D3D Julaug15

HP Sprout P18 Siemens NXP45
Ansys AIM 7.0 P40 Keyshot 6 P53
TECHNOLOGY FOR THE PRODUCT LIFECYCLE JULY / AUGUST 2015 | £6 | € 7 | $10 | DEVELOP3D.COM
PTC
TWI’S DIG
N D ITAL
DES ERE EMO
WH
IG B
THE N M IKE
OF INTEREETS
THI NE
NGS T
RACE
TO THE
FINISH
Brooks Running
competes to build a
better sports shoe
NEW MODEL ARMY 3D PRINTING IN HEALTHCARE REVERSE ENGINEERING

p01_D3D_JULAUG15_COVER.indd 1 09/07/2015 22:14
We chose the Stratasys uPrint machine
for functional prototype testing. This FDM technique
allows us to print plastic parts & attach motors.
Watch the video or call

to see how a professional 3D printer allows truly to discuss your application
functional prototypes to take flight at Aerialtronics: with our experts:
tiny.cc/drone-d3d +44 (0)1908 904367

WELCOME
EDITORIAL
Editor-in-Chief
Al Dean
al@x3dmedia.com
+44 (0)7525 701 541
Managing Editor
Greg Corke
greg@x3dmedia.com
+44 (0)20 3355 7312
Digital Media Editor

Stephen Holmes
stephen@x3dmedia.com
+44 (0)20 3384 5297
Contributing Editor
Jessica Twentyman
jtwentyman@gmail.com
+44 (0)20 7193 0919
Consulting Editor
Martyn Day
martyn@x3dmedia.com
+44 (0)7525 701 542
A
DESIGN/PRODUCTION
Art Director
Rob Biddulph s I mentioned last month, I’m currently in the process of
working the kinks out of a self-built CNC router. If you’re
Design/Production
Greg Corke interested in how the so-called ‘maker revolution’ is
greg@x3dmedia.com changing the desktop manufacturing hardware industry,
+44 (0)20 3355 7312 it’s an interesting exercise. But if you’re someone, like me,
who has almost no talent for anything vaguely electronic
ADVERTISING or electrical, then it’s not without its challenges. You get
Advertising Director a machine at much lower cost, certainly, but your cost
Tony Baksh savings may well be offset by the time it takes to put the
tony@x3dmedia.com bloody thing together and get it working properly.
+44 (0)20 3355 7313 There’s no problem with the level of support you’ll receieve. To be fair to the
Deputy Advertising Manager crew at Inventables, which manufactures the machine I chose, they offer excellent
Steve King customer service and a very active forum, backed up with telephone support. But
steve@x3dmedia.com the major issue for me is that these machines are sold predominately as 2.5 axis
+44 (0)20 3355 7314 routers, not 3-axis – and, as such, the software supplied only supports 2.5 axes.
In order to run proper 3-axis toolpaths, you’ll need proper CAM and some
US Sales Director
open-source machine control software to get your G-code out of CAM and into
Denise Greaves
denise@x3dmedia.com the machine. Quite why none of the professional software vendors have jumped
+1 857 400 7713 all over the machine control market at the entry level, I’m not sure. If a company
came up with a solid machine control software tool for this class of machine, I
SUBSCRIPTIONS reckon they’d make a killing, even at the sub-£100 mark. Customers increasingly
want to push these machines harder and there’s always a weak link that makes it
Circulation Manager painful, particularly in a semi-professional or professional environment.
Alan Cleveland In other news, on 10 September, we’re bringing our own particular style of
alan@x3dmedia.com
networking to London with our first evening event. With some amazing speakers
+44 (0)20 3355 7311
and the chance to get hands-on with all the latest VR and AR hardware courtesy
of our hosts Inition, the event will also be lubricated by the fine folks at Trumans
ACCOUNTS Brewery. D3DxLDN will be free. Find out more at tinyurl.com/EVENT-D3DxLDN
Accounts Manager
Charlotte Taibi
charlotte@x3dmedia.com
Financial Controller
Samantha Todescato-Rutland
sam@chalfen.com
ABOUT
DEVELOP3D is published by
Al Dean
Editor-in-Chief, DEVELOP3D Magazine, @alistardean
Rooms 108 - 109, 4th Floor, 65 London Wall,
London, EC2M 5TU
T. +44 (0)20 3355 7310
F. +44 (0)20 3355 7319
© 2015 X3DMedia Ltd
All rights reserved. Reproduction in
whole or part without prior permission
from the publisher is prohibited. All
trademarks acknowledged
Opinions expressed in articles are those
of the author and not of X3DMedia.
Join our online community
X3DMedia cannot accept responsibility
for errors in articles or advertisements
within the magazine
DEVELOP3D.com facebook.com/DEVELOP3D @DEVELOP3D groups/DEVELOP3D
DEVELOP3D.COM JULY / AUGUST 2015 3
p03_D3D_JULAUGU15_EdsLetter.indd 3 09/07/2015 16:39

WIN A CAD-CLASS
WORKSTATION
D
EVELOP3D has teamed up with AMD FirePro and Dell to give
you to chance to win a powerful desktop workstation, perfect
for 3D CAD.
One lucky winner will take home a Dell Precision Tower 5810,
powered by AMD FIrePro W5100 graphics.
To be in with a chance of winning this fantastic prize all you need to do is
answer a few quick questions at
tinyurl.com/WorkstationWin
The closing date is September 4, 2015. Winners will be drawn at random
and announced on DEVELOP3D.com and in the October 2015 edition of
DEVELOP3D magazine.
In association with
EN
TE
R
t iny TH
ur E
l.c C
om O
/W M
or PE
ks T
ta IT
tio IO Terms and conditions: This competition closes on September 4, 2015 and is open
nW N
to individuals over the age of 18. Entry into the competition and acceptance of the
prize constitutes permission of entrants to use their name inside the magazine.
in A
The winner will be selected at random by X3DMedia. No purchase necessary. Only
T
the winner will be contacted personally. X3DMedia is not responsible for lost, late,
incomplete, invalid, illegible or misdirected entries.
4 JANUARY 2009 DEVELOP3D.COM
p04_05_D3D_JULAUG15_Competition.indd 4 09/07/2015 16:40

COMPETITION
DELL PRECISION
TOWER 5810
DESKTOP
WORKSTATION
WORTH £1,600 (EX VAT)
With impressive performance and
excellent serviceability, this highly-
engineered single CPU workstation is
the ideal platform for PTC Creo and
other leading 3D CAD tools.
★ Intel Xeon E5-1620 v3 (4 Cores, 3.5GHz)

★ 16GB RAM (4 x 4GB) 2133MHz DDR4
★ AMD FirePro W5100 (4GB)
★ 256GB Solid State Drive (SSD)
★ 2TB (7,200Rpm) Hard Disk Drive (HDD)
★ DVD-RW
★ Microsoft Windows 7 Pro 64
(plus Windows 8.1 license)
★ Keyboard/Mouse
Includes
AMD Fire
Pro
Graphics
AMD FIREPRO
PROFESSIONAL GPU
AMD FirePro combines cutting-edge
technologies, app certification and driver
optimisations as well as professional-grade
support to deliver an unmatched workflow
experience and performance with mission-
critical reliability.
DEVELOP3D.COM JANUARY 2009 5
p04_05_D3D_JULAUG15_Competition.indd 5 09/07/2015 16:40

