamentally the same” to those in the
S5, the S7 has more sensors and tweaks
to make sure every print is right, first
time. Further wizards and walkthroughs
with image guides have been added too,
6 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM
p06_08_09_D3D_FEBMARCH23_NEWS.indd 6
so if issues are encountered, the user “Cura’s the lead software. It’s the right A webcam view of the
can quickly work to solve them using the software to use for an Ultimaker,” Calvo build chamber in the
Ultimaker S7 with its
guidance provided. explained. “You will only get the best print updated build plate
One of the key draws of the new 3D quality, reliability and all that kind of good
printer will be its compatibility with the stuff using Cura, and Cura remains open
UltiMaker ecosystem of over 200 materials, source and we’re dedicated to continuing
including those from third parties. The that development.”
add-on Material Station will allow for six ultimaker.com
spools to be set up, with automatic material
switching and humidity control.
Where the S7 will ultimately sit in the
combined UltiMaker product line-up is
still a little unclear. Calvo explained that
the S7 is “top of the line in the S line”, but
where this positions the Method line-up of
3D printers from the MakerBot heritage,
and how close the UltiMaker line will be
allowed to encroach on Stratasys’ F123
range are questions that are yet to be
addressed, at least publicly.
For now, the S7 looks like a 3D printer
looking to cement its status as the desktop
FDM unit of choice. With its level of
automation, software control and now
improved US support from the MakerBot
sales groups, it should offer a better
proposition for many design studios and
workshops than many of its rivals.
All UltiMaker products will operate using
Cura software, which has seen further
input from the US-based MakerBot team,
and the printer firmware has also received
a timely update.
09/02/2023 11:48
 Professional
Graphics
Begins Here

r.
d iffe
m ay
uct
rod
al p
ctu
.A
o nly
ses
rpo
pu
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at i
st r
illu
for
ed
vid
pro
age
Im

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 NEWS
FORMLABS AIMS TO BOOST
3D PRINTING PRODUCTIVITY
F Simcenter 2023
ormlabs has introduced
the Automation Ecosystem,
with the aim of delivering
new levels of 3D printing
productivity. Automation
Ecosystems comes with Form Auto,
for back-to-back throughput;
Fleet Control, for advanced fleet
management; and a High Volume Resin
System for high-capacity printing.
According to Formlabs executives, the
Automation Ecosystem will reduce the
amount of operator labour required and
minimise idle printer time. They claim
that 24/7 printing will enable users
to efficiently produce end-use parts,
prototypes and customisable products at a
lower cost per part.
The Automation Ecosystem was formally
launched at CES 2023 in Las Vegas, where
attendees had the opportunity to check
Intel unveils new mobile and desktop CPUs
I
ntel has kicked off 2023 with
the announcement of a raft
of new CPUs for mobile and
desktop machines, as well as a
teaser relating to forthcoming
workstation processors.
New launches include the 13th Gen Intel
Core mobile processors, new 13th Gen Intel
Core desktop processors and Intel Xeon W
processors (Sapphire Rapids), which pave
the way for new workstations.
The big news is that Intel has added
more cores to its mobile chips, with up
to 24 (8 P-cores and 16 E-cores) for the
HX-series, and up to 14 (6 P-cores and 8
E-cores) for the H-Series and P-series.
On the desktop, Intel has expanded its
family of 13th Gen Intel Core processors
with new 35W and 65W models that look
well-suited to budget-conscious CAD users.
It has also launched the ‘special edition’
8 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM
p06_08_09_D3D_FEBMARCH23_NEWS.indd 8
out first-hand the new system’s ability to
produce back-to-back prints, non-stop and
without an operator.
As organisations expand their 3D
printing set-ups from one printer to
multiple printers, the Automation
Ecosystem is designed to make the
transition smoother, without adding
management complexity.
“The Formlabs Automation Ecosystem
is a seamless solution for ramping up
production with 3D printer fleets, staying
true to the ease of use of all Formlabs
products, so anyone can make anything,”
said Formlabs chief product officer David
Lakatos.
Formlabs users recently achieved a
“major milestone”, he added: more than
100 million parts have been printed to
date using the company’s machines.
www.formlabs.com
Intel Core i9-13900KS, with a record 6.0
GHz max turbo frequency out of the box.
Finally, Intel has shared some brief
details of its forthcoming Intel Xeon
W-2400 and Intel W-3400 Series
workstation processors, codenamed
Sapphire Rapids.
www.intel.com
Fabrisonic intros
smart build plate
F
abrisonic's new SmartPlate
aims to improve 3D printing
processes by analysing
individual ‘pixels’ for sudden
vector changes, a tell-tale
sign of build issues.
In effect, SmartPlate is a build plate
that incorporates optical strain gauges
and thermal sensors. In tests involving a
problematic PBF build, Fabrisonic execs
claim that the SmartPlate picked up
significantly more information from an
initial build than from the bulk stress state.
Research into the product continues, with
the team recently upgrading an EOS M290
with a SmartPlate for quality monitoring.
www.fabrisonic.com
The Formlabs
Automation
Ecosystem aims to
help users make
the transition updates begin
T
from one 3D
printer to a fleet
he latest release of Simcenter
of machines
from Siemens Digital
Industries Software includes
a slew of new updates, as well
as new capabilities specific to
automotive and aerospace.
In particular, the company is
targeting the revolution in automotive
electrification, by breaking down the
silos that typically exist when it comes to
mechanical simulation for various aspects
of electric vehicle (EV) powertrains. This
includes the analysis of e-motor design,
transmission, NVH (noise, vibration and
harshness) and acoustics.
www.sw.siemens.com
New UltraSharp
monitor from Dell
D
ell has announced the
UltraSharp 32 6K Monitor
(U3224KB). This is its first
6K resolution monitor and
also comes with IPS Black
technology, designed to provide higher
contrast and deeper blacks.
The new monitor is targeted at
detail-oriented professionals engaged
in activities where every pixel counts:
designers, engineers and data scientists,
for example. A resolution of 6K offers
around 150% more pixels than 4K,
and this is boosted by the inclusion of
IPS Black technology, which means an
increase in depth for dark objects, even
in dark environments, and also in colour
accuracy, especially for low greys.
www.dell.com
09/02/2023 11:48
 VRGINEERS AND IMRNEXT ROUND
UP
SHOW OFF NEW VR HEADSET Ansys has acquired

V
rgineers has released its
new wireless high-fidelity
VR headset XTAL, developed
in partnership with
IMRNext, at the CES 2023
show in Las Vegas.
Executives from the company, a
manufacturer of virtual and mixed reality
(VR/MR) headsets for professionals,
explained that the XTAL has been
developed to address the switch from
tethered to standalone headsets that give
users more freedom and comfort.
In contrast with many other solutions
currently available, the new XTAL
headset targets high-end customers
who are unable to run demanding
applications from mobile cores and need
fully performing computers in order to
calculate their VR content.
“As a supplier to the defence industry,
we strongly believe that the wireless XTAL
will be the best choice for such use cases
as machine and aircraft maintenance,
rescue or fire-fighting operations, as well
as special forces training. Everywhere
where total immersion, freedom and high
performance is a must,” said Vrgineers
CEO Marek Polcak.
The XTAL headset will natively run 4K
resolution per eye, which requires a very
substantial bit rate. In order to achieve
a smooth wireless experience, Vrgineers
has developed a special mode that runs a
compressed resolution of 2560×1440 at
70Hz per eye, which IMRNext’s proprietary
technology transmits using Wi-Fi 6E.
Instead of placing the antenna on the
head, as is the case with other headsets,
Vrgineers decided to create an on-belt
module. This includes a powerful battery
particle dynamic
simulation software Rocky,
which enables users to
understand the behaviour
of discrete solids and
particle-laden free-surface
flows in order to reduce
waste, improve product
quality and uniformity, and
meet sustainability targets
www.ansys.com
The Science Museum in
London is to open a new
Engineers Gallery in June
2023. This will celebrate
the UK’s engineering
heritage and showcase
innovation through the
lens of the Queen Elizabeth
pack with adjustable power capacity and The combination of Prize for Engineering,
wireless antennas. the XTAL headset featuring current and past
with its on-belt
As a result, the overall weight of the module delivers prize winners
headset should remain the same, while a wireless AR/MR www.sciencemuseum.org.uk
wearing an extra weight on the belt should experience
make wireless usage more convenient.
The prototype that Vrgineers and Among Maxon’s first
IMRNext showed off at CES weighs 920 updates for the year is
grams and is of comparable size to an Redshift integration for
SLR camera. However, the final version is ZBrush. This is to enable
expected to weigh under 500 grams and artists who create high-
be of similar size to a mobile phone. quality renders using
The computer connects one USB ZBrush's digital sculpting
and display port from the GPU into a software to adopt new
proprietary IMRNext Wi-Fi access point, workflows that support
which converts the signal into Wi-Fi 6E subsurface scattering and
and streams it directly to the on-belt object-based emissive light
module. As a cable-free solution, the XTAL generation
should support “more dynamic use case www.maxon.net
scenarios”, executives claim.
www.vrgineers.com | www.imrnext.com
The Additive Manufacturing
Users Group (AMUG) has
announced its keynote

BCN3D gives Epsilon Series a major update speakers for its 2023
conference in Chicago, 19-23

B
March. They include Robert
CN3D has given the Epsilon introduction of a custom-made signal The upgraded Ducey of Laika Studios,
Series its first major update board for the Epsilon Series. This was Epsilon Series Nicholas Jacobson of the
printers offer a
since the product line was designed specifically for BCN3D products, new aesthetic,
University of Colorado’s
launched in 2020, with new and concentrates the main features onto upgraded Anschutz Medical Campus
features one single board, as electronics and XYZ and Max Haot of Launcher
aimed at providing a opposed to several autocalibration www.amug.com
productivity boost for commercial pieces
users of the benchtop implemented in various
machines. areas of the printer. The SprutCAM X Robot
A new heated Newly added local online library for CAM
ventilation system network access means simulation now includes
lowers internal pressure that files can be sent to models of almost 700 robot
and lets the interior the printer remotely, mechanisms from world-
absorb air from outside. and jobs monitored, renowned manufacturers
New Trinamic TMC2226 paused and cancelled including KUKA, ABB
motors drive the remotely as well. and Universal Robots, as
machine quietly and The updated Epsilon well as a programming
with greater efficiency Series, which includes environment for simulating
and provide better engine torque while the W50, W27, W50 SC and W27 SC, is now robot/user interactions
staying cool. available for purchase. www.sprutcam.com
The new generation sees the www.bcn3d.com

DEVELOP3D.COM FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 9

p06_08_09_D3D_FEBMARCH23_NEWS.indd 9 09/02/2023 11:48

 COMMENT
Teaching the next generation of
designers and giving them a
competitive edge can be achieved
without sacrificing your teaching
ideals, writes Claas Kuhnen of
Wayne State University in the US
S
ince I started to study design
22 years ago, technology has
advanced radically, not only
transforming our classroom,
but also giving us the ability
to innovate even the process we use
when designing.
As an educator, this is very important,
because it not only provides a solution to
accessibility issues (hard and software cost)
and further democratises design, but it also
enables students who all have different skill
sets to productively participate.
In my teaching philosophy, the guiding
narrative is: ‘Why do we teach something?’
Traditionally in industrial design, sketches
are valued more than 3D modelling in CAD,
because it is often assumed that sketching is
faster and more productive.
This way of thinking, in my experience,
is often based on an incorrect and limited
understanding of what 3D modelling can
be. In short, with the correct tool, one
person might 3D model just as fast as
another person could illustrate their ideas
via sketching. The reverse of this is that
elaborate and detailed marker renderings
can take as long as detailed CAD models.
To my surprise, in education, the ‘sketch
first, 3D model later’ process is still very
common. This ignores the human aspect:
students have different abilities. Some
are better sketchers, some are better 3D
modellers. And, unfairly, students who can
draw are often valued more. It’s assumed
that they are more creative, because they
can express their ideas better and faster.
As an educator, my task is not to provide
an apprenticeship-like education that forces
students through one narrow tunnel of
accepted methods and tools.
Instead, it is to provide students with a
solid general foundation, and then give
them diverse options to further develop
their skill sets, based on their own interests,
resulting in very unique and individual
design personalities.
And by diversifying teaching tools and
methods, you can also help each student to
improve in areas where they are weak.
10 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM
p10_D3D_FEBMAR23_ClaasKuhnen.indd 10
As designers, we are not artists. We
present information. It should not matter
how we arrive at the final proposal – but
more that we do arrive there.
Sketching is two-dimensional and allows
you to quickly explore orthographic studies
or details. Perspective sketches, on the
other hand, are more time-consuming to
create accurately.
In contrast, 3D modelling allows me to
experience an idea more from a three-
dimensional aspect. I can rotate and
evaluate proportions in a way I can’t with
hand sketching. And it is true that quick
local edits in a 3D model can be labour-
intensive compared to quick sketch studies.
The point I am making is that each
method has its advantages but also its
disadvantages. The beauty of mixing the two
together is that they inform each other.
NEW DIRECTIONS WITH IPADS
I started the iPad programme in my
department at Wayne State University,
and it radically transformed how students
operate in my classroom, because of two
apps: Shapr3D and Concepts.
Shapr3D’s parasolid 3D modelling comes
with an incredibly intuitive interface and
workflow. It provides a very fresh approach
to 3D modelling by not abiding to traditional
CAD workflows and instead puting the
designer in front. In Shapr, 3D modelling
feels more like 3D drawing.
Concepts also provides a very different
approach and toolset to assist creative
minds. Instead of going with the usual
pixel-based workflow, it uses paths, which
can be styled to look like a pencil, marker,
airbrush and other tools, enabling a student
to adjust literally every single stroke created
afterwards, when cleaning up or changing
sketches, without the need to redo parts.
To top this, Concepts also allows you to
sketch with a scale, measuring your lines
even while you draw and enabling you to
precisely understand the dimensions of
your work.
This is an incredible emotional liberation,
because students know that there are