BIMscriptTM Hackathon 2015
From Mechanical CAD to intelligent BIM objects
Explore the open and freely available scripting language, BIMscriptTM, and the
BIM object authoring solution, LENA, designed by BIMobject® to streamline and
accelerate the process of BIM content creation.
BIMscript™ and LENA open up vast opportunities for content developers and
internal mechanical CAD departments to develop their own content for most of the
BIM platforms with one single script. BIMscript™ is a subset of the C programming
language and enables smart objects to be created in BIMobject® LENA and then
hosted and managed in the BIMobject® Cloud.
We hereby invite Architects, Engineers, Technical Departments, Content Developers

and Students, working with 3D modelling tools for object and model creation, to
join BIMscript™ Hackathon in Budapest, 1st– 4th of September, 2015.
For more information and to apply: bimobject.com/hackathon
BIMobject AB – a public company listed on NASDAQ First North Stockholm: Share Ticker: BIM
MALMÖ MUNICH LONDON PA R I S BUDAPEST NEW DELHI MILAN SAN FRANCISCO
CONTENTS
JULY / AUGUST 2015 ISSUE NO. 70
8 NEWS
Intel unveils new Iris Pro Graphics, Vicon cameras feature
in Easyjet drone trials, Frame launches ‘CAD in the cloud’
public beta and Rhino for Mac makes it debut.
COMMENT
14 Britain needs less talk, more action to tackle its STEM skills
crisis, says Al Parkes, chief operating officer of Semta
16 YOUR DEVELOP3D
Tell us what you think. Your comments on our June 2015
issue, plus news of our forthcoming D3DxLDN event
FEATURES
18 Visual design guide: HP Sprout
20 Product design showcase: Britain’s next top modelmakers
24 COVER STORY Creating the footwear of champions
30 Behind the scenes of PTC’s Digital Twin demonstration
34 The Stratum chair by Ammar Kalo
36 Reverse engineering case study: 3D Hub of New Zealand
40 Reverse engineering case study: DAX Sports Cars of UK
42 New applications for 3D printing in healthcare
REVIEWS
45 Ansys AIM
49 Theorem Solutions Publish 3D
53 Luxion Keyshot 6
60 DEVELOP3D SERVICES
61 DEVELOP3D JOBS
66 THE LAST WORD

The wood used to produce this magazine
comes from Forest Stewardship Council This month Al Dean guides you through his recent workshop
certified well-managed forests, controlled
sources and/or recycled material adventures in setting up an Inventables X-Carve CNC router
Supported by
Networking, DEVELOP3D-style
with amazing design stories, AR/
VR hardware and some of London’s
finest ‘social lubrication’. Tickets are
FREE but places are strictly limited
10 SEPTEMBER 2015 tinyurl.com/EVENT-D3DxLDN
DEVELOP3D.COM JULY/AUGUST 2015 7
p07_D3D_JULAUG15_contents.indd 7 09/07/2015 16:40

NEWS
NEWS PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT NEWS
INTEL SETS SIGHTS ON 3D CAD WITH

NEW INTEGRATED IRIS PRO GRAPHICS
» With a new graphics technology at the heart of its Xeon E3-1200 v4 CPU, Intel is
taking the fight to professional graphics veterans AMD and Nvidia, writes Greg Corke
I
ntel is starting to take professional Intel told DEVELOP3D that it is currently remotely on thin or zero clients. (Above) Intel
graphics very seriously with a new working with "all the leaders" in the CAD Intel says that with four CPU cores and will be targeting
embedded graphics technology market to get the new Iris Pro Graphics P6300 integrated Iris Pro Graphics P6300, a single users of 3D CAD
applications, such
that it claims almost doubles the certified, but did not say which applications. Xeon E3-1200 v4 CPU is able to well serve
as DS SolidWorks
performance of the one it replaces. Certifications for the Intel HD Graphics the needs of a 3D CAD user over a one-to-
(Below) The Intel
According to the chip giant, whose CPUs P4600 currently include Autodesk Inventor, one connection. Xeon E3-1200 v4
are used in virtually all workstations, the PTC Creo, DS SolidWorks, Siemens NX and Intel partners, including HP, Supermicro includes integrated
new generation 'Broadwell' Intel Xeon Solid Edge. We expect this list may grow as and Cisco, already offer 3U servers that Iris Pro Graphics
E3-1200 v4 processor with Intel Iris Pro Intel ramps up deployment of its Iris Pro can host 12 Xeon E3-1200 v3 CPUs, each
Graphics P6300 can deliver up to 1.8 times Graphics P6300-based CPUs. with their own motherboard, memory and
the 3D graphics performance of the previous Even though Intel announced the Ethernet, so firms should also be able to
generation Intel Xeon E3-1200 v3 with Intel 'Broadwell' Xeon E3-1200 v4 CPU at the achieve good user density in racks.
HD graphics P4600. beginning of June, there has been no news The relative simplicity of a one-to-one
Intel HD graphics P4600 was first since of any workstations with this chip. connection could appeal to SMEs that
embedded in Xeon chips in 2012 and is widely This could mean the likes of Dell, Lenovo want the benefits of a datacentre solution
regarded as being for entry-level 3D CAD. By and HP skip the delayed Broadwell Xeon (including workflow, collaboration, IT
doubling the performance and essentially E3-1200 altogether, in favour of Intel management and data security) but don't
giving Iris Pro Graphics P6300 away free Skylake, which is rumoured to be out soon. want to get involved in the complexities
with the new Xeon CPU, Intel hopes to grab Skylake, a 'tock' in Intel's 'tick-tock' of a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
a bigger slice of the entry-level to mid-range processor release cycle, is a major deployment which also means investing
graphics sector, which is a sweet spot for CAD. microarchitecture redesign (Broadwell, a in high-end Intel Xeon E5-2600 v3
AMD and Nvidia, whose professional AMD 'tick', is a refinement of its predecessor CPUs, powerful Nvidia GRID GPUs and a
FirePro and Nvidia Quadro graphics cards Haswell), so this would make perfect sense. virtualisation software stack.
are used extensively in workstations and As a result, we may have to wait a little intel.com
servers, will be watching closely. longer before Intel Iris Pro Graphics P6300
While raw performance is essential for 3D is available in the entry-level workstations
CAD, Intel will know it still has a job to do that will replace the Xeon E3-1200 v3-based
to match the years of investment both AMD Dell Precision T1700, HP Z230 and Lenovo
and Nvidia have in driver development. It ThinkStation P300.
will need to demonstrate that its graphics In addition to workstations, Intel
technology not only delivers smooth expects its Xeon E3-1200 series CPUs to
interactive 3D graphics, but also stability play an increasingly important role in the
and full support for the features on offer in datacenter, where CAD software runs on
modern CAD applications. rack servers and users access the software
8 JULY / AUGUST 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
p08_D3D_JULAUG15_NEWS.indd 8 09/07/2015 16:41

Lenovo® recommends Windows.
MAXIMIZE
USER
PRODUCTIVITY
LENOVO THINKSTATIONS ARE
BUILT FOR PERFORMANCE AND
RELIABILITY.
TOOL-LESS DESIGN | SIMPLIFIED MODULAR
ARCHITECTURE | HIGHLY SCALABLE | ISV CERTIFIED
Delivering breakthrough levels of pipeline efficiency with
up to 96% more performance than previous generation
workstations, Lenovo ThinkStation P Series are powered by
Intel® Xeon® processor E5-1600v3 and E5-2600v3 series
and the latest NVIDIA graphics technologies enabling them
to run faster than ever before. Empowering visualisation
professionals with serious amounts of processing power
for their rendering workflow.
P300 P500
P900
P700
UNCOMPLICATED USAGE
· Tool-less and cable-free design
· FLEX features and intuitive touch-points
· Easy configuration and customization
INTELLIGENT COOLING
· Patented tri-channel architecture
· Our coolest workstations with just 3 system fans
reducing downtime and maintenance
UNMATCHED PERFORMANCE
· Latest Intel® Xeon® processor E5-1600v3 and E5-2600v3
· Quad Channel DDR4 Memory
· Supports up to 14 high performance storage drives
Intel® Xeon® sales@thinklogic.co.uk

processor 0845 475 1155
Lenovo makes every effort to ensure accuracy of all information but is not liable or responsible for any editorial, photographic or typographic errors. All images are for illustrative
www.thinkworkstations.com purposes only. For full Lenovo product specifications visit www.lenovo.com Lenovo makes no representations or warranties regarding third-party products or services.
Trademarks: The following are trademarks or registered trademarks of Lenovo: Lenovo, the Lenovo logo, For Those Who Do and ThinkStation. Microsoft and Windows are registered
trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Other company, product and service names may be trademarks or service marks of others. ©2015 Lenovo. All rights reserved.
NEWS
MOTION CAPTURE CAMERAS Frame launches

USED IN EASYJET DRONE TRIALS 'CAD in the cloud'
public beta
F
rame, the cloud platform that
lets users run ‘any software in a
browser’, has taken its end-user
service into public beta on five
continents.
This will enable anyone to install and run
their own Windows applications — including
3D CAD/CAM/CAE software — in the cloud.
Plans start at under $10 per month.
The move to public beta follows a recent
$10 million funding round from Columbus
Nova Technology Partners (CNTP), Bain
Capital Ventures and SQN Venture Partners.
Frame CEO Nikola Bozinovic told
DEVELOP3D that the company has added a
new datacentre in Frankfurt to help better
support European customers.
The company will also publish ‘best
practice’ guides for CAD applications,
starting with SolidWorks, to help users get
up and running more quickly and better
understand the nuts and bolts of licensing
A
requirements.
irline operator Easyjet has the plus side, that still saves them valuable The test set up in fra.me
been testing drone technology time and effort that might otherwise be Easyjet’s Luton
hangar, with Vicon
at Luton Airport, in order to spent scrambling up ladders and across
T-Series cameras
inspect one of its A320 aircraft platforms. tracking the UAVs
New bespoke kit

for damage. The tests have used The plan now is to add more automation
Blue Bear and Createc’s Riser quadcopter, to the system, so that sections of the
monitored by Vicon T160 motion capture
cameras.
aircraft where the drone thinks damage
might exist are highlighted to engineers. at Nottingham Uni
R
Easyjet engineers hope that the analyses Over time, the system could be refined
performed by unmanned aerial vehicles (or further to self-assess its own feedback. esearchers at the University
UAVs) will help to cut the amount of time By the end of 2016, Easyjet has of Nottingham have used a
an aircraft is out of service after a lightning announced, it plans to have UAVs £2.7 million grant from the
strike or hailstorm, for example. performing routine inspections in ten Engineering and Physical
However, there’s still a snag: the UAV engineering hangars across Europe. Sciences Research Council
technology isn’t quite up to scratch yet. Ian Davies, easyJet’s head of engineering, (EPSRC) to invest in three new pieces of
In tests conducted to date, the Vicon commented: “The use of these emerging state-of-the-art equipment.
T-Series cameras provided the engineering technologies frees up our engineering and The Additive Manufacturing and 3D
team with precise and reliable real-time digital teams to enable them to undertake Printing Research group will use the Pixdro
positioning feedback that could allow more skilled tasks, keeping our costs JetX printer, a two-photon lithography
them to validate the data produced by the down, which in turn keeps our fares low, system from Nanoscribe and a Demcon/Océ
quadcopter and measure its efficiency. helps minimise delays and ensures that we metal-jetting system — all bespoke machines
Assessment of damage, however, is still maintain our industry-leading punctuality — in order to drive forward their research in
performed by engineers, who refer to for our passengers.” the field of multi-functional 3D printing.
video footage captured by the drone. On vicon.com tinyurl.com/notts-kit
DEVELOP3D.COM THE BEST FROM THE WEBSITE
Formlabs has added a new VR rendering and multiple To mark National Women Novarix’s IV-eye portable 3D Systems has announced
‘tough resin’ to its growing GPU enhancements have in Engineering Day (NWED) infra-red vein imager aims that its portable 3D
materials library, designed been added to Chaos 2015, we speak to three to help medical staff hit scanning hardware iSense
for use in its Form 1 and 1+ Group’s latest release, female engineers about the right vein – first time, is now available for use
SLA 3D printers V-Ray 3.2 for 3ds Max their very different jobs every time with the iPhone
tinyurl.com/tough-resin tinyurl.com/ChaosV-ray tinyurl.com/nwed-3 tinyurl.com/novarix-vein tinyurl.com/isense-scan
p10_11_12_D3D_JULAUG15_NEWS.indd 10 09/07/2015 16:44

NEWS
ROUND
SolidThinking UP
unveils latest Autodesk has launched
version of Inspire Project Ignite, a free

learning platform available
S
in English for educators
olidThinking has launched and students in the US
the latest release of Inspire, and abroad, to build the
its design exploration and skills and confidence of
optimisation software, young learners in handling
delivering faster geometry the end-to-end design
functions and a fresh user interface. experience, incorporating
In particular, Inspire 2015 is designed The UI, meanwhile, has switched to a Inspire's new 3D printing and electronics
help users tackle more complex problems, ribbon-style interface, with tools organised support for projectignite.autodesk.com
fasteners and
enabling them to analyse and optimise into tabs. The view controls used to pan, joints should allow
full-model assembles through the addition zoom and rotate can be customised to match more complete
of support for fasteners (bolts or screws), users’ other CAD programmes, using the assembly analysis PTC and Stratasys are
joints (with pins or sliding pins) and contacts Preferences window. joining forces to deliver
(bonded, contact or no contact). Elsewhere, the Measure tools can now be design for 3D printing
Some of the new functions have been used on optimisation results and Inspire’s directly into mainstream
added in response to requests from ‘snapping’ action has been added to these. CAD in PTC’s Creo 3.0.
members of the Inspire user community, For multiple users working on the same Integrated workflows
according to the company. design, the added Network Materials should allow users to
“With support for assembly optimisation, function means a common materials library specify designs, prepare
users can now incorporate a surrounding can be shared by the group. files and execute prints
structure into their optimisations and gain And, according to SolidThinking, geometry for Stratasys 3D printers
a deeper understanding of the relationship functions in the program are “running up directly within Creo
between multiple components,” said to 300 percent faster” than in previous tinyurl.com/Creo-3dprint
Andrew Bartels, programme manager for versions of Inspire.
SolidThinking Inspire. solidthinking.com
Autodesk has made
available for free the
designs for its Ember 3D
Open Mind introduces 5-axis helical drilling printer. The full design
of Ember, presented in
T
Fusion 360 format, is
he latest version of Open The second is Active Process Control, now available to view,
Mind’s HyperMill tools which allows probing cycles to be download, inspect and
for CAM/CAD offers new integrated into the machining process modify under an open
optimisation and machining in order to actively control parameters. source Creative Commons
strategies, leading with 5-axis Deviations in dimensional accuracy can licence
helical drilling capabilities. be processed in the controller for actual tinyurl.com/ember-files
In HyperMill 2015.1, the helical drilling machining, based on the offset value.
cycle generates tool paths where the tool This is complemented by the third function,
plunges into the material more quickly, Zero-Point Definition, which makes it MSC Software’s new
eliminating the need for pre-drilling. By possible to define the component zero point, MaterialCenter 2015
setting the milling tool inclination based on for more precise and efficient machining. release integrates with
five axes, the company claims that users All movements are checked for collisions on a wide range of CAE
will benefit from rapid swarf removal, both 3- and 5-axis machine tools. products. CAE material
particularly with difficult-to-cut materials. In addition, HyperCAD-S, the CAD element models in MaterialCenter
Open Mind has also added three new in HyperMill has also seen some updates. are revisionable and fully
probing cycles to HyperMill. The first new Toolbars can be individually customised and traceable, with out-of-the-
measuring function is Informative Process commands can be pasted into, or deleted box support announced for
Control, which makes it possible to create from, toolbars using a drag-and-drop Nastran, Ansys, Abaqus,
measuring data for the individual component facility. This should enable programmers to Marc and LS Dyna
geometries and access it from the controller, tailor the system. mscsoftware.com
a plus-point for any machine shop. openmind-tech.com
AutoForm Engineering has

unveiled its latest software
Rhino for Mac makes its anticipated debut version, AutoFormplus