In my teaching philosophy, the
guiding narrative is: ‘Why do
we teach something?’

no time-costly mistakes anymore. This
promotes more ‘fearless sketching’ and
designs are proportionally correct.
This all runs on an iPad, giving students
the ability to work when and wherever they
want. In addition to mixing 3D and sketching
via overlays in Concepts to document their
work, students can also make use of various
LiDAR and photogrammetry-based apps to
digitise objects and include them in their
design process as a precise 3D blueprint
underlay reference.
Now imagine a workflow where a student
creates a basic 3D model of a hairdryer.
They create a screenshot, mark up the
handle brown and let an AI app like Draw
Things on the iPad generate material.
They then document and analyse this in
Concepts to develop their ideas in Shapr 3D,
versus the common ‘sketches and marker/
photoshop renderings’ way of teaching.
The recent invention of AI in image
processing will, in all probability, further
change how we use 3D rendering, since AI
can now be based on depth data, adjusting
basic 3D models respecting the three-
dimensionality.
I entered design education due to my own
enjoyment from learning and experimenting
with technology. Now is an amazing time to
teach, implementing this in my classroom
and giving students the ability to inject that
new understanding into the industry once
they graduate.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Claas Kuhnen is an assistant professor for
interior and industrial design at Wayne State University, focusing
on a modern and interdisciplinary approach to digital 3D design
methods and technology. He’s on Twitter: @claaskuhnen
08/02/2023 18:08
 Hello CAD developers!

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 COMMENT
Positive change starts with changing
the way that we educate future
engineers, writes Judy Raper, Dean
and CEO of TEDI-London, the Capital’s
newest higher education provider
devoted to design and engineering
W
hen I was given the
chance to become
Dean and CEO of The
Engineering & Design
Institute London (TEDI-
London), a new engineering higher
education provider looking to embrace
a completely different way of doing
things, I knew it was an opportunity I
couldn’t pass up.
Why? TEDI-London exists to meet
some of the longstanding needs of our
profession: for a diverse workforce and
for well-rounded, work-ready graduates,
who understand how society will use the
solutions they develop. We need innovators
who are conscientious, contextually aware
and environmentally focused.
The good news is that, through moving
away from traditional education models,
it is possible to meet our industry’s needs.
And given that future engineers will have a
key part to play when it comes to solving the
increasingly urgent global challenges we’re
facing, it has never been more important for
us to prepare them properly.
DIVERSITY MATTERS
To help achieve this, we need to modify
processes that impact aspiring engineers
before they even apply. Nine times out
of 10, candidates are required to have
completed a Maths A level, or equivalent
qualification, to study engineering. Given
that females, members of ethnic minority
groups and those from lower socioeconomic
backgrounds are statistically less likely to
pursue a higher-level maths qualification,
are traditional admissions processes a
barrier to outcomes we desperately need?
Granted, engineers need to have an
aptitude for maths. But this can be assessed
as part of the admissions process and built
into the degree itself; we needn’t rely on
students having prior knowledge.
From my experience, if a candidate can
demonstrate the ability to carry out basic
mathematical problem-solving, they have
the aptitude to succeed as an engineer.
Their preference for arts or humanities
12 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM
p12_D3D_FEBMAR23_JUDYRAPER.indd 12
subjects at age 16 shouldn’t be the reason
why their ambition to join our profession
is thwarted. What’s more, teams with a
blend of different creative and technical
skills develop better solutions. Innovation
requires creativity, so students with non-
mathematical backgrounds should be
welcomed, not discouraged.
At TEDI-London – and a handful of other
providers – this is working already; the
option for applicants without a maths
background to take either an aptitude test
or maths refresher course has led to a more
diverse student population, with females
comprising 41% and members of ethnic
minority groups comprising 59% (at the
time of writing).
WORKPLACE PREPARATION
Once they enter the workplace, how often
do engineers attend lectures or exams?
Despite not being representative of a
working environment, degree programmes
are often centred around lectures, with
students rarely undertaking practical work
in their first couple of years.
Students need to learn theory, but it’s
practical application that often motivates
them and makes it stick. A project-based
curriculum gives students the chance to
see how their knowledge applies to real-life
examples. What’s more, it enables them
to naturally develop the workplace skills
that graduates tend to lack, like project
management, commercial awareness,
communication and adaptability.
If every engineering student was
able to apply their knowledge within a
project team where they become familiar
with collaboration, planning and time
management, drawing upon each other’s
strengths and communication, they’d surely
develop a more well-rounded skillset.
Assessing students through their project
work helps them gain valuable experience
in producing reports, presentations,
prototypes, and portfolios. By the time
they graduate, they’ll be comfortable
with delivering presentations, written
communication, critical analysis of their
Students own and others’ work, and conveying
information to different audiences, both
need to within and outside the industry.
learn
INSTILLING POSITIVE VALUES
theory, Given that engineers have the power to use
but it’s their knowledge and skill to help tackle our
practical global challenges, I’ve always wondered why
ethics is presented as a standalone module
application at the end of most programmes, rather
that often than being threaded throughout. If students
aren’t expected to think carefully about
motivates the social, environmental and economic
them and consequences of their ideas, how can we
makes it expect them to do so after graduation?
Adopting a project-based model, where
stick each project is centred around the UN
 Sustainable Development Goals, and
where students design solutions for local
stakeholders such as businesses and
charities works wonders when it comes to
embedding ethical values.
Given the opportunity to practice applying
these thought processes, students realise
first-hand how important sustainability,
social and fiscal responsibility and ethics
are in real-life projects. Plus, properly
conducting research to understand the
needs of stakeholders and end users as part
of every university project establishes good
habits for an entire career.
From what I’ve seen at TEDI-London so far,
I truly believe that disrupting the status quo
is what engineering education needs. Giving
diverse student teams opportunities to
contribute before they graduate motivates
them to consider the consequences of
their work and draw on the skills and
perspectives of their peers. The production
of high-quality solutions to real problems
attracts a wider pool of diverse talent – and
so the virtuous cycle continues.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Professor Judy Raper has worked as TEDI-
London’s Dean & CEO since its incorporation in June 2019. During
her career, Judy has been named one of Australia’s 100 most
influential engineers, one of Australia’s 10 leading female engineers
in 2019, and has received an award for leadership in engineering
named in her honour from UNSW Sydney
09/02/2023 10:31
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 SPONSORED CONTENT
THE POWER OF SMA
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Despite its super compact form factor, Lenovo’s new high-performance
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09/02/2023 15:51
MALL
But performance is not just about
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A small chassis brings significant
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Thanks to a close collaboration with
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Lenovo ThinkStation P360 Ultra 1 (D3D).indd 3
it can support up to 128 GB of memory.
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While most mechanical CAD assemblies
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A game changing workstation
Compact workstations used to be largely
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The game changing workstation
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Such demanding users can now get
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Lenovo ThinkStation P-Series
workstations come in a wide range of
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09/02/2023 15:51
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or years desktop workstations 1.8 kg and fits comfortably in a small bag,
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trade-off in performance, particularly ThinkStation P360 Ultra’s compact
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workflows like real-time visualisation, space compared to a traditional desktop
virtual reality (VR) and GPU rendering. workstation. This is not only important
This all changes with the Lenovo at home, in space-constrained home office
ThinkStation P360 Ultra, a compact sub- environments, but it helps keep design
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the NVIDIA RTX™ A5000 laptop GPU, development, such as Wacom tablets,
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The ThinkStation P360 Ultra can be pleasing design, it can enhance any design
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trace rendering, visualisation and beyond. Or, for precise control over your 3D models, into a small chassis, can be hard to
This is explored in more detail in the even a 3D mouse, such as the 3D Connexion upgrade or repair, but the ThinkStation
article on the previous page. SpaceMouse Pro Wireless. WiFi is built-in P360 Ultra has been designed with
But why is this compact workstation so so there’s no need for an Ethernet cable. serviceability in mind.
desirable to designers and engineers, and Of course, some peripherals, such as This could prove particularly important
why is it particularly relevant today? desktop CNC milling machines and 3D when working from home, as IT support
printers still need to be wired in. With (5) staff are not on site. The workstation’s
The hybrid workplace USB Type-A ports (1 front, 4 rear) and cover slides off at the push of a button,
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to a huge shift in working patterns. More the ThinkStation P360 Ultra has plenty SSDs and four DIMM slots for DDR5
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to performance. They demand the exact can be VESA mounted, hung on a wall, Keeping a workstation on a desk, rather
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the ThinkStation P360 Ultra, which starts at nature of cramming powerful components machines are in use.

Lenovo ThinkStation P360 Ultra 2 (D3D).indd 2 09/02/2023 15:51

ACE SAVING WORKSTATION
Remote work
As well as being extremely portable and
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Lenovo ThinkStation P360 Ultra 2 (D3D).indd 3
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Clear thinking
The ThinkStation P360 Ultra is a great
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www.lenovo.com/workstations
09/02/2023 15:51
 Craven Dunnill
Jackfied’s work is
showcased by the
traditional faience
tiled bar at The Old
Queens Head in
Islington, London

20 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM

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 GLAZE OF
GLORY
DEVELOP3D.COM FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 21