R6, with new options for
R
drawbead modelling,
hino for Mac is now who purchase Rhino 5 for Mac will receive blank definition, enhanced
available, with a 90-day these updates at no additional cost once springback compensation,
evaluation free to download. they do become available. systematic process
However, the highly A commercial licence of Rhino for Mac will improvement and a fully
anticipated release differs set buyers back €295 — but for users who integrated hemming
from the Window version. already own Rhino for Windows and actively solution
Features like plug-in support, layouts, participated in the beta-testing of Rhino for autoform.com
worksessions and animation tools are Mac, there’s an offer price of €95.
currently not included, but those customers rhino3d.com/mac

NEWS
UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD DS delivers new

LICENSES NEW 3D TECHNOLOGY industry-specific
experiences
F
rom aviation to consumer
packaged goods, Dassault
Systèmes (DS) is using its
3DXcite technology as the
basis of a range of industry-
specific solutions — or ‘experiences’ —
for customers in different sectors.
The idea is to extend the use of design
and engineering data beyond traditional
user groups to users in departments such
as sales and marketing.
In aviation, for example, DS has recently
launched its Passenger Experience offering,
for the profitable delivery of customised
aircraft cabins.
In consumer packaged goods, meanwhile,
it now offers the Perfect Product solution,
for cross-company collaboration on new
product development.
These new products follow the launches
earlier this year of its Perfect Shelf and
Perfect Package products for the retail and
T
consumer goods sectors.
he University of Sheffield As a result, the process not only Professor Neil 3ds.com
is licensing to industrial generates less heat, but also allows parts to Hopkinson watches
his HSS 3D printing
machine manufacturers the be printed in seconds. Speeds will depend
technology in
design for a new 3D printer, on the size of the product, but the team at action
based on high-speed sintering
(HSS) technology and capable of
Sheffield estimate that small components
will be built at less than one second per Blueprinter 3D
making plastic parts as quickly and as
cheaply as traditional manufacturing.
part, enabling additive manufacturing to
compete with injection moulding for high- line-up expands
D
The new machines based on this design volume manufacturing. In addition, the new
are expected to hit the market in 2017 HSS machine will be able to make parts as anish 3D printing pioneer
or 2018. large as one cubic metre. Blueprinter has launched
The technology behind the new HSS According to Professor Hopkinson: its M3 3D printing platform,
machine was developed by Professor “Additive manufacturing is already being offering its selective heat
Neil Hopkinson, director of the used to make tens of thousands of a sintering (SHS) technology
University’s Centre for Advanced Additive product — such as iPhone covers — and ten in a more refined design and with an
Manufacturing (AdAM). years ago, that volume was unthinkable. increased build volume.
The process selectively fuses polymer This machine will enable serious production According to the company, the M3 will
powder, layer by layer, just like other 3D of volumes over one million, which is make no more noise and take up no more
printers. But instead of using lasers, HSS currently inconceivable.” space than a standard 2D printer. Its build
prints infra-red absorbing ink onto the He added: “I believe history will repeat volume has been increased to 200mm
powder bed. When exposed to infra-red itself and, in ten years’ time, producing x 157mm x 150mm, so it’s able to create
light, the powder covered by the ink heats volumes over a million using additive multiple parts in one printing session. The
up, causing it to fuse, while the rest of the manufacturing will be commonplace.” M3 Is expected to retail at €25,450.
powder remains cool. tinyurl.com/HSS-3D tinyurl.com/Blueprinter-DK
DEVELOP3D.COM THE BEST FROM THE WEBSITE
Perceptron’s new ScanR Perceptron has also The European Space Agency Rail engineering company Envisiontec has launched
product aims to extend the just launched a new 3D (ESA) has revealed how its Alstom Transport is using the WaxEra 3D Printer
range of materials that can scanning system, Smart 3D, Aramis 3D camera system an immersive virtual and a range of materials
be scanned with its latest which is based on its Helix is helping it to detect sub- reality (VR) room to speed for use by designers in the
green laser technology sensor technology millimetre material strain up mock-up reviews jewellery industry
tinyurl.com/scanr-green tinyurl.com/helix-3d tinyurl.com/ESA-aramis tinyurl.com/AlstomVR tinyurl.com/WaxEra

SOLIDWORKS-Simulation-Advert-2015-Develop3D.pdf 1 09/04/2015 09:31:35
COMMENT
Britain needs less talk, more action

to tackle its STEM skills crisis and
remain competitive in the global
global economy, writes Al Parkes,
chief operating officer of sector
skills council Semta
F

or the past 30 years, By 2020, our STEM sectors will their future needs and help UK plc continue
we in the UK have been to compete on the global stage.
sleepwalking our way need 180,000 engineers, scientists
into a crisis. We have
and technicians every year in GET INVOLVED
allowed ourselves to I’d delighted to say that over 700 businesses
believe that our children order to maintain the UK’s future have already registered to participate in
should have the freedom many different ways. Among them are:
to pick and choose what competitiveness in the global economy
they want to learn and what they should
be taught because, at the end of their
 BAE Systems, which is opening up
opportunities nationwide through its UK
education, a decent job awaits. today, but without a skilled workforce, our Education Programme.
“Science, technology, engineering, maths brilliant innovations will go into production
— who needs it?” we asked. “Let them study overseas. Optimax Imaging Inspection Measurement
what they want!” we cried. And that false in Northampton, which is offering briefing
sense of post-sixties freedom has brought us A CALL TO ACTION sessions that give a valuable insight into the
close to the brink of disaster. Make no mistake: the time for talk is over – world of precision non-contact metrology
Other nations and cultures have not been and having stated that, I should let you know and inspection.
so complacent. They have had the vision, what we at Semta are doing to actively tackle
insight and drive to focus on creating the the skills shortage. Doyles Commercial Body Building in
skills that have breathed new life into their The STEM Exchange, pioneered by Leicester, which can offer site visits of its
industries and their economies and made The STEM Alliance, is one of our newest production unit, work-shadowing experiences
huge improvements to the general well-being initiatives, commissioned and funded by and an introduction to Lean process
of their populations. the Education and Training Foundation, and management and its applications.
Now that the collective penny has designed to bring professionals working in
dropped over here, we’ve woken up to the both further education and industry closer The Institute of Cast Metal Engineers (ICME),
realisation that, by 2020, our STEM sectors together. which is extending to participants workshops
Flying the flag:
will need 180,000 engineers, scientists and Andrew Beel Under this initiative, companies that rely and training on cast metal processes.
technicians every year in order to maintain will be one of 13 on STEM skills for their competitiveness are
the UK’s future competitiveness in the global young engineers opening their doors to post-16 educators and These businesses, and many others, have
economy. Without these skilled professionals, representing Great offering them a wide range of development recognised that it’s time to ‘stop griping
there is a serious risk that our economy Britain at the opportunities. and start fighting’. They’re already working
WorldSkills Final in
could falter and fail. Sao Paolo, Brazil this
This kind of close collaboration, we believe, with teaching professionals in ways that
Britain may still lead the world in August. The UK needs will be invaluable in helping those in the best suit their long-term needs. Each
manufacturing and technological advances more talent like this teaching profession to better understand the exchange of knowledge, expertise or
current and future needs of industry. It will opinion will play its part in kick-starting a
show them the technologies that businesses process that could revolutionise the way
are using today and the challenges they face. this country goes to work.
It will shape their teaching practice so that it So if you feel as strongly on this issue as we
reflects these requirements. do, take a few moments to think how your
Educators might get the chance to walk organisation can do its bit and make its mark.
a shop floor, for example, or be given a Our generation will be judged by the
personal introduction to a local business way we tackled this issue and planned for
relevant to their students. They might be the future. Help us to ensure that future
alerted to opportunities for bite-sized generations look kindly on us.
work shadowing or the chance to attend
a company’s internal training or induction
Al Parkes was appointed chief operating officer
sessions. at Semta in December 2014, having worked
In return, forward-thinking employers that as The STEM Alliance programme leader since
get involved with The STEM Exchange will August 2014. During her career, Al has worked
on many large-scale projects, delivering
be doing their bit to increase the supply of
learning to tens of thousands of employees at
well-qualified, talented individuals, equipped organisations including John Lewis, BP & Argos.
with the right skills and expertise to meet semta.org.uk/stem-exchange
p14_D3D_JULAUG15_SemtaComment.indd 14 09/07/2015 18:05