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 COVER STORY
» A leading and historic producer of ceramic tiles, Craven Dunnill Jackfield
is using new technologies to boost production without compromising
on its long-held traditions, as Claudia Schergna reports
S
tepping off the train in Jackfield
is akin to arriving at an open-air
museum dedicated to the history of
the Industrial Revolution in the UK.
Everything in this Shropshire town
is a red-brick shrine to enterprise
and industry, from its railway, the
second built in the whole of the UK
in order to connect the coal mines
of the Black Country to its factories, to the nearby
Iron Bridge, spanning the River Severn and the first
anywhere in the world to be made from cast iron.
Here in Jackfield, one industry prevailed over all
others: pottery. To this day, the village is still home to
Craven Dunnill Jackfield, one of the most prestigious tile
producers and manufacturers worldwide. Contemporary
projects for the firm include ambitious restorations at the
Houses of Parliament in London, as well as its Australian
equivalent on the other side of the world.
Other work include decorations seen at Harrods Food
Halls and at over 60 London Underground stations.
The latter includes the new, super-Instagrammable
interlocking triangles embedded with LED lights that
are located in the new pedestrian tunnel at King’s Cross
Station.
22 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM
p20_21_22_23_25_26_D3D_FEBMARCH23_Cover_Story.indd 22
Craven Dunnill Jackfield is still located in its original
building, erected in 1874. But today, that building
also home to a museum, where visitors can immerse
themselves in early twentieth-century manufacturing
history and learn about traditional tile-making processes
that are still being used by employees working just a few
metres away.
BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
Factory manager Gemma Ball and commercial director
Richard Butler lead the way to the first of two main areas
in the factory: the Encaustic Department. Here, tiles are
produced by skilled artisans who carve and glaze them by
hand before they make their onward journey, primarily to
restoration projects.
The next stop on the tour is the Wall Tile Department.
It’s a name that the company has long since outgrown,
explains Gemma Ball. “Pretty much what we do here is
not tile-related,” she explains. “It got bigger and bigger
and more architectural as we’ve grown up.”
In 2008, Craven
In this building, we also find the large kilns where tiles Dunnill Jackfield was
and architectural components are fired before being appointed to assist
glazed. in the ambitious
restoration of floors
The colouring service is still very much done via in the Palace of
traditional techniques: “Ninety percent are hand-dipped Westminster
08/02/2023 18:22
 ‘‘ We realised
we can’t just
in the glaze after the pieces are fired,” explains Ball, her
voice overlapping with the ticking of a metronome in the
background. This helps employees ensure the tiles get
replace hand dipped into the glaze for the correct period of time.
carving. It’s In the next room, Tim Perks is working. He’s an
industry veteran who has nonetheless only recently
essential. It’s joined Craven Dunnill Jackfield. Ceramic modelling is a
part of what dying art, he explains, due to technological developments,
makes it work and because of a lack of funding for art colleges.
’’ He doesn’t feel like his job is threatened by technology,
however. Quite the opposite, in fact: “I believe in a
marriage of the two,” he says. “The technology, it’s been
an eye-opener for me.” That said, he still believes in hand-
finishing for some items, he adds, “because it gives a
nuanced, sort of organic quality.”
Perks works in close contact with Jed Hammerman,
the man behind Craven Dunnill Jackfield’s technological
innovations. Hammerman first joined the company
via the Knowledge Transfer Partnership, a graduate
scheme that aims to connect graduates and businesses.
The aim here is mutual benefit, with graduates gaining
professional qualifications and businesses learning to
incorporate new technology into their workflows.
While Hammerman had never worked with ceramics
before, his degree in 3D design has proved to be
extremely valuable at Craven Dunnill Jackfield, which was
looking for ways to boost production while maintaining
the quality of its hand-crafted tiles.
1 Hammerman adds sides to the original shape in order
2 and colours as they wish.”
3 then the mesh is refined
p20_21_22_23_25_26_D3D_FEBMARCH23_Cover_Story.indd 23
“When I first started, this room was empty,” says
Hammerman, looking out at the dozens of models that
now populate it, along with a large CNC machine and an
Artec Spider 3D scanner.
A SUCCESSFUL MARRIAGE
The introduction of new technology into the workflows of
a company that has been employing traditional methods
for centuries might have raised concerns for workers and
customers. Instead, Craven Dunnill Jackfield stands as a
glorious example of what happens when you successfully
marry technology and craft, modernity and tradition.
“Rather than replacing any of the hand carvers, my
job is to take some of the workload off them,” explains
Hammerman. “Rather than starting from scratch, I give
them a mostly finished piece and they provide those final
little details that the computer can’t quite do.”
Were people ever worried about robots (and technology
in general) taking over their jobs? “That never happened,”
he says firmly. “It was always a mix of the two. Now we can
do the same stuff, but faster and for more clients.”
The first piece of equipment that Hammerman
introduced was the 3D scanner. This turned out to be
particularly convenient for restoration projects. Previously,
clients were forced to rip tiles off walls and send them to
the factory to be restored. Now, the team can visit the site
in person and scan those tiles that need restoring.
For this purpose, the team selected the Artec Spider
3D, a handheld scanner that can be easily transported
and manoeuvred on scaffolding, while providing high
resolution and accuracy.
Once tiles have been captured and appear in the Artec
Studio software, they are imported into CAD for a
design phase that uses Rhino. At this stage, the project
is passed to a modeller, who will intervene manually to
create the initial mould, using the organic lines typical of
handmade production.
Creating moulds this way is much faster. A mould
maker only needs to create half of the mould, which is
then 3D scanned and mirrored in CAD. Using Rhino,
to create a solid block suitable for CNC milling and then
finally inverts it.
The CAM programming software Mayka V8 is used to
create toolpaths for the CNC mill, which offers a couple
of key advantages. First, jobs can be completed overnight,
as there is no need for workers to supervise the machine.
Second, it allows the team to produce everything in-
house, instead of commissioning external mould makers.
This has helped grow the company’s relationships with
clients enormously: “Now we can just fire across five new
designs in an hour, giving the customer a lot of options to
choose from,” says Hammerman. “We can change shapes
●
1 3D scanning tech means
tiles can be left in place,
instead of removing them
for restoration work
●
2 Planning begins for
restoration work at The
Elephant & Castle pub in
Wolverhampton
●
3 Tiles are scanned and
using Artec Studio
DEVELOP3D.COM FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 23
08/02/2023 18:22
 “Those who control
their information
are a step ahead of
the competition, so
DDM plays an
important role in
our company”
company
Mark Brouwers, Software Engineer - LAG Tailers

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www.designdatamanager.com

p33_D3D_FEBMARCH23_ads.indd 1 09/02/2023 13:03

 COVER STORY

‘‘ After I’ve
redesigned
GUARDING TRADE SECRETS
While 2D tiles are now very easy to replicate thanks
to these technologies, when it comes to 3D tiles, the
a mould, process is not so straightforward.
we can just The glazing on the tiles makes them extremely hard to
cast it and scan. When light gets reflected by glaze into the scanner,
it’s unable to register the data.
we know “This was the issue when I went around trade shows,”
it’s going to Hammerman recalls of the time he spent scouting for
be right. No the most suitable 3D scanner: “I would bring a tile with
one has to me and ask: ‘Can you scan that?’, and everyone would be
like, ‘Can’t do it, sorry, bye!’”
measure it. Most 3D scanner manufacturers recommend using a
No one has scanning spray on shiny surfaces to give them a matte 4
to even look finish, but Hammerman found that, even using the
spray, he couldn’t determine the depth of the hand-carved
at it channels in the tile.
’’ Solving this problem became Hammerman’s prime
mission at Craven Dunnill Jackfield. “The magic of the
Knowledge Transfer Partnership project, what came
out of it, was finding a way for us to determine what the
surface underneath the glaze was like,” he says.
To solve the issue, and after extensive research
conducted at both Craven Dunnill Jackfield and at the
University of West England where Hammerman was
previously doing research as part of the Knowledge 5
Transfer Partnership scheme, he created a programme
in Rhino to determine the topography of the underlying
surface. “If you were to look into a pool of water, you
would see the dark bit in the middle and the light bits of
the side,” he explains.
“For example, for all the black bits, we work out
that’s 0.5 millimetres deep, and same with the other
100 colours in there,” he continues, pointing at a very
colourful tile design on the screen in front of us.
The scanner picks up all the pinpoints of light as they
are refracted off the tile back into one of its lenses. The
way the Artec Spider works is that one of the lenses
projects a light into the object, while the other picks up
6
5
where the light bounces off.

●
4 The Elephant & Castle pub in
Wolverhampton in all its post-
restoration glory
●
5 A traditional colouring process
sees tiles hand-dipped in glaze before
firing in a kiln
●
6 ●
7 Meshes of tiles scanned with
the Artec Spider 3 are imported into
Rhino for CAD work

DEVELOP3D.COM FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 25

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 COVER STORY
“What I was able to do was turn the 3D model into a
format that allowed me to manipulate the surface in an
unconventional way. Then I wrote a programme to move
them automatically, based on their colour,” he says.
“I realised that each colour produces a slightly
different result. You end up with a dataset that describes
how the light reacts with the glaze.”
The software that Hammerman developed to show
this graph is so innovative in the industry that Craven
Dunnill Jackfield is keeping it a closely held trade secret.
Working with 3D scanning and producing the
moulds with a CNC machine also reduces the margin
of error that results when producing pieces entirely by
hand. In this way, significant time and material waste
are saved.
“After I’ve redesigned something, we can just cast
it and we know it’s going to be right. No one has to
measure anything. No one has to even look at it,” says
Hammerman, picking up a small rectangular tile.
“This would have originally been made by having
some rubber casting applied to them, then lining them
up by eye, maybe putting something in between each
one to have a regular gap,” he says
Producing cast tiles by hand in this way would often
result in slight wobbles in the tiles, making their
assembly particularly challenging.
26 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM
p20_21_22_23_25_26_D3D_FEBMARCH23_Cover_Story.indd 26
NEW LIFE FOR BRITISH LANDMARKS
The introduction of these technologies coincided with a
project commissioned by an extremely prestigious client:
Harrods. The Grade II-listed Food Halls inside London’s
most famous department store are covered in decorative
tiles and Craven Dunnill Jackfield was commissioned to
restore this environment.
Hammerman describes this first application of his
newly developed technology as a semi-success: “It
worked, but not quite how I envisioned it would work. We
didn’t know what was going to happen.”
The Harrods project was carried out with a mix
of traditional techniques and newly introduced
technologies. “That was the first point of learning. We
realised we can’t just replace hand carving. It is essential.
It’s part of what makes it work.”
A lot has changed since then. A more recent project
has been the recreation of The Elephant and Castle pub,
commissioned by the Black Country Living Museum.
The original pub, which stood on the corner of Stafford
Street and Cannock Road in Wolverhampton, was
illegally demolished in 2001. Hammerman didn’t have
many references with which he could work, just a small
fragment of tile that he shows us, saying: “This was one
of the few pieces that survived. Someone just found it in
the rubble and happened to take it with them.”
The 3D model he produced in Rhino was entirely
based on a handful of original pieces of the façade that
remained following the demolition, plus a handful of
old photographs. With the help of colleague Michelle
Cox, the production glaze technician who oversees the
company’s colour-matching service, he recreated the
whole building, with its wall tiles, faience and decorative
gold lettering.
CREATING A DATABASE
Technology is often perceived to be the enemy of
traditional craft. In the case of Craven Dunnill Jackfield,
it is enabling traditional methods not only to survive, but
also get passed on to future generations.
Moulds, for example, were previously created by hand
by artisans. With production levels being so high, they
would often make a single mould for each project. In
short, there were no spares.
Hammerman shows us a very heavy dust press mould
that he is currently restoring: “This is probably older
than either of us,” he jokes. “It’s warping, the corners
are moving down. God knows how many presses it’s
undergone. Tens of thousands, probably. And there’s no
back-up.”
For that specific tile, he had to scan the mould and
redesign it from scratch on Rhino. As a result, he can
now be sure that, if it breaks or gets damaged again, the
project is saved on a hard drive and can be milled as many
times as needed.
“We can make another one without having to worry, and
we know it’s going to be exactly the same. That’s opposed
to someone taking the rubber or the plaster off that, and
then making a resin off of it, with all that shrinkage and
movement that comes with it, which is possibly how it
ended up warped in the first place,” he says.
By building this database and adding digital
Moulds may be technologies to the workflow, Craven Dunnill Jackfield
produced on a CNC has been able to scale its business, shifting from being a
machine, but the symbol of the first industrial revolution to embracing the
final design is still
hand-carved by skilled technologies that are defining the fourth.
modellers www.cdjackfield.com
08/02/2023 18:22
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 FEATURE

LET ME SEE YOU

MAKE IT
» Putting together a functional, flexible prototyping workshop can
be a daunting prospect. At DEVELOP3D, we’ve considered some of the
most common requirements and identified smart options that should
enable you to take back control over prototyping

28 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM

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 REQUIREMENT: 1
COLOUR PROTOTYPES
OPTION:
STRATASYS J55 3D

Want to show off your design in a

range of colourways and materials
without tasking a modelmaker?
The Stratasys J Series of polyjet 3D
printers boast the ability to transplant
renders into reality. The J55 is the
smallest of the bunch, but a good
option, given its compatibility with
Luxion Keyshot, quality of output and
range of function. It also offers a range
of colour materials and the ability to
accommodate multiple prototypes on
its circular build platform.

www.stratasys.com

REQUIREMENT: 2
METALS 3D PRINTING

OPTION:
ULTIMAKER METAL
EXPANSION KIT

Metals 3D printing is not just for

those with deep pockets, plenty
of space and an appetite for
peripherals. The BASF Ultrafuse
filament has been available for
desktop FDM 3D printers for a while
now, and Ultimaker has seemingly
cracked the process. An add-on kit
for its S5 3D printer includes its
own Cura software, which tackles
challenges like shrinkage. The
end-to-end ecosystem includes a
service by which ‘green’ parts can be
processed, sintered and returned in
a timely fashion.