DriveWorks Ad.indd 1 09/07/2015 15:35
FEEDBACK
Your DEVELOP3D
» Your views on where design goes wrong, why 3D support is needed in Autodesk
Inventor LT and news of our 10 September networking event in London, D3DxLDN
Got an opinion on COMMENT: THINK LIKE A HUMAN, MISS DEVELOP3D LIVE?
anything that has DESIGN FOR REAL PEOPLE THE VIDEOS ARE NOW ONLINE
(or has not) appeared
in DEVELOP3D? Let us
DEVELOP3D.COM JUNE 2015 Did you miss a session on the day, couldn't
know what you think Russell Beard's comment piece sums up what make the event or just want to watch
Greg Corke design hasn't done well for a number of years. a particularly inspiring or interesting
greg@x3dmedia.com Philip Davies presentation again? We've now got all of
Facebook the videos from this year's DEVELOP3D Live
/develop3d REVIEW: INVENTOR 2016 online and ready for you to enjoy.
Twitter DEVELOP3D JUNE 2015 develop3dlive.com
@develop3d The 3D printing enthusiast really needs the
Web 3D print support described in Al Dean's
develop3d.com review of Autodesk Inventor 2016. But not
Linked In every enthusiast (for example, me) has the
DEVELOP3D group budget to purchase or subscribe to full-
Letters may be edited blown Inventor. Instead, I now subscribe
to 2016 Inventor LT and often find myself
struggling with prints that are too large
for my printer. Please, Autodesk: consider
adding 3D support to Inventor LT. That
would make it the go-to software for a large
number of people.
Gary Schwartz
Supported by
10 SEPTEMBER 2015
We’re bringing our own particular style of networking to London for our first evening event –
Amazing design stories, the chance to get hands-on with the very latest VR and AR hardware
and some fine 'social lubrication'. Tickets are FREE but places are strictly limited.
tinyurl.com/EVENT-D3DxLDN
60 SECOND Why did you become a designer?

Since as long as I can remember,
What design would you have
loved to have designed and why?
What would you say is the
biggest challenge facing
If you were hosting a dinner
party, who would you invite and
INTERVIEW I've always loved designing and There's nothing I wish I'd designed. designers? why?
GILO CARDOZO making things. This interest grew However, I do wish to design To be a great designer, you really I often invite the guys I work with
into a passion for mechanical and develop mankind's future- need to have a very practical for dinner as we share a lot of
engineering at a young age, so it generation propulsion system. understanding of how things are interests, we all love flying and
was never a conscious decision to That's my next big project... made. Manufacturability is one we all get on really well. I've also
become a designer. It's just what I of the key ingredients of great got plenty of family around here
felt most natural doing. Play-Doh, Meccano or Lego? product design and I know of many that I could invite. I’m one of ten
Lego! I've spend thousands of trained designers and engineers children, so that’s a load of extra
Which designer or company do hours playing with it. who lack experience in this area, fun to add to the mix.
you most admire and why? due to the way that the education
My all-time hero is Air Commodore What are your weapons of choice? system is structured. They need to Gilo Cardozo is founder of Parajet
Sir Frank Whittle, the inventor There are too many to choose from find ways to get that experience and of Gilo Industries Group (GIG). He
of the world's first practical jet – but I'd probably say a hammer. if they are to really hone their was awarded an MBE for services to
engine. Whittle's unwavering designing skills and get ahead of engineering and business in 2011 and is
determination and genius changed What is missing from your toolset? the game. considered one of the UK’s top up-and-
the world and enabled mankind The latest Renishaw 3D metal coming aviation innovators. In 2007, he
to do things that were previously printing machine. Can you predict any future built the paramotor flown above Mount
deemed impossible by many trends? Everest at an altitude of over 29,500
industry experts. Is there anything that would I expect to see a huge range of feet by adventurer Bear Grylls for the
make your design process run different product components Discovery Channel documentary, 'Mission
What product couldn’t you live smoother? manufactured on various types of Everest'.
without? Having computers and CAD 3D printers. This, I believe, will be
My own invention, the Parajet software that never crashed would the biggest shift we will see in the If you want to take part please
backpack flying machine. be a big help! next few years. contact greg@x3dmedia.com
p16_D3D_JULAUG15_LETTERS.indd 16 10/07/2015 07:39

Project2_Layout 1 16/06/2015 11:44 Page 1
The wheel took a millennium
The Wright Brothers took seven years
Your component can be ready in just 24 hours
Time is of the essence when turning your product ideas into reality.
At Proto Labs, we’ve built our reputation on providing designers and engineers
with lightning-quick machined and moulded components for prototyping.
Our new rapid liquid silicone rubber (LSR) moulding service can turn 3D CAD designs
into functional components by the very next day … helping your business compete
by lowering costs and speeding up your route to market.
Call us on +44 (0)1952 683 047 or visit www.protolabs.co.uk to find out more.
To view our FREE

whitepaper: Visit
www.protolabs.co.uk/Parts
Enter code – D3D715l
Protolabs Ad.indd 1 09/07/2015 15:36

VISUAL DESIGN GUIDE
HP SPROUT
HP has launched an update to its Sprout platform,
featuring an interactive touchscreen display and
new 3D scanning tech. We take a look at what
it offers the design professional
HP ILLUMINATOR
This is the combination of a DLP projector, a
high-resolution 14.6 megapixel camera and an
Intel RealSense 3D Camera. Preview scans can
be captured quickly using the RealSense 3D
camera, then higher-resolution scans with the
projector and camera using a structured white
light approach
TOUCHSCREEN
DISPLAY
The Sprout features a 23-inch 10-point
touch-enabled full HD (1,920 x 1,080)
LED backlit LCD display. This is backed
up with an Nvidia GeForce GT 745A GPU
with 2GB dedicated DDR3 memory
ALL-IN-ONE MACHINE
The machine is factory-fitted with 8GB RAM
(expandable to 16GB) and a 1TB SATA Solid State
Hybrid Drive with 8GB flash acceleration cache
OPTIONS, PRICE &

AVAILABILITY
The Sprout starts at £1,899 (inc. VAT).
The 3D capture stage is an optional extra
and is expected to cost in the region of
$299 in the US
sprout.hp.com
p18_19_D3D_JULAUG15_viz design guide - HO Sprout copy.indd 18 09/07/2015 18:07