www.ultimaker.com

REQUIREMENT: 3
TOUGH CUTTING
OPTION: WAZER
Bringing the power of waterjet
cutting to the desktop, Wazer’s
small-footprint CNC waterjet
will diligently cut through almost
anything you throw at it. This
includes stainless steel up to 4.5mm
thick, 13mm aluminium, 8mm
ceramic tiles or carbon fibre. Its
versatility is a huge win, further
boosted when you factor in single-
phase power and the health and
safety bonus of no overheating
worries or ventilation requirements.

www.wazer.com

DEVELOP3D.COM FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 29

p28_29_31_32_36_37_D3D_FEBMARCH23_workshop.indd 29 09/02/2023 12:03

 Wematter Gravity
SLS 3D-printing system
Ground-breaking and easy to use SLS 3D-printing
platform for Additive Manufacturing
Clean process
No gas required
PA6, PA11, PA12, PP, TPU materials
Black, Blue & White powders loaded via cartridge
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New UK demonstration facility

CDG 3D TECH www.cdg.uk.com Tel: 01420 556755

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p30_D3D_FEBMARCH23_ads.indd 1 09/02/2023 13:01

 FEATURE

REQUIREMENT:
FAST FUNCTIONAL TESTING 4
OPTION:
FORMLABS FUSE

Sintered Nylon prototypes remain a

firm favourite, and a popular choice
for producing them in-house is the
Formlabs Fuse. A straightforward
menu of materials, including PA12,
PA11 and glass fibre-filled PA12,
typically gives users what they require
in terms of functionality, with a powder
refresh rate that makes continued use
a less costly proposition. The Fuse Sift
depowdering unit helps keep costs and
footprint to a minimum, by combining
a break-out station, material recovery
and powder recycling.

www.formlabs.com

REQUIREMENT: 5
FLEXIBLE MILLING
OPTION:
BANTAM TOOLS EXPLORER

Loss of valuable floor space is a

big problem in many workshops,
particularly when machines not in
use are hogging that space. So how
about a CNC mill capable of carving
detailed aluminium parts that can be
stowed away discreetly or even packed
into a pelicase and taken home for
the weekend? That’s precisely what
Bantam Tools has managed to pack
into the dinky frame of the Explorer,
which weighs in at just a smidgen
over 23kg and comes with an array
of peripherals that ensure any job is
completed with ease.

www.bantamtools.com

DEVELOP3D.COM FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 31

p28_29_31_32_36_37_D3D_FEBMARCH23_workshop.indd 31 09/02/2023 12:03

 FEATURE

REQUIREMENT:
ACCURATE LASER CUTTING 6
OPTION:
LOTUS BLU60

From quickly slicing up cardboard

for form models to engraving details
and text onto metal parts, a laser
cutter can perform a number of
time-saving tasks. The Blu60 may
be an entry-level model from Lotus,
but it has been designed and built to
provide maximum bang-for-buck in
a compact form. Capable of passing
through a standard door opening
(76cm), the 30W CO2 laser can cut
or engrave a wide range of materials
over a 600x400mm lamella bed, is
water-cooled and offers PEV-certified
air quality on installation. REQUIREMENT:
CLEAR LENSES 7
www.lotuslaser.com

OPTION:
3D SYSTEMS TOUGH
CLEAR RESIN

Lenses, light guides and lighting

covers can prove tricky to get right,
especially if you’re looking to put
them through their paces with
physical tests. 3D Systems claims
it has solved the problem with its
Tough Clear resin for the Figure 4
3D printer. Tested to deliver
mechanical performance that lasts
eight years indoors and 1.5 years
outdoors, parts should stand up
well to real-world conditions. The
machine itself remains one of the
most versatile workshop SLA 3D
printers available, supporting some
20 certified resins.

www.3dsystems.com

REQUIREMENT: 8
CERAMIC PARTS
OPTION:
TETHON3D BISON 1000
Ceramic parts are of increasing
importance in all kinds of products,
hence the growing interest in
ceramics 3D printers even beyond
the world of medical implants.
Tethon3D is primarily a materials
developer for this technology and
although its desktop Bison 1000
has been developed for testing
these resin and powder combos, its
build area and detail level make it
an excellent, entry-level route into
prototype parts and getting technical
with potential material options.

www.tethon3d.com

32 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM

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makerbot.indd 1 08/02/2023 18:38
 FEATURE

REQUIREMENT: 9
SLICKER SCANNING
OPTION:
AESUB TRANSPARENT SPRAY

While we featured a wide selection

of 3D scanner options in the
October/November 2022 issue
of DEVELOP3D, we should also
mention some handy peripherals that
can seriously boost ease-of-use in the
workshop. Aesub offers some of the
best. Its Target Frame allows smaller
objects to be held while the frame
itself acts as a positioning guide. Its
vanishing spray range is a godsend
when trying to capture reflective
surfaces. And its transparent spray
manages to carry out the task while
capturing part colour.
www.aesub.com
REQUIREMENT:
PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARDS 11
OPTION: NANODIMENSION
DRAGONFLY IV
REQUIREMENT:
BIG BED CNC 10
OPTION:
LAGUNA TOOLS SMARTSHOP
Sometimes being able to hack a bit of
wood into a precise shape for a frame
or a buck can be priceless in terms
of the speed involved in turning an
idea into tangible form, or for simply
delivering quick-and-dirty jigs and
fixtures. A big-bed CNC router is
a great way for fitting big parts or
copious smaller elements. Laguna
Tools offers a broad range of options,
with its SmartShop range boasting
easy-to-use features. Spending a little
extra, meanwhile, adds industrial
Fanuc CNC controls to the mix.
www.lagunatools.com

While 3D-printed circuit boards

may be the future in terms of
cramming even more circuitry into
an organically shaped product,
simply having the option to print
a prototype board can supercharge
prototyping. NanoDimension’s
Dragonfly IV 3D printer allows for
design flexibility and novel form
factors, as well as miniaturisation
by 3D printing in a dielectric
ink (photopolymer) and a highly
conductive silver nano ink.

www.nano-di.com

36 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM

p30_31_33_34_36_37_D3D_FEBMARCH23_workshop.indd 36 08/02/2023 18:35

 REQUIREMENT: 12
WORKHORSE MILL
OPTION:
TORMACH 770M

A multi-axis workhorse can lead

to all sorts of headaches if your
workshop isn’t set up for one. Enter
the Tormach 770M, which runs
on single-phase power, operates
within a neat footprint and boasts
a modular design that enables you
to start making parts straight away.
It also offers the ability to add extra
functionality further down the line,
when needed or when budget allows.

www.tormach.com

REQUIREMENT: 13
REPEAT AND MULTIPLY
OPTION:
MAYKU MULTIPLIER

Sometimes repeatability is key,

and one of the quickest means of
achieving this is to create a mould.
The Mayku Multiplier is a desktop
vacuum former that can capture
details finer than a human hair,
maintaining sharp edges in your
design over its 400mm-wide circular
forming area with 160mm of height.
Capable of shaping up to 8mm thick
sheets in under 10 minutes, you can
use as a template an existing part,
a 3D print or even a carved potato,
with PETG and flexsheet moulds
allowing you to make true silicone or
resin parts with slick surfaces.

www.mayku.me

DEVELOP3D.COM FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 37

p30_31_33_34_36_37_D3D_FEBMARCH23_workshop.indd 37 08/02/2023 18:35

 NEXT GENERA
Generative AI tools have taken the world by storm, but 3D has yet to be truly
impacted. Physna’s Paul Powers recounts the company’s sprint to build a
prototype tool and explains what it might mean for the future
A
s the Metaverse, augmented reality and
virtual/mixed reality become more
mainstream, 3D content consumption is
set to increase dramatically. And with a rise
in demand for 3D content, we anticipate a
golden opportunity for 3D creators.
In turn, this will require those creators to be
more productive, a benefit that generative AI, used
appropriately and equitably, could deliver. At Physna,
that got us thinking: by overcoming the complexity
issues inherent in 3D data, could we unlock its biggest
advantage – the fact that it is so incredibly data rich?
If so, a fairly small number of 3D models could be used
to create or influence entirely new generated models. In
other words, a creator’s past work could be leveraged in the
development of their new work. In the process, this would
make 3D models and scenes more valuable to the user
themselves, while at the same time helping to overcome
the risks associated with the use of third-party data.
The challenge here is that, despite the opportunities it
creates and its massive potential, generative AI has taken
38 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM
p38_39_D3D_FEBMARCH23_AI.indd 38
longer to reach 3D than it has other use-cases. An overview
of generative AI applications reveals a range of companies
generating everything from creative text to videos, code
and images, but also shows that there’s comparatively little
in the offerings aimed at 3D models and scenes.
STUMBLING BLOCK
So what makes generative AI so hard in 3D, when it’s
growing so quickly elsewhere?
One issue is the complexity of 3D itself. Models are
traditionally hard to create and exist in a wide array of
non-compatible formats. Surprisingly little attention has
been paid to 3D model analysis compared to 2D formats
such as text, images, video and so on.
Put simply, fewer companies are equipped to focus on
At Physna, the team
3D, as it has been a more difficult nut to crack in general is experimenting with
at the analytical level – let alone in generative AI. using AI to automate
Another issue is perhaps best summarised by Google’s scene generation,
based on the
DreamFusion team: there just isn’t as much 3D data as technology’s analysis
there is 2D data. Just as with Nvidia’s recently announced of previous 3D CAD
Magic3D technology, Google’s DreamFusion team models
08/02/2023 18:17

RATION used NeRFs (neural radiance fields), which may best
be thought of as lying somewhere between 2D and 3D.
They’re also empty ‘shells’, because they lack any internal
components and geometry. This means you not only have
less information on the object at hand, but it’s also much
harder to draw conclusions about what makes it ‘it’.
So, while training on NeRFs can perhaps be more
beneficial than using 2D, as Google’s DreamFusion
team noted, NeRFs simply aren’t a very good substitute
for true, labelled 3D models. This means that, without a
solution, generative AI won’t work in 3D nearly as well as
in other areas for the foreseeable future.
BACKGROUND IN SEARCH AND ANALYSIS
Key to this story is that AI hasn’t been our business
model at Physna. The company is essentially a 3D search
and analysis company, focused on engineering and
design applications in AR/VR and manufacturing.
However, on seeing the fun that seemingly every other
industry was having with AI, we realised that we had the
means to overcome the issue of 3D data scarcity in a very
simple way.
In short, Physna owns the world’s largest labelled 3D
database, as well as the appropriate licensing to utilise it.
But, given the compute costs associated with generative
AI, utilising this would be an expensive way to run a
prototype. Instead, put simply, we realised it would be
even more valuable to determine whether a lot more
could be done in generative AI with a lot less 3D data than
was previously thought.
Our hypothesis was simple: a deeper understanding of
the 3D models at hand would mean fewer models would
be needed to reach scalable and meaningful generative
AI in 3D.
After all, while the downside to 3D is the complexity
of its data, the upside is how data-rich those 3D models
might be, compared to other assets like 2D images.
This was a challenge we felt uniquely well-positioned
to tackle. Our entire business is built on our core
technology, which ‘codifies’ 3D models – that is, it creates
a digital DNA, representing model geometry, features
and attributes in a normalised way.
Doing this allows us to identify how all models are
related to each other, including at the sub-model level.
This relationship matrix then enables us to use human-
generated labels to propagate exponentially more labels,
at a rate of between two and three orders of magnitude.
This labelling system is not only scalable, but also quite
reliable, because we use a two-step process in its creation.
In the first step, we use a patented set of deterministic
algorithms to create the first level of a model’s DNA,
mapping out every attribute of the model, its exact
geometry and features, and normalising the model. This
step is crucial to ensure that things that look vaguely
familiar aren’t misidentified when precision is key, and it
shows how every feature or part should fit together.
The second step is the use of a proprietary set of non-
deterministic algorithms enhanced by deep learning,
which is equally critical in enabling model generation.
p38_39_D3D_FEBMARCH23_AI.indd 39
OPINION
This step also ensures that models of different sizes
and shapes (that is, with no ‘matching’ geometry or
attributes) are understood at the conceptual level.
This combination gives us a deep understanding of
each model, how it relates to other models, what features/
components make up a model and where else those are
present.
It means that, for every 3D model or scene used in
training, we can learn significantly more and make 3D
‘‘
Once you can
model and scene generation work more effectively, with
significantly less data.
generate
both models
SCENE GENERATION and entire
After a brief test where we generated 3D models of a scenes, you’re
cheeseburger and a cupcake (we like food!), we moved on
to the more challenging prototype: scene generation.
only one step
After all, once you can generate both models and entire away from
scenes, you’re only one step away from the ability to add the ability to
in motion and create an entire metaverse or mixed reality add in motion
world of your choosing.
We limited our project to around 8,000 models from and create
the Amazon-Berkeley library. By any standard, that’s very an entire
little to train on: Stable Diffusion in 2D initially trained metaverse of
on roughly 600 million images for comparison.
We believed that, by first analysing the models as
your choosing
planned, there was a reasonable chance that this small
dataset would be enough to create a very simple prototype.
’’
By simple, we do indeed mean simple. The prototype
was limited to furniture. Some of the examples shown are
perhaps a bit silly – like vases arranged around sofas in
outer space – but the point was to have fun with this and
to see what, if anything, could be built in just two weeks
by three engineers while training on just 8,000 models.
The results were considerably better than we had
anticipated. An unexpected takeaway from these tests was
that, using our approach, the toughest part of generative
AI in 3D was not generating the model or scene itself, but
rather overcoming comparatively simple bugs (like model
collision) in a short development time frame.
While the decision to use such a small dataset certainly
limited the scope of the prototype, the results prove that
generative AI in 3D, both at the object and scene level,
can indeed take advantage of the sheer volume of data
present in 3D models.
This is particularly promising news for end-users,
where even a comparatively small dataset can suffice to
greatly influence the models generated. That means that
individuals and businesses could use their own models
to generate new 3D assets uniquely tailored to them. In
this way, 3D generative AI may serve not only as a force
multiplier for designers and creators, but also one that
keeps firmly in mind their individual styles and use cases.
We’re actively expanding our focus on AI here
at Physna. And we’re opening our doors to any AI
researchers who might be interested in joining the team
effort to help build further equitable, generative AI, so do
feel free to get in touch. The future won’t build itself – or
at least, not yet.
www.physna.com
DEVELOP3D.COM FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 39
08/02/2023 18:17
 Sponsored content
ACWA-ROBOTICS TAKES
ROBOTS UNDERGROUND
WITH FUSION 360
The robotics company has designed a robot that
navigates water pipes, helping water management
systems prevent leaks and conserve water
T
urning on the tap for a glass of water
or to wash the dishes is a seemingly
simple, everyday occurrence that we
often take for granted. But the journey
water takes to a tap is epic, as it travels
through one of the most complex and inaccessible
networks imaginable.
The sheer number of drinking-water pipes is
massive—and the system is mainly underground.
Trying to monitor pipe conditions and predict potential
maintenance or failures has been next to impossible.
Until now. Robots are on the way to help keep the
water flowing and even help us to conserve it.
pXX_XX_D3D_FEBMAR23_Autodesk_V1.indd 2
Developing New Robotics for Water Systems
ACWA-ROBOTICS is a startup in France
that designs, develops, and manufactures
autonomous robots for the mapping and
inspection of drinking water networks. According
to the company, the drinking water networks in
France represent a linear distance of one million
kilometres, which is equal to all the roads in the
country combined. The worldwide estimate is
around 40 million kilometres.
ACWA-ROBOTIC’s goal is to provide reliable and
precise information on the state of these water
infrastructures. Operations can be optimized with
better management and insights of pipes that may
need repair or replacement. Water departments
can also plan and prioritize investments based on
data from the existing network. Above all, millions
of gallons of water can be saved by identifying leaks
and enabling preventative maintenance.
In 2017, Jean-François Rossi first realized the
need for a solution and started working on the idea
for a pipe-travelling water robot. Joined by Jean-
François Guiderdoni in 2018, they set up a team of
four people to develop the first proofs of concept.
Now, with a team of 14 people, the company has
completed its pre-production version of their first
Autodesk Fusion 360
Electronics for PCB design
08/02/2023 18:36

robot, named ACWA Pathfinder, and will begin
commercial deployments by summer of 2023.
Collecting Data in Water Pipes
Sending a robot on a trip through a water pipe
network is just as complex as you might think. First,
there is the collection of information about the
network and what the robot should be monitoring.
Then preparatory work begins to create introduction
points and positioning points to recharge (after 3
kilometres) as the robot travels the network to map
and collect data. Once the inspection is complete,
the processed data is provided to the client via
ACWA’s SaaS application or as a dataset.
But what kind of information is the robot actually
collecting? It gathers the diameter of the pipe, high-
definition images, measurement of residual thickness
of the pipe, presence of surface oxidation, and even
audio. Water data includes temperature, water flow
speed, water hardness, turbidity, and pH. All the data
is structured around a set of points defining the route
of the pipeline, which are geo-referenced by latitude,
longitude, and elevation (in relation to land surface)
with a maximum deviation of only 40 cm from reality.
Water Pipe Robot Becomes a
Reality with Autodesk Fusion 360
From the very beginning, ACWA-ROBOTICS used
Autodesk Fusion 360 to bring the robot to life.
pXX_XX_D3D_FEBMAR23_Autodesk_V1.indd 3
The main challenge?
Designing a robot that
was sufficiently compact
to easily navigate the
pipes without interrupting
or disturbing the flow of
water and carry all the
elements and sensitive
electronics necessary for the
data collection.
“The robot requires 250 different
parts, and the main body is made of aluminium,”
says Jean-François Rossi, president and technical
director, ACWA-ROBOTICS. “The only standard
components used in the machine are motors,
motor shaft seals, ball bearings, small hardware
(nuts), and batteries. All other components are
specific and designed with Fusion 360.”
Even with two teams—one for mechanical design
and another dedicated to electronics—working in
separate locations, Fusion 360 provides a seamless
experience. The teams design electronic cards;
design and assemble mechanical parts; create 2D
and 3D blueprints and 3D-rendered images; and
perform PCB layout, PCB manufacturing (CAM), and
PCB design integration.
“By using Fusion 360 Electronics for PCB design,
the generation of the PCB outline from mechanical
parts is very complete and intuitive,” Rossi
Sponsored content
Fusion 360 is at the heart
of our design activity
Jean-François Rossi,
President and Technical
Director, ACWA-
ROBOTICS
explains. “We use both methods of associative PCB
and the edit-in-place workflow. The edit-in-place
workflow is very powerful and allows a fast and
precise mechanical/electrical integration.”
“The generation of drawings is also very complete
and fast with Fusion 360, and managing changes to
3D models is also very powerful. Wherever we are,
Fusion 360 enables efficient, real-time collaboration
between the engineers involved in the project.”
Mechanical strength simulation with Fusion 360
is also a critical component to their design process.
“We use static stress simulation and thermal
simulation,” Rossi says. “In these areas, Fusion 360
is very intuitive, and the results are precise.”
Learn more about Fusion 360 here:
https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360
08/02/2023 18:36
 FREE RAN
» Powered wheelchairs give their users considerable freedom
in their daily lives, but what about those who want to adventure
further and live with even fewer limitations? Stephen Holmes speaks
to the team at Freedom One Life about how its latest
design opens up new horizons for users

42 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM

p42_42_44_D3D_FEBMARCH23_Freedom.indd 42 08/02/2023 18:25


ANGE
A
powered wheelchair is a lifeline,
connecting its user to a more
empowered existence – but that’s not
to say that current designs don’t come
with certain limitations.
When Alex Papanikolaou became
frustrated with his own powered
wheelchair, the various alternatives he tried either
restricted his activities due to their limited ranges, or
worse still, were prone to breakdowns. In other words,
he had to plan his day around battery life. The fear of
getting stranded somewhere remote made long trips
a concern. The prospect of being able to escape paved
surfaces for the thrill of off-road adventures was nothing
but a distant dream.
p42_42_44_D3D_FEBMARCH23_Freedom.indd 43
PROFILE
After speaking with other wheelchair users,
Papanikolaou began to question why wheelchairs couldn’t
be designed differently, leading him to set up Freedom
One Life in 2012.
His initial vision grew into a fully-fledged design
and engineering team, based in Glasgow and focused
on tackling the four main issues around powered
wheelchairs: battery performance, mechanical reliability,
comfort and convenience.
POWERING UP
Papanikolaou‘s concept for the perfect chair was already
well underway when Scott Savage joined the company as
technical director in 2018. His job was to help in the push
to get the product to market.
DEVELOP3D.COM FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 43
08/02/2023 18:25
 PROFILE
‘‘
While 1
designing the
chassis, my
mind had to
be several
sub-projects
ahead, to
provide
space, anchor
points and
strength
to various 2 before the team turned to 5-axis CNC machining and
locations
’’
“The design work began with several detailed
discussions with Alex about the prototypes that had been
developed up to that point, as well as his lived experience
as a powered wheelchair user,” Savage explains.
“It was important to find out what had worked, and what
hadn’t. Learning from each prototype is an important
part of product development. These learnings allowed me
to build the design brief and specification for what would
become the Series 5.”
A powered wheelchair comprises a large number of
components, so breaking the large design task down
into smaller sub-projects was essential to ensure realistic
timelines could be set and met.
The design work began with understanding the chair’s
pre-selected components: its motors, wheels and charger.
“From here, some detailed space envelope exercises
were conducted, to work out how best to configure these
parts within chassis concepts, while maintaining the
required width and length of the final chair,” says Savage.
Solidworks was used to create the detailed 3D CAD
models for assessment, he adds.
“Once we had this nailed, it was easier to tackle each
sub-project using the same process – starting with
sketches, selecting the strongest concepts, then moving
on to Solidworks for detailed design.”
Savage says the development of the chassis was the most
challenging part of the design. “It was the first part and
the most important part. While designing the chassis,
my mind had to be thinking several sub-projects ahead,
to provide space, anchor points and strength to various
●
1 The Series 5 has
undergone rigorous locations and ensure that the end project assembled and
crash-testing for performed as expected.”
safety With a huge number of factors needing to be considered
●
2 High-torque motors for every component and its role in the complex assembly,
enable the chair to
tackle steep inclines
remaining mindful of all assembly interactions and user
requirements was a tricky task. A team of three designers
●
3 A control panel gives
users easy access to built the Series 5 chair to accommodate the biggest
different functions battery manageable. Savage says it is capable of delivering
44 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM
p42_42_44_D3D_FEBMARCH23_Freedom.indd 44
three times the range of its nearest competitor, with over
40km of real-world use on a single charge.
To put this into action, high-torque motors and low-
pressure tyres give the user confidence to navigate tight
spaces, comfortably cross uneven terrain and climb
steep hills.
The mechanical design of the Series 5 ensures that all
electrical components are concealed behind car-like body
panels. These protect them from the weather and from
being snagged on objects while moving.
REAL-LIFE CHALLENGES
In the early stages of prototyping, 3D-printed parts
proved useful. Prototypes were produced for assessing
component placement as well as general aesthetics,
vacuum casting to produce short runs for real-world
testing. This enabled them to iron out any problems
before committing to production tooling.
Reliability has since been proven by over 20,000km
of real-world testing. “Having a user as the founder of
the business allows us to test all new features to their
extremes in real-world situations,” says Savage. “We
found problems along the way and we fixed them so that
other users don’t have those experiences.”
The Series 5 is fitted with elements that reflect this
evolution, from the single cable on-board charger that
takes away range anxiety, to drive settings that can be
changed by the user without the need for a visit from an
engineer. A rain-mode screen means that users no longer
have to worry about controlling the chair and its settings
in bad weather, making it usable come rain or shine.
The electric seat can be raised in height by 300mm to
help wheelchair users access places that might otherwise
be hard to reach and to make face-to-face conversation
possible. With 50 degrees of tilt, the occupant can easily
find a comfortable angle.
All components had to be strong and robust, of
course — not just for day-to-day use, but also so that the
wheelchair qualifies for use on board a moving vehicle.
For this, the final design for the Series 5 had to undergo
crash tests, being strapped to a sled using its four-point
tie-down system, then accelerated up to 30km/hour,
before subjected to an instant stop.
“The huge forces involved in this testing made it high-
risk, and simulation played a vital role in mitigating that
risk,” says Savage, explaining that the team relied on the
simulation software included in its Solidworks package
from reseller TMS to undertake the bulk of its FEA analysis.
“We were able to ensure that the tie-down points and
the chassis were able to absorb all of the forces and to
make any design changes
before undertaking the
costly and somewhat
scary crash test.” 3
Thanks to these FEA
simulations, the Series
5 passed first time.
After years of
development, refinement
and continuous
improvement, the Series 5
sees Freedom One Life ready
to begin fulfilling orders around
the world, enabling its customers
to follow whatever path they choose.
www.freedomonelife.com
08/02/2023 18:25
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 CADSOMA
» As CAD firms have evolved, new business models have led to a significant
reduction in the number of resellers (VARs). This has hindered distribution
and sales of third-party plug-ins within each vendor’s network — but Cadsoma,
a new ‘Amazon’ for add-on applications, aims to change all that