AUTOMATED 3D SCANNING ENTRY-LEVEL
WITH THE HP SPROUT 3D SCANNERS
1ThePOSITION ITEM
HP Sprout guides you through the process
2The PREVIEW SCAN
Sprout initially performs a preview scan.
with on-screen instructions, combined with more This gives you an indication of whether or not
direct instructions projected onto the surface of
the 3D Capture Stage
you’ve got things set up correctly and where you
might need to perform multiple scans
3D SYSTEMS ISENSE
Until Google releases its 3D scanner/phone experiment later
this year, this is about as close as you can get to a phone
that scans. 3D Systems has taken its Sense entry-level
scanner, shrunk it down and packaged it up for the iPhone.
You’ll need an iPhone 6 (there is also a version available for
the iPad). It’ll set you back £359 for 0.5mm tolerance (in
X/Y) at 0.5m from your object. Perfect for the road warrior
and for 3D form capture in the field.
cubify.com/products/isense
3The SCAN OBJECT

system then performs the scan. It’ll capture
4 EXPORT DATA
The final scan is then ready – or you can add
the object using a combination of projected in more views if needed. Right now, the export
stripes with a high-resolution camera to options are limited to just the .obj format (which
triangulate the object to 0.5mm accuracy can also contain colour information)
FUEL3D SCANIFY
This is a hand-held unit that was launched last year by
Fuel 3D. The Scanify device will scan your objects down
to a resolution of 350 microns and, due to its hand-held
nature, there aren’t any restrictions on object size. The only
limitations will be how well you can maintain registration
and tracking (alternatively, you can mount it on a tripod).
It’s availabe now to order online, comes with its own
processing software and will set you back £825.
3D CAPTURE STAGE
This provides 360-degree rotation with 15-degree tilt for maximum
fuel-3d.com
scan coverage. Four rubberised magnets will hold most metal objects
in place (otherwise, you’re looking at double-sided tape or Blu-tac).
In terms of dimensions, you’ll be able to scan objects up to 190mm
tall and up to 2kg in weight. The Capture software automatically
stitches together individual scans and cleans up your mesh
TOUCH-ENABLED CANVAS
This is a fascinating aspect of the Sprout. It’s an interactive projection
surface that’s part secondary display, part interaction method KSCAN3D
This isn’t a scanner per se, but instead a rather nifty bit of
and part — well, we don’t know what to call it. As well as using
the traditional mouse, keyboard and touchscreen, you can also software that will turn a Microsoft Kinect (either hacked from
manipulate and play with the data on your table top, via this device the console or the ‘for Windows’ version) into a 3D scanner.
It used to cost $300, but developer LMI Technologies has just
made it free. Combine it with around £100 worth of off-the-
shelf hardware and you’ve got a basic 3D scanner. It’s also
what Al Dean used in his 3D photocopier project, which he
presented at DEVELOP3D LIVE 2013 (vimeo.com/66304775).
kscan3d.com
p18_19_D3D_JULAUG15_viz design guide - HO Sprout copy.indd 19 09/07/2015 18:07

PRODUCT
DESIGN
SHOWCASE
NEW MODEL
ARMY
» This month Stephen Holmes takes a look at work
created by emerging young modelmakers and
showcased at June’s New Blades exhibition in London
EXTRAVEHICULAR ACTIVITY
I
n director Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 sci-fi Yeo used Rhino to produce an initial 3D
masterpiece, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, the model of the EVA Pod, allowing him to assess
three Extravehicular Activity Pods (or EVA how individual sections might be built. The
Pods) used by the Discovery One’s crew to design was split into several main sections
conduct maintenance tasks outside the main as well as a range of detailed components
spacecraft all meet with disaster. that would be added separately. CNC-milled
Mark Yeo’s model of an EVA Pod fared chemiwood was used for the base of the
rather better at the New Blades exhibition pod, while moulding and casting was used
for emerging modelmaking talent, held at to duplicate the side panels. A great deal of
Holborn Studios in London in June. Yeo took the front-panel detail, meanwhile, was added
home three awards from the show: Best Use using laser-cut acrylic. The black window bevel
of Laser, the Asylum Creative Prize and Best was 3D-printed on an Ultimaker 2.
Product Model. The EVA Pod’s moving claws and handles
With its poseable arms, clamping claws and were modelled separately in SolidWorks,
LED-lit headlights, Yeo’s model is a replica where mechanical details were added, before
prop of the original studio-scale model used being 3D printed on a Stratasys Objet24, along
in the film. It was commissioned by author with its eight rocket thrusters.
Piers Bizony, to use at the launch event for “Considering the angles and complex
his forthcoming limited-edition book, The curves in this model, 3D modelling and
Making of Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space printing aided the project massively – in the
Odyssey’. Bizony was able to provide Mark Yeo thought process just as much as in the build
with access to a huge variety of photos and process,” says Yeo.
drawings of the original EVA Pod models. cargocollective.com | markyeomodelmaker
p20_21_22_D3D_JULAUG15_PDG.indd 20 09/07/2015 18:07

With its poseable arms, clamping
claws and LED-lit headlights,
Mark Yeo’s EVA Pod model is
a replica prop of the original
studio-scale model used in the
film, ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’
DEVELOP3D MONTH 200X 21

BLADES OF GLORY
J
ack White’s Hartzell Airplane cone
stood out at New Blades 2015 for its
attention to technically accurate detail.
It also scooped its creator the award for
Best Use of New Technology.
White’s first aim was to show how pitch
is altered within an aircraft nose cone
using a digital model. The 3D CAD was
fully built, rendered and animated in
SolidWorks, showing the mechanism in
action with exploded component views.
He then moved on to building a more
complex, cutaway physical model of a Pratt
& Whitney turboprop engine. From 2D
plans and photographs, he created a 3D
SolidWorks model, which he adjusted to
create a better aesthetic for the model at
reduced scale. This was used to help him
decide which parts should be printed,
using the Stratasys Objet24 printer at
Arts University Bournemouth, and which
should be hand-crafted.
“The SolidWorks model allowed me
to see how the model would look before
physically making it. This was particularly
successful when making decisions for the
internal fins,” says White.
The choice to use 3D printing to make
these fins – the grey parts within the
internal structure of the engine model
– meant that the scooping ‘flick’ of each Jack White’s airplane
nose cone drew praise
blade to direct air could be replicated. from the New Blades 2015
jackwhitemodels.weebly.com judges for its attention to
technically accurate detail
SUPER COOL
T
he traditional British ice cream van
is a sight we’ve been hard-wired to
recognise from childhood, hence the
appeal of Alex Brooker’s creation, made
for a stop-motion animation film.
Among the requirements outlined in
the brief were that the doors should open,
the roof should be removable and the
headlights should work. The rest was left
up to Brooker’s imagination.
He began work by compiling a collage
of classic cars and vans, before combining
his ideas in a single sketch. He then
worked with Rhino to bring a 3D model to
life on screen.
The completed design was split into
sectioned components in Rhino, in order
to plot the CNC pathways and identify
what cutting bits would be required.
Brooker created the model in
chemiwood, painting the major sections
with cellulose paint and adding exterior
and interior details.
Finally, electronics for the headlights
were inserted, laser-cut windows added
and a full set of tyres applied. The tyres
were moulded and cast from a single, 3D
printed prototype.
“There’s no denying that 3D printing is
having a huge impact on modelmaking
– and my digital modelling abilities
and ability to clean up 3D prints [are] The brief for Alex Brooker’s
ice cream van stated that the
frequently brought up in conversations doors should open, the roof
now,” says Brooker. should be removable and the
22 MONTH 200X DEVELOP3D
abmodelmaking.com headlights should work

Metal, Plastic, Ceramic, Wax
or even Chocolate.
A wide range of materials

for a wide range of challenges.
We are eager to get our teeth into your challenges,
get in touch for sample materials, demonstrations and parts.
www.hkh3d.com 01788 577 288
SOLUTIONS 3D Printers | Software | Materials | On Demand Parts

PROFILE
COOL RU
Brooks Running, which
celebrated its centenary
last year, is a Seattle-based
company that designs and
markets running-specific
performance footwear
p24_25_26_27_28_D3D_JULAUG15_CoverStory.indd 24 10/07/2015 07:41


Functionality comes first, and then the
aesthetic wraps around that
Indra Gunasekara, shoe designer

UNNINGS
» Just because fit and comfort must come first, aesthetics shouldn’t be an also-ran.
Tanya Weaver talks to members of the design team at sports apparel company
Brooks Running about creating a running shoe that can compete at every level