T
he design industry is based on a
relatively small number of base
platforms, such as AutoCAD,
Inventor, Solidworks, SketchUp and
newcomers like BricsCAD. At the
same time, there are thousands of
independent developers around the
world creating industry-specific or
additional functionality plug-ins
that aim to enhance these popular platforms.
Some of these add-ons can be very local in their focus;
they may target local markets, for example. Others may
be more generic and target a worldwide audience. Either
way, third-party developers are an essential part of the
design community, delivering significant additional
functionality and value to a core platform at a relatively
small cost to users.
In CAD history, the biggest demonstration of the
power of this developer ecosystem was seen around
Autodesk AutoCAD, which spawned a huge and
vibrant community, via AutoLisp, APIs (application
programming interfaces) and OEM versions of its
applications. (Original equipment manufacturer software
is created by one company and then resold or rebranded
by another company.)
Third-party developers enabled AutoCAD, which at
the time was just a vanilla drawing tool, to include more
focused capabilities and to address vertical markets such
as manufacturing, hydraulic/pneumatic schematics,
process plant and electrical. Their add-ons ranged from
relatively simple symbol libraries to complete turnkey
applications built on unbranded Autodesk OEM engines.
A lot has changed in the industry since the 1980s and
1990s. Companies such as Autodesk ended up acquiring
many of the third-party applications that had penetrated
their vertical markets. The result was that some of
the remaining third parties now found themselves in
competition with the very platform they were built on,
which was obviously not sustainable. While there were
still many developers in the community, it was less likely
that an individual developer or development team’s
add-on would be as prominent or important to the core
platform developer.
At one time, Autodesk published thick, paper-based
catalogues listing all of the 2,500-plus third-party
applications available. This eventually went online and

Q&A ON CADSOMA WITH MERVISOFT CEO DIRK REDMER, WHO DISCUSSES THE AIMS
DEVELOP3D: Where did the
idea for Cadsoma originally
come from?
Dirk Redmer (DR): The
reason why we started
Cadsoma is that we
handled 150 developer
partners in Germany for
Bricsys. We helped them
to port their applications
from Autodesk to Bricscad.
We organised fairs for
them. We organised a
LinkedIn for the German
Bricscad community. We
gave them lead collection
tools, to help developers
be present in the market.
We looked, but we couldn’t
find any platform in the
world to market your for BricsCAD. So, we know bundles in 27 languages, to use our e-commerce lot of developer partners,
company and sell your a lot about how to do that and had also been looking and marketing back-end. resellers and dealers, the
plug-ins. We searched for and we are bringing that for a marketplace to push For a yearly fee, there’s CAD platform company
our own planning plug-in, knowledge into Cadsoma. its plug-ins. We will do an option to market is more concerned
TRIC, which is popular Our concept is like that for all resellers and and collect payment for about selling more of
in Germany and used by Amazon, and it’s all developers who register services, book banner its software. It doesn’t
Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt automatic. If you are a with Cadsoma. To help adverts for your services, matter if your software
to design its offices, but developer, and you have them, to give them a links to your website or plug-in is big or small;
couldn’t find anything, registered your company marketing tool, not just and so on. the platform companies
so we decided to build and your product, a plug-in store. We also push their resellers to
what eventually became you automatically get support TikTok, Instagram, DEVELOP3D: So why do focus more on increasing
Cadsoma. added into our AdWords LinkedIn and Facebook. you think Cadsoma is the sales of their platform
If you’re a newbie and campaigns for Cadsoma. needed now? tools. For the reseller
you’re going into Google There’s no work, it’s DEVELOP3D: The platform to maintain discounts,
AdWords, you’re lost. You literally one click. Our isn’t just about software DR: I think about this a lot. they have to meet higher
can burn your money very first developer to sign though? What I’ve seen in the last targets, which steals
easily and get the same up was CADprofi (www. 20 years is that the CAD bandwidth to sell third-
result as not spending a cadprofi.com), who we DR: Correct. Cadsoma isn’t platform companies are party plug-ins.
lot of money! For the last have known for over a just a place for products, always pushing themselves Developer communities
15 years, we have been decade. The company but you can join and put above all the developer are important for the
doing Google campaigns has over 12 products and your services in our system partners. Despite having a CAD platform companies,

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 TECHNOLOGY

has since morphed into the Autodesk App Store (https://
apps.autodesk.com).
While it’s good this exists, it is not exactly prominent
on Autodesk’s site. You really need to know where to look
if you’re going to find it and it isn’t actively promoted by
the company. In fact, for the majority of customers, there
are precious few places to find a comprehensive listing of
add-on tools. For the developers themselves, it’s hard to
get found by customers, other than working on website
search engine optimisation (SEO).
When the world went 3D and products got more complex
(Solidworks, Inventor, Fusion360), we again saw an
explosion of third-party developers, working to expand
capabilities and address edge-cases and feature holes in
the platforms. As the technology evolved, there have been
new APIs and new popular products. Today, the rise of
the cloud means data can be shared seamlessly between
hosted applications.
Beyond traditional CAD platforms, games engines such
as Unreal and Unity have also proven to be popular targets
for developers, as they offer the ability to display huge
model sets and have VR and AR optimisation built-in. This
can be as simple as a display engine or a common data
environment, or as complex as a full design application
like Modumate (www.tinyurl.com/modumate-aec).
There have also been whole new concepts for
application developers to focus on. Autodesk took all of its
desktop products and turned niche functionality (DWG,
file exporters, file viewing, document management and
so on) into web services.
So instead of building a plug-in or licensing a whole
OEM Autodesk product on which to build, developers
could assemble new applications from a collection of
plug-and-play micro services. For example, Nvidia offers
Omniverse, a cloud-based, GPU-accelerated environment
for pretty much any CAD geometry type.
In short, there have never been so many options for
professional and in-house developers to create new add-
ons. At the same time, there remains a real gap in terms
of the way that third-party developers can capture market
attention and get their products to market effectively.
INTRODUCING CADSOMA
Cadsoma is a catchy abbreviation of ‘CAD software
market’. Its aims are to become a global web store
where independent developers promote and sell their
specialised software. While the main CAD vendors
focus on selling their core platform tools and services,
Cadsoma will primarily focus on promoting independent
developers and creators of plug-ins.
Cadsoma is the idea of Wiesbaden, Germany-based
Mervisoft, a company that understands only too well
the challenges of being an independent CAD software
developer. Mervisoft has a long history of development
in planning and building automation, as well as in
software distribution and web marketing. In recent
years, the company has been working with Bricsys and,
in the process, built up a community of over 200 third-
party developers of industry solutions, creating web-
based marketing engines.
The Cadsoma website is due to launch to the public
in April 2023 and the company is currently recruiting
new developers to join the store and utilise the tools
available there for promotion, distribution and selling
of applications. The initial target markets are the US,
Canada, Japan, Great Britain and India, with country
representatives located in each on hand to help on-board
participating developers.
The industry-specific CAD solutions website is
independent of any specific vendor. As such, it will
feature applications which run on the complete spectrum
of applications, covering many industries. In addition
to CAD software, Cadsoma will offer services such as
training and support and also hardware.
Key features of the website for developers include: sales
support, automated Google ad-word marketing, lead
generation and management, e-commerce payment
handling, CRM and a full overview of sales history.
It’s very much modelled on the Amazon service
model, with developers getting to upload their own
videos and sales content, all of which can be managed
via an easy to use front-end.
These tools will be of particular benefit to small
companies that might not have the internal resources
available to deploy a full-spectrum enterprise sales and
marketing platform. Until Cadsoma is launched in
April, Mervisoft is offering CAD software developers
the use of the new marketplace free of charge for their
first year.
www.cadsoma.com

E AIMS OF THE NEW SITE AND THE STRATEGY FOR TAKING IT GLOBAL
because they are sales applications, matching harness our e-commerce over 600 companies to get the word and also help us for 20 years, I feel like a
multipliers. What we are your industry discipline back-end. These are on Cadsoma. Obviously, with country localisation baby just starting to walk
trying to do is to give and the design issue little things, but we want we are talking to the of the website, which will with the development of
all the dealers and the you are looking to solve. to make the system a firms on the AutoCAD come in time. Cadsoma!
developers a platform Developers have their community, especially app store, too. Because
to promote their own entries on the system and for developers who have ours is an independent DEVELOP3D: Are you
products, not just rely on can include links such as few places to connect and platform, if their plug-in looking for more
the CAD developers to demo downloads. Our work together. works in Bricscad, they developers to join the
push their own plug-ins. platform handles the lead are allowed to announce platform before the
We are inverting the sales generation back-end and DEVELOP3D: How many all the different platforms official launch?
pitch by putting developer payment. Users don’t companies do you have they support and run on.
products on top. have to be registered and registered? That’s not allowed on the DR: Yes, we are talking
can opt to browse and Autodesk store. with everyone and
DEVELOP3D: How does purchase as a guest. DR: At the moment, We have really industry putting together a deal
Cadsoma work? We have a rating system we have 30 companies seasoned representatives for start-ups, where
for customers to award registered, but you can in important geographic they get Cadsoma
DR: The website has a to developers. In April or only see around 19 or areas like India, UK and for free, for one
big search bar and, using May, there will be a ‘Buy 20, because we are still Japan who have worked in year, for example.
keywords combined with with Cadsoma’ button, helping a number of them CAD software distribution. So even though
filters, you find plug-ins which developers can use onboard to the system. We They will work with we have been in
that run on your core CAD on their own websites to have personally invited developers and spread the CAD business

DEVELOP3D.COM FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 47

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 TECHNOLOGY

HOOKING
UP WITH
A DIGITAL
TWIN
With 2023 set to be the year of the digital twin, Laurence Marks digs
into the real meaning of the term, considers the work it will take to
bring it to fruition and explores a few shortcuts along the way

W
Laurence Marks built
hen we hear the term ‘digital twin’, So, what is the entry fee required for a seat at the his first FEA model
we typically have some idea of what’s simulation ballpark? You can’t simply order a digital twin in the mid-1980s and
meant – but like many buzzwords CAD system add-on from your CAE reseller. When you his first CFD model in
the early 1990s. Since
in our industry, there’s no real think about it – and you’re really going to have to – a digital then, he’s worked in
consensus on a ‘true’ definition. twin is all about model development. And there, the onus the simulation industry,
Althea De Souza has done a great job researching is squarely on you. in technical, support
and management
various interpretations for NAFEMS, the international roles. He is currently a
association for the engineering modelling, analysis and PROVING A POINT visiting research fellow
simulation community. As De Souza has pointed out, It’s been said that “all models are wrong, but some are at Oxford Brookes
University, involved
the computer HAL in the 1968 epic science fiction movie useful.” With experience, you come to recognise that the
in a wide range of
2001: A Space Odyssey is probably the first mainstream key to making a model useful is tied up with validation simulation projects,
cultural representation of a digital twin system. But and process. Validation, to ensure that the results are some of which are
more than a half-century on, there is still confusion and at least representative enough to be used in decision focused on his two
main areas of interest:
misinterpretation around the concept. making; and process, to ensure that accurate results are life sciences and
In time, a true meaning will no doubt emerge from obtained reliably and in a timeframe appropriate to the motorsports
the murk. But for now, if we assume that, in essence, it market in which the object exists.
means ‘creating a digital representation of an object that Today, the main prerequisite for a digital twin is a highly
is updated with data from its operation in the real world’, functional, properly dialled-in simulation process. If you
then to me, that means that the digital model has to be are at the top of this simulation and validation game, the
based on advanced simulation technologies. digital twin isn’t too big a step. It almost appears ‘deus ex

48 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM

p48_49_D3D_FEBMARCH23_Laurence.indd 48 08/02/2023 18:28

 machina’ – the spirit of the process made real, rather than
something that stands apart from it.
Updating a model to reflect what has happened in
service is a logical extension to considering the way in
which the object was made. Simulate what you made,
rather than what you designed, right?
This is fantastic if you are one of a handful of major
corporations happily working on this at an advanced
level. But what if you want to get there without a 40-year
history of applying simulation techniques, streamlining
workflows and putting in the hours needed to make
simulation models correlate with reality and real parts do
what predictions said they would?
FAST TRACKING THE PROCESS
If you want to fast track the process, what do you do?
Speaking for myself, the element of simulation that
makes it a transformative technology is the explorative
aspect. And, given how many businesses and
organisations see themselves as knowledge-based –
committed to exploring a design space and looking for
solutions – then that’s the critical element.
For me, the key driver in this process is planned model
development. Our digital twin isn’t an only child. It has
a family tree comprising numerous siblings. If things go
well, it may also have many offspring.
A planned model development process allows us to
navigate this range of possibilities in the most efficient
p48_49_D3D_FEBMARCH23_Laurence.indd 49
manner, combining new knowledge with what can be
‘‘
With
obtained from books and the internet.
The thing that has most changed my perspective
experience,
on projects, planning and model development is you come to
creating experiments and simulations that increase the recognise
understanding of the overall system without modelling that the key
all of it in one go.
I’ve recently been working on a piece of really
to making a
interesting electronics kit [sadly under a non-disclosure model useful
agreement], where the important part for me was how is tied up with
much I learned by analysing and testing a single power validation
resistor mounted on a section of extruded aluminium.
The analysis told us that contact resistance was what and process
had the greatest bearing on how hot it got. That then
allowed us to explore how we could exploit this knowledge
’’
in the full design.
We had other sub models that explored overall system
cooling and some that analysed how bolted joints behaved
in terms of contact pressure. All were brought together in
the design and the system model.
This is heading into digital twin territory, certainly – but
a digital twin can never be a full representation of every
aspect of a design on every level.
Consider one level of detail and you’ll find yet another
if you look closer. Take a step back and you’ll become
aware of ever-wider contexts. Managing this discovery is
managing the model development process and the best
way to hook up with your digital twin.
DEVELOP3D.COM FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 49
08/02/2023 18:28
 PROFILE

GLIDE INTO

Designed to haul goods and passengers over the waves between

coastal locations, Regent’s seaglider blends flight and sailing in a way
that reduces the time and costs of transit. Stephen Holmes hears how
the vehicle could pioneer a new form of zero-emission transportation

W
ith 40% of the world’s population
living in coastal communities,
Boston, Massachusetts-based
company Regent believes that its
concept for electric seagliders will
offer low-cost, high-speed, zero-
emission transport for passengers and freight.
Operating only a few metres over the water as an
all-electric wing-in-ground (WIG) effect vehicle, the
seaglider can travel in one of three modes: floating on
its hull near the dock; foiling on its hydrofoils at up to 40
knots (kts) as it comes in and out of port; or flying above
the waves at 160 kts while cruising to its destination.
When in flight, it relies on the ground effect
phenomenon, flying on a cushion of air that allows it to
combine the high speed and comfort of an aircraft with
the low operating cost of an electric vehicle.
Regent’s design differs from past WIGs due to its
hydrofoils, distributed electric propulsion and aerospace
fly-by-wire controls. These elements enable safe harbour

50 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM

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TO ACTION
operations, increased wave tolerance and a comfortable
passenger experience.
GOING THE DISTANCE
Regent’s flagship seaglider, the 12-passenger Viceroy,
will be able to service routes up to 180 miles in distance
with existing battery technology. It expects to cover routes
of up to 500 miles in the near future thanks to next-
generation batteries, all via existing dock infrastructure.
Additionally, its operation as a WIG effect vehicle above
the water supports maritime testing and certification.
This is an efficient pathway to entry into service, allowing
customers to experience high-speed, zero-emission
coastal mobility sooner than electric aviation options,
while maintaining similar levels of safety.
“At Regent, we are focused on bringing a revolutionary
new vehicle to the transportation market with the potential
to change how both people and freight move over the
water,” says Regent CTO and co-founder Mike Klinker.
p50_51_52_D3D_FEBMARCH23_seaglider.indd 51
“As our seagliders approach certification and full-scale Regent’s seaglider is
a high-speed, zero-
commercial production, we need a robust, modern emission vehicle,
digital tools platform that supports the pace of our designed to operate
innovation cycles with the rigour to encompass a product exclusively between
coastal cities
as complex as ours.”
Klinker says that being a “digital-first start-up” led it to
Siemens Xcelerator as a Service, when the company was
choosing software to meet its design and engineering
needs back in 2020.
“At Regent, we are moving very quickly. We went from
a blank sheet of paper to an 18-foot wingspan, 400lbs
technology demonstrator on the water in 10 months,” says
Bryan Baker, Regent’s chief engineer for vehicle physics.
Baker describes his background, in common with many
others in the design and engineering team, as being
grounded in professional racing and prototyping, whether
that be in aerospace, motorsports or America’s Cup sailing.
“The team is very multidisciplinary. We pay special
attention to critical design tasks, prioritising solutions
DEVELOP3D.COM FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 51
08/02/2023 18:29
 INTERVIEW
with real-world application and delivered on time with
the greatest chances of success. The success of the team
relies on getting a working product from which we can
iterate improving safety and performance throughout the
entire architecture,” he says.
ON-DEMAND TOOLS
Baker says that at different times, members of the team
can have “bursts of software demands to follow the
cadence of our design.”
This means they require specific software tools at varying
frequency, which the cloud-based platform offers while
reducing cost.
“I’ve been using cloud services for years now and
the ability to scale compute resources like HPC, and
matching that with different on-demand licences, is a
very useful tool,” he says.
For aerodynamics, the team relies heavily on
STARCCM+ and on NX for CAD modelling, as well as
coupling Simcenter Structures for mechanical design
and tolerancing.
2 3
52 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM
p50_51_52_D3D_FEBMARCH23_seaglider.indd 52
‘‘
At Regent, we are bringing to market
a revolutionary new vehicle with the
potential to change how both people
and freight move over the water
’’ 1
“We use FEMAP as our mainstay for structural FEA, ●1 The seaglider will
be able to service
using it for both global and local modelling,” adds Baker.
routes of up to 180
“We are now getting into Fibresim to better model our miles in distance
material drops and hopefully leverage ply-cutting tools in ● 2 Coming in and
future designs, as well as optimise material purchases.” out of port, it uses
Teamcenter is being assessed for organising and tracking hydrofoils to travel at
up to 40 knots
CAD and trade-study data, as well as best practices
●3 Regent CTO Mike
to develop a certification path with maritime authorities. Klinker and CEO Billy
“As we continue to grow, I hope to leverage these tools Thalheimer, pictured
both internally and with our ever-growing contractor and alongside the Viceroy
builder relationships, to ease the communication and
reliability of our designs,” says Baker.
 ”The goal is getting from prototype to production
while growing a world-class team able to transfer our
knowledge without losing calendar and keeping costs
down. We hope to do just this leveraging Siemens and a
flexible cloud solution.”
While the craft won’t reach heights of more than a few
metres from the water’s surface, this transformative
mode of transport is definitely benefitting from the cloud.
www.regentcraft.com
08/02/2023 18:29
 FREE CAD SOFTWARE & SUPPORT
FOR ENTREPRENEURS
AND START-UPS

APPLY NOW
01324 550 760
solidworks@tms-scotland.com
tms-scotland.com/solidworks
TMS.indd 1 20/01/2023 11:59
 Lenovo ThinkStation P360 Ultra
» This ultra compact workstation ups the ante in several areas, from graphics
to memory capacity, making it capable of handling a much wider range of
design, engineering and manufacturing workflows, writes Greg Corke
C
» Intel Core i9-12900K ompact workstations have
processor (3.2 GHz, always had their limitations.
5.2 GHz boost) While perfectly fine for
(8 E-Cores, 8 P-Cores,
24 threads) mainstream 3D design
» Nvidia T400 GPU
work, they’ve lacked the graphics
(4 GB GDDR6) horsepower for visualisation, and the
» 64 GB (2 x 32 GB) memory capacity to handle the most
DDR5-4800 memory demanding datasets.
» 1 TB M.2 PCIe NVMe To expand your workflows beyond bread-
OPAL2 TLC Gen4p SSD and-butter 3D CAD, you’ve typically had to
» 300W external go for a much a bulkier tower workstation.
Power Supply Unit Lenovo is looking to change this with the
» 87 x 223 x 202mm ThinkStation P360 Ultra, a super compact
» Microsoft Windows desktop with a higher spec than other
10 Pro 64-bit workstations in its class.
» 3 Years On-site Compared to the Dell Precision 3260 and
warranty HP Z2 Mini G9 it has double the memory
(128 GB vs 64 GB DDR5) and higher-
£POA performance graphics (Nvidia RTX A5000
www.lenovo.com laptop GPU vs Nvidia RTX A2000 desktop
GPU). It also supports 125W CPUs, up to
the Intel Core i9-12900K, something that
Benchmark results the HP Z2 Mini G9 can also do, but the Dell
For full benchmark Precision 3260 cannot.
scores and
comparisons to other
workstations visit
CHASSIS INNOVATION
To accommodate these high-spec
www.tinyurl.com/ws-chart
components, which draw more power and
therefore produce more heat, Lenovo
developed an innovative dual chamber
design for the ThinkStation P360 Ultra’s
chassis. This not only helps improve
thermal performance but also aids
serviceability.
In contrast to most desktop
workstations where the motherboard sits
to one side, with the ThinkStation P360
Ultra it runs straight down the middle.
This means the CPU is on one side, the
1 2
54 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM
p54_55_56_D3D_FEBMARCH23_Lenovo.indd 54
GPU and SSD(s) on the other, and there
are dedicated fans and chambers for
each. There are some caveats to this,
however, which we’ll get onto later.
The ThinkStation P360 Ultra comes in at
87 x 223 x 202mm, making it the largest
of the ultra-compact workstations. But
it’s still incredibly small, takes up minimal
desk space (when placed either vertically
or horizontally) and is easy to move
around. The tiny machine can also be
VESA mounted behind a monitor, on a wall
or under a desk.
The metal chassis is extremely solid and
the design clean and simple. Like the HP Z2
Mini G9, air flows from front to back, drawn
in through Lenovo’s trademark honeycomb
grille. The centrally located motherboard
allows for good placement of front ports,
including two USB-C (Thunderbolt 4 Type
C), one USB 3.2 (Gen 2 Type A) and headset
audio. There’s plenty more at the rear,
including four USB 3.2 (Gen 2 Type A) (with
smart power-on), dual Ethernet ports
(1GbE and 2.5GbE), three DisplayPort, plus
whatever you have on your add-in GPU.
There’s also a slot for the optional antenna
for Wi-Fi 6 / 6E.
WiFi was notably absent on our test
machine but for a workstation of this
type, which is ideal for space constrained
environments, such as the home office, it
feels like a must.
The power supply unit is external, much
like a laptop, and the ThinkStation P360
Ultra comes with a 170W, 230W, or 300W
units depending on config. To open the
machine, simply pull a lever at the back
and slide off the metal cover. The location
3
of the components will depend on your
chosen combination.
Single slot, CAD-focused GPUs, such
as the Nvidia T400, T600 or T1000
are located on the opposite side of the
motherboard to the CPU. More powerful
dual slot GPUs, such as the Nvidia RTX
A2000 and A5000, are located next to
the CPU.
125W CPUs need a second, adjacent fan
for cooling, which unfortunately means
there is no room for a dual slot GPU. It
means users must choose to prioritise
CPU performance or GPU performance.
You can’t max out both in the same
machine.
For those whose workflows demand a
powerful GPU, this shouldn’t be too hard
a decision. While the single slot Nvidia
T1000 (8 GB) is perfectly adequate for 3D
CAD, moving up to the Nvidia RTX A5000
(16 GB) laptop GPU suddenly makes
the ThinkStation P360 Ultra capable of
powering a much wider of workflows,
including VR, GPU rendering and real-time
viz at 4K resolution.
Don’t expect performance to rival that
of a desktop Nvidia RTX A5000 GPU,
however. The P360 Ultra’s laptop chip is
housed on a custom board with a base
Thermal Design Power (TDP) target
of 110W. As a result, it will not deliver
as much performance as its desktop
counterpart (which has a total board
power of 230W). Compared to a standard
desktop workstation, however, Lenovo
claims users can expect slightly better
performance than a desktop Nvidia RTX
A4000, which is still a great card.
08/02/2023 18:33