PROFILE
W
hether they plan to pound the to kick off in a pretty traditional way, with a physical, 3D ●
1 The lightweight
Glycerin 13 is one of
pavement, road or trail, what every representation of the human foot, known as a ‘last’:
the latest technical
runner looks for in a running shoe “It is very difficult to design around this shape in 2D, running shoes to be
is, above all, fit and comfort. because of the inherent asymmetrical and organic nature launched by Brooks
The look of the shoe plays a part of it. It makes it virtually impossible to visualise the end Running
too, of course, but Seattle-based product using this method,” says Martushev.
sports apparel company Brooks Running is on a mission “In the past, footwear designers would create scale
to help its customers ‘Run Happy’, so any shoe that led to drawings that would then be faxed to the mould shop
friction, pain or injury – however aesthetically pleasing – vendors in Asia. These scale drawings would then be used
would be a complete non-starter. as templates for model shop workers, who would carve the
“We focus more on the functional standpoint, so designs into wood.”
everything that I do needs to fall through that filter. This method had some problems, he adds: designs
Functionality comes first, and then the aesthetic wraps became subject to the modelmaker’s individual
around that,” explains Indra Gunasekara, senior footwear interpretation and many failed to grasp the designer’s
designer at the company. concept, causing delays and affecting overall aesthetics.
The design process at Brooks Running begins with “We’ve come a long way since then, with the advent
designers sketching their ideas in 2D – and it wasn’t so of CAD/CAM, 3D modelling software and additive
many years ago that their designs would stay in 2D for the manufacturing. It’s really made our lives easier.”
duration of the product development process. At Adidas, the CAD tool chosen for 3D design was Rhino,
But then in January 2011, Nick Martushev joined the which Martushev brought with him when he joined Brooks
company as design engineer and digital product creation Running. In fact, he’s been a certified Rhino instructor for
manager, with a long track record in tooling and 3D design the past eight years.
technologies. 3D, he says, was relatively new to the footwear “Rhino has its strength in surface modelling and was
industry when he started his career at Adidas some 17 years vital to the transition from 2D to 3D in our industry, due
ago, but has made big progress since. to its designer-friendly user interface and its no-nonsense
Still, he explains, the footwear design process continues approach to creating complex NURBS surfaces. That’s why

‘‘ Footwear
begins from
I chose to continue to use Rhino as part of Brooks’ tooling
design and engineering process. It just works,” he says.
praised the powers of MODO from software developer The
Foundry for its ease of use over other visualisation tools.
“At that time, Rhino also didn’t have a lot of the “He mentioned MODO and I had actually never heard
a foundation restrictions that most other 3D software had with the of it. So, I beta-tested it for a little while and I really grew
called the boolean and parametric methods. It really gave us the to love it. The user interface was a lot different to what I
last, which is a freedom to build all the intricacies and freeform, organic was used to, but it was intuitive and the learning curve was
surfaces that athletic footwear inherently has.” pretty quick. I also really loved the built-in rendering engine
representation for its quality and speed, not to mention that it imports
of the foot. It is 3D VISUALISATION ON THE STARTING BLOCKS native Rhino files,” he says.
very difficult to Although Rhino is more than sufficient on the 3D “It also definitely helped that the price was more
design around modelling side, Brooks Running’s colour design team were affordable. We were looking at this software as a tool to be
still using 2D tools, particularly Adobe Illustrator, in their utilised by most of the design and engineering team for
this shape in ideation process. the long run so, from a financial standpoint, it just made
2D, because of Martushev felt that a 3D visualisation tool would help sense.”
the inherent them, as material finishes are more realistically represented
asymmetrical in 3D than they are in a flat 2D image. It would also allow INTRODUCING MODO
them to experiment with ideas and create more iterations, Martushev’s initial proposal to use MODO was met with
and organic by enabling them to select from a variety of finishes and hesitation by some members of the design team. They were
nature of it
’’ colours.
“We are a premium footwear brand and a lot of the
put off by stories they had heard about the intricacies of
learning 3D software, so he set about making the software
premium quality found in our footwear is in the materials, as easy as possible for them to use as part of their footwear
textiles, colours and sheens. We really wanted a way to design process.
dial in those aspects, from a virtual perspective, prior to Essentially, a shoe is divided into two parts: first, the
us getting any completed physical samples back from our ‘sole’ or tooling component; and second, the ‘upper’ or
manufacturing partner,” he explains. textile component. On the tooling side, once the designers
Not set on any particular 3D visualisation and rendering have completed their blueprint, which is essentially a
tool, Martushev took the advice of a freelance designer, who mechanical drawing to scale, their design for a sole is sent
off to the team based at Brooks’ manufacturing partner in
Asia, where a surface model is constructed in Rhino.
2 This 3D file is sent back to the design team for review,
but since the sole is where much of Brooks’ running
technology can be found, this file may go through multiple
iterations to get to exactly what designers want. As part of
this process, 3D printing will be used to create prototypes
for design and engineering investigation.
“Simultaneously, the designers have also been working
on the shell pattern of the upper. I’ll then take that flattened
pattern and apply it to the last using Modo’s UV tools,”
Martushev explains.
Importing the Rhino-based sole files and combining
them with the uppers, modelled in MODO, Martushev has
devised a way of creating a template scene in MODO that
3 houses the complete virtual shoe, so that designers can
simply jump in and start applying materials and colours.
“For me as a designer, I am not too concerned with
learning and knowing how to use the programme itself,
I just want to use it to accomplish what I need to do,” says
Gunasekara.
For further simplification, Martushev prepares files so
that the design team has only to focus on two areas: the
rendering viewport and the shader tree.
“They love the fact that they can just go into the render
window, click on one of the overlays of our shoes and that
material automatically highlights in the shader tree. They
●
2 A MODO screen shot showing the
Brooks Glycerin 12
●
3 A Rhino screen shot showing the
tooling or sole component of the
Brooks Glycerin 13
●
4 A Rhino screen shot showing the
underneath of the sole component of
the Brooks Ghost 8

PROFILE
don’t have to go and look for it and they can manipulate the
colour and the surface finish right there,” he says.
“Historically 3D software has always been difficult to
use. You had to be a rocket scientist to figure out the user ‘‘ We are a
premium
That came as a pleasant surprise to many of the more interfaces,” he jokes.
sceptical members of the design team, he adds: “They were “But I think MODO has done a great job with revising
footwear
colouring footwear within the first day of training.” their user interface to really accommodate the designer’s brand
Gunasekara, who has been designing Brooks Running needs.” and so a
shoes for the past 15 years, enjoys how MODO allows him MODO also saves time. From Gunasekara’s point of lot of the
to get creative, inspiring new ideas by enabling him to play view, designers don’t have to spend as much time ordering
with different colours, materials and finishes. samples of materials. They can often make a judgement premium
“Certainly when you look at a shoe, there is a lot of form based on the materials they see on the screen. quality
language that exists and sometimes I use MODO to steer “I think one of the most important things as a designer is that is
me in a certain direction or get an emotion around the getting to a place where you are confident and comfortable
product that I’d like to create,” he says. in what you are delivering to the technical runner. Using
found in our
“Also, instead of just exploring one option, MODO gives MODO aids you in bringing that to reality faster,” he says. footwear
me the opportunity to explore, say, three options. That can Across the company, Brooks Running estimates that it is in the
be a huge resource.” has slashed around 30 per cent off its sample requirements materials,
by creating virtual footwear in 3D. Says Martushev: “We
MANY ADVANTAGES won’t completely eliminate the need for physical samples,
textiles,
The biggest advantage of using MODO is its fast because the sense of touch cannot be replicated, but in colours and
Nexus rendering engine, according to Martushev. The
instantaneous feedback it provides is very beneficial for
the interim, we can provide multiple colour and material
options via 3D to the design team and other stakeholders,
sheens
’’
designers investigating different colour combinations and as opposed to wasting company resources to build physical
surface finishes. “They don’t really want to be hindered samples that we may choose not to go to market with.”
by software and that’s why they really like MODO’s quick In other words, the company wouldn’t make decisions
feedback,” he says. solely based on the 3D visualisations, as they still want to
Another benefit is the user-friendly interface, which is have a physical sample to hold, look at and sign off. “But the
easy to learn even for those unfamiliar with 3D software. few examples that we have done, we have actually compared
a physical sample to our final rendered image and really
most people couldn’t tell the difference,” Martushev says.
NAVIGATING THE FINAL LAPS