The ThinkStation
P360 Ultra marks a
big step forward for
super compact desktop
workstations

In terms of CPU, choosing a 65W CPU
over a 125W CPU might not have that
great a negative impact on performance,
particularly in single threaded or lightly
threaded workflows.
On paper, there is very little between
the 65W Intel Core i9-12900 and the
125W Intel Core i9-12900K. Both have 8
P-Cores and 8 E-Cores and similar Max
Turbo frequencies (5.1 GHz vs 5.2 GHz).
You’ll likely see the biggest performance
difference when rendering, as the Core i9-
12900K is able to draw more power when
all cores are in use, up to a maximum
Turbo power of 241W. That’s the theory,
at least. With our test machine’s Core
i9-12900K we saw power draw peak at
160W in V-Ray, although it dropped to
125W after rendering for 50 seconds.
It would be interesting to see what the
p54_55_56_D3D_FEBMARCH23_Lenovo.indd 55
HARDWARE REVIEW
ThinkStation P360 Ultra could maintain ●1 Top side of ThinkStation
with the 65 W Intel Core i9-12900 and P360 Ultra, comprising dedicated
a single cooling fan, especially with an heat sink and fan for the M.2
Nvidia RTX A5000 alongside it. SSD(s) (top) and Nvidia T400
GPU (bottom)
Of course, the ThinkStation P360 Ultra
also stands out because it can handle ●
2 Bottom side of ThinkStation
P360 Ultra, comprising 125W
128 GB memory, double that of the Intel Core i9-12900K processor
competition. This will likely be of most and heat sink/fan (top) and
interest to designers and engineers additional cooling fan (bottom)
who use huge datasets for visualisation, ●
3 The Lenovo ThinkStation P360
simulation or reverse engineering, much Ultra (bottom) is slightly bigger
less so for vanilla CAD . than the HP Z2 Mini G9 (top)
This ‘industry first’ is enabled by having ●
4 The ThinkStation P360 Ultra
four SODIMM slots (two on either side can be placed vertically or
horizontally on the desk
of the mother-board) so there are dual
DIMMs per channel. According to Lenovo,
it is the result of working very closely
with Intel. However, more memory does
mean slower speeds. When configured
with 64 GB (2 x 32 GB 4800 SODIMMs),
DEVELOP3D.COM FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 55
08/02/2023 18:33
 HARDWARE REVIEW
for example, as was the case with our
test unit, memory speeds drop from
4,800MHz to 4,000MHz, as per Intel’s
design specification.
CORE PERFORMANCE
Our test machine was tuned more
towards CPU- than GPU-intensive
workloads. It features a top-end Intel
Core i9-12900K (8 P-cores / 8 E-cores),
an entry-level Nvidia T400 (4GB) GPU, 64
GB of DDR5 4800 memory and a single 1
TB M.2 NVMe SSD.
We experienced excellent all-round
performance in single threaded and
lightly threaded CAD workflows. In Revit,
Inventor and Solidworks, it was a touch
faster than the HP Z2 Mini G9 and its
Intel Core i7-12700K (see DEVELOP3D’s
Workstation Special Report 2022 - www.
develop3d.com/magazines). It extended
its lead over the HP machine in our multi-
threaded rendering tests, thanks in part
to the four additional E-Cores. In V-Ray,
Cinebench and KeyShot it maintained an
all P-Core frequency of 3.99MHz, hitting
4.40MHz in the early stages of a render.
Compared to a liquid cooled tower
fitted with the new Intel Core i9-13900K
CPU, single threaded and multi-threaded
performance was notably lower. However,
with this new top-end processor boasting
superior Instructions Per Clock (IPC),
higher clock speeds and four additional
E-Cores, this was to be expected.
The surprise came when comparing the
ThinkStation P360 Ultra to an older Intel
Core i9-12900K-based tower with liquid
cooling. It even outpaced the Scan 3XS
GWP-ME A124C we reviewed in March
2022 (www.tinyurl.com/Scan12thGen)
in many single threaded and lightly
threaded workflows, and it wasn’t that far
behind it in multi-threaded render tests.
However, there’s an element of comparing
apples to pears here, as the ThinkStation
P360 Ultra uses faster DDR5 memory,
compared to Scan’s DDR4.
Delving a bit deeper into the
benchmarks, we noticed some slower
56 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM
p54_55_56_D3D_FEBMARCH23_Lenovo.indd 56

As product designers / engineers
extend their workflows beyond pure
CAD, they no longer need to resort to
bulkier towers to meet their increased
performancedemands
 smooth 51 FPS in shaded with edges mode
than expected scores. Some of these
can be explained by memory speed (for
example, recompiling shaders in Unreal
Engine is particularly sensitive to memory
bandwidth), others by Windows 10 and its
tendency to sometimes assign processes
to cores incorrectly using Thread Director.
We identified several processes that
only ran on the slower E-Cores (and not
on the faster P-Cores, as one would want).
This includes simulation in Solidworks,
recompiling shaders in Unreal Engine and
drawing production in Autodesk Inventor.
While this was easily ‘fixed’ by changing
CPU priority in the excellent third party
tool, Process Lasso, it reinforces the
importance of running Windows 11 on
workstations with Intel’s hybrid processor
technology. These performance issues
were not seen in any of the Windows
11-based workstations be tested recently.
Fan noise was noticeable, but
acceptable. In single-threaded CAD
applications there was a gentle hum.
There was a natural increase in volume
in multi-threaded rendering applications.
However, in tools like Leica Cyclone
Register 360 where the loads on different
cores continually change, fan speeds
increased and decreased with some
frequency which some may find annoying.
3D PERFORMANCE
Considering the graphics potential of this
machine, we were a little underwhelmed
by the supplied Nvidia T400 (4GB).
This is very much an entry-level CAD
GPU, best suited to small to medium
sized assemblies. While 3D benchmark
scores in Revit, Inventor and Solidworks
www.tinyurl.com/P360-ultra
were significantly lower than any other
machine in last issue’s Workstation
Special Report, we still found it delivered
a perfectly good experience at FHD
resolution. In Solidworks 2023, for
example, testing with a 3.6 million
triangle computer model, delivered a
and 39 FPS with RealView enabled.
As you can imagine, the Nvidia T400
is nowhere near powerful enough for
visualisation work and the system became
unusable in many of our tests, especially
at 4K resolution.
THE VERDICT
The ThinkStation P360 Ultra marks a big
step forward for super compact desktop
workstations. As product designers and
engineers extend their workflows beyond
pure CAD, they no longer need to resort
to bulkier towers to meet their increased
performance demands.
The biggest advancement is arguably
the ability to configure the machine with
an Nvidia RTX A5000, albeit a laptop
variant with a slightly lower performance
profile. This opens up the super compact
workstation to graphics hungry workflows
like real time viz and GPU rendering that
simply weren’t feasible in the past with a
machine of this size.
Meanwhile, 128 GB of memory is still
a fairly niche requirement, but it will
certainly be welcomed by some of the
more demanding design and engineering
professionals, particularly in simulation
where datasets can be huge. Importantly,
with four SODIMM slots, users can start
with less memory and add more in the
future, as needs change.
From a pure CAD perspective, there
are smaller machines that will probably
do just as good a job in applications like
Revit and Inventor. But the beauty of the
ThinkStation P360 Ultra is that it can
cover such a wide range of workflows.
And from an IT management perspective,
particularly among larger firms, that can
be a big plus.
Check out this
first look video
08/02/2023 18:33
 2023 AMUG Advertisement_20220922_210mmx297mm.pdf 1 9/22/22 3:28 PM

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K
 LAST WORD
The recent arrival of his baby son
brought Stephen Holmes into contact
with a pretty mundane piece of
hospital equipment. It’s got him
thinking about the comfort of familiar
objects during challenging times
T
he arrival of my first-born
was not the moment I had
down as inspiring an ode to a
hospital hot drinks cart, but
here we are.
Most of my December days were spent as
a visitor to our local maternity ward, while
my wife received postnatal treatment
following the birth of our son. Book-ended
by winter darkness, the days indoors were
long ones. The two patients, both of whom
slept for the majority of the time, left
me with long stints of time alone, spent
reading or exploring the ward’s corridors.
Not that there was much to find. The
festive period meant that the usual
flurry of activity was reduced. The cafes
and canteens had shut their doors. On
Christmas Eve, the limited number of
vending machines were all pillaged by
the arriving night shift. They weren’t
restocked until well after Boxing Day,
which is where my dependence on the
hot drinks trolley became a ritual that
provided both sustenance
and markers of the time
that had passed.
The trolley’s grey sheet
 ergonomic analysis and
metal and red industrial Standing at the
twist shut-off knobs (used Ultrakart gave
to deposit shots of instant
coffee or sugar) gave it an us all a moment
air of Bauhaus. The name to ourselves, a
of the ‘Ultrakart’ and the
font used to display this
brief period of
name were both equally reflection
Germanic.
I visited the Ultrakart  Apart from the caffeine,
multiple times, day and
night. It was a bastion of
functionality, parked in a corridor, where
weary birth partners would congregate.
Some were still adrenaline-fuelled by the
appearance of their child moments earlier;
others were ashen-faced, having spent
days maintaining a positive demeanour in
front of their child’s mother.
Stepping out into the corridor to pour
hot drinks into small, beige plastic cups
58 FEBRUARY / MARCH 2023 DEVELOP3D.COM
p58_D3D_FEBMARCH23_LastWord.indd 58
gave us all a moment to ourselves, a brief
period of reflection in which to process
what was going on.
COMFORTING FAMILIARITY
In my working life, I spend a lot of time
listening to designers talking about
cutting-edge technologies, about shaping
the future with digitally enhanced products
and explaining the lengths to expertly hone
a product’s functionality based on their
observations of user behaviour. As is to be
expected, the hospital was awash with such
equipment – monitors, beds, instruments
and more.
Nearly everything there beeped and
bleeped. Nearly everything had been built
via this process: watched in its function as
part of a workflow, buttons exactly judged,
mouldings and materials thoughtfully
considered. Everything about these objects
had been impeccably thought-through by
their designers.
During those long hours, I wondered
how much user-centred
research, intrinsic
iterative prototyping had
gone into making my
new favourite trolley.
Given that it was made
of bent sheet metal and
pre-existing parts bolted
onto a wheelie cart with a
water heater slapped on
top, I quickly concluded it
was not a huge amount.
that’s what grabbed
my attention. It offered
simplicity in a world governed by medical
professionals and procedures. It made you
feel not entirely useless at a point when you
were not in control of the situation.
Sometimes reassurance is what’s needed
in a taxing situation, one in which you
find yourself a very long way out of your
comfort zone. Sometimes, this can be found
in a physical product.
I think most of us have an example in The Ultrakart in all
our lives: an object that maybe isn’t the its prosaic glory and
ready for service on
most advanced of its type, that we’ve held
the local maternity
on to well past its best days, or that isn’t ward
even the best tool for the job, but which we
plug on with anyway, because as humans,
we’re capable of tying emotions to those
inanimate objects. Typically, the more
analogue, the better.
The hospital drinks trolley couldn’t
conjure up a fancy double espresso with a
big glug of bourbon, which certainly would
have been welcome on more than one
occasion. But I was so enamoured with it
at the time that I took a photo of it on my
phone, where it’s saved on my handset
among the first images of my son.
Now that the delirium has passed, the
pure and basic functionality of its design
still stands out in my mind, even among
all the literally lifesaving technologies we
came into contact with during those days.
So, if you are in any small part
responsible for the design of the Ultrakart,
then you have my thanks. I raise a small
plastic mug of tea to you.
GET IN TOUCH: With the huge range of baby products on the
market, Stephen has been immersed in research (some from D3D
articles past), but now believes he’s prepared for every eventuality,
except actual parenthood. On Twitter, he’s @swearstoomuch
08/02/2023 18:15
 DEVELOP3DSERVICES
TO ADVERTISE YOUR SERVICES HERE CONTACT STEVE KING
STEVE@X3DMEDIA.COM | +44 (0) 20 3355 7314 | +44 (0)7850 507362

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