Not every Brooks Running designer is using MODO yet,
Gunasekara admits, but he expects more will use it in
future. “If you know and have an understanding of what it
takes to build a great technical running shoe, you can utilise
MODO to take you three or four steps deeper, which really
is an amazing thing,” he says.
“I’m excited to see what 3D can do for the designer – to
explore things that they can’t necessarily come up with by
themselves.”
Martushev, meanwhile, sees other uses for MODO at
Brooks Running. It could be used as a marketing tool, for
example, to display to customers interactive, 3D models of
running shoes on the company’s own website or those of
retailers.
“What we found within the industry is that a lot of
5 runners are doing research online now prior to purchasing
their shoes, so any additional tool that they can use to help
make that decision easier would benefit both the consumer
and the retailer,” he observes.
Ultimately, Brooks Running wants to ensure that the
materials, colours and finishes it uses in its shoes are
worthy competitors for the fit and comfort that already
enable its customers to ‘Run Happy’. MODO is helping the
company get the mix right.
brooksrunning.com
thefoundry.co.uk
●
5 The design process begins with the
designers sketching their ideas in 2D
6 ●
6 Nick Martushev, digital product
creation manager at Brooks Running

Advertorial
Destination Mars
Orbital ATK accelerates efficiently with AMD FirePro™ professional graphics
W
hen astronauts head into deep The combination of Dell and AMD FirePro™ large amount of on-card graphics memory and
space on NASA’s new Space professional graphics does the job.” high computational power enable HERO to
Launch System it will be solid Orbital ATK engineers and programmers perform high-speed view factor calculations on
rocket boosters designed and built develop specialized simulation codes for the US very large finite-element models.”
by Orbital ATK that send them on their way. government, the US Air Force, and for internal
A major producer of solid rocket propulsion and commercial use. For example, HERO™ is MAXIMIZING THE IT BUDGET
systems, Orbital ATK Flight Systems Group is highly specialized simulation software used for It is critical that engineers have hardware that
also building the rocket motors for the launch heat transfer, erosion and ablation predictions. meets their needs and so Orbital ATK works
abort system that will sit on top of the Orion These internally developed codes take on a three-year refresh cycle. However, with
spacecraft and quickly lift the crew to safety if advantage of the OpenGL protocol and leverage hundreds of engineering workstation users on
problems develop during launch. the power of the AMD FirePro™ W5000 GPU, site, a hardware update becomes a significant
The group is part of Orbital ATK (OA), a enabling users to run calculations much faster investment. Jim Maul observes: “When we
long-term supplier to national governments than if they were solving solely on the CPU. do an upgrade, price is always an issue and we
and military organizations, which employs “GPU performance is very good, we have must justify our decisions with business and IT
over 14,000 people across the US. management. We therefore focus on
There are over 2,000 employees at price performance for the graphics
sites in Utah, which have produced and that is one advantage we see with
solid rocket motors for space launch, AMD. We get the performance we
military and defense applications. OA want at a price point we can afford
also builds numerous other aerospace and that is the reason we have selected
products in Utah. These include AMD professional graphics for the
flares and decoys for both military past three refreshes.”
and civil use, and composite parts for Jim Maul explains that prior to
military and commercial aerospace. the last workstation refresh, he
Within the over 5 million square feet looked into the cost of an equivalent
of facilities in Utah, highly capable performing graphics card. “We
teams design, manufacture, test and use some applications where one
deliver critical products for a diverse card might give a slightly better
range of customers including the US performance over another. For
Department of Defense, NASA and example, we have a number of
commercial entities. engineers using Citrix XenDesktop
for remote CAD access, so we checked
POWER WHEN IT IS NEEDED out an alternative card. It was about
Orbital ATK often needs to produce $200 more. Given that we needed to
complex one-off tooling. Design and purchase a several hundred, it didn’t
manufacturing engineers based in seem an effective use of our budget for
Utah use high-end CAD/CAM/CAE a marginal improvement.”
software, predominantly NX from
Siemens PLM. “NX is a tier 1 CAD tool RELIABILITY, AFFORDABILITY AND
which is highly graphics intensive,” CONSTANT IMPROVEMENT
explains Nathan Christensen, AMD cards have been used at Orbital
Senior Manager, Engineering Tools ATK since 2009 and according to
and Analysis. “As a single threaded Nathan Christensen, users are very
modeling application, it makes pleased with graphics performance.
heavy demands on the graphics card.” To cope had excellent results,” comments Christensen. “AMD cards are certified for many of the
with this, OA uses AMD FirePro™ W5000 “Some types of analyses lend themselves software applications that we use and overall
professional graphics in the Dell 3600 series to OpenGL methods, for example both reliability on FirePro cards has been very
workstations provided to engineers. computational analysis and complex thermal good.”
Jim Maul, Senior Principal Engineer, analysis can be done really well with AMD’s Jim Maul adds: “OA is continually working
Engineering Tools and Analysis developed the GPU cards. We have seen vastly improved with suppliers to provide engineers with the
standard workstation configuration which performance compared to using the CPU alone. best and most cost effective tools and AMD
includes a four core, 1620 processer and Orbital ATK’s thermal ablation code HERO has a good track record as partner to OA. Our
32 GB RAM optimized for CAD. “Although is very effective in leveraging GPUs to reduce AMD contacts have been very supportive and
we have a large high performance compute solution times.” we have been able to improve our capability
cluster for the most demanding calculations, Heath Dewey, Sr Software Engineer and with each refresh, for example, we moved
many engineers also use workstations to developer of GPU code for HERO added, “AMD from 512MB of memory to 2GB on our
run structural, thermal or fluid dynamics FirePro™ W5000 graphics cards provide very graphics cards during the last upgrade.”
simulations, plus we want everyone to have good performance and reliability with our
plenty of CPU horsepower when they need it. in-house developed engineering software. The MORE INFORMATION FIREPROGRAPHICS.COM
p29_D3D_JULYAUG15_Advertorial.indd 1 09/07/2015 18:33

TECHNOLOGY
» PTC recently unveiled its Digital Twin technology demonstration. With its
mix of off-the-shelf electronics, internet-connected computing devices and
some smart software, it’s a thing of beauty. Al Dean explores how it was built
A
A
ANGLE
SENSOR
An angle sensor is used to
monitor steering angle as well
as the movement of the rear
suspension arrangement
B
B
DISPLACEMENT C
SENSOR
Displacement sensors are used in
combination with the already-known
K-factor of the forks to give reaction
forces at the front shocks
C
BOARD +
POWER + WIFI
Powered by a portable battery,
the whole rig is controlled by a
Raspberry Pi 2, connected to the
various sensors using a Pi-to-Arduino
bridging component
E
SPEED
SENSOR
Speed is monitored at the two
axles as well as the crank axle
to detect wheel and pedal
rotations
p30_31_32_33_D3D_JULAUG_PTCBIKE.indd 30 10/07/2015 07:43

DIGITAL
DOPPELGÄNGER
D
ACCELEROMETER
An accelerometer is fitted to a
D 3D-printed rig to assist with measuring
the force placed on the seat of the
bicycle, detecting movement changes
in all directions
E
E
F
AR TARGET
A universal AR target is added to the
bicycle to enable the iPad app to track
the viewer’s position in relation to the
bike and allow the overlaying of real-
time sensor results (iPad app shown
below right)

W
hen PTC unveiled
its Digital Twin
concept at the
LiveWorx event
in Boston earlier
this year, it was the first time that the
company had demonstrated a clear
link between its new Internet of
Things (IoT) line of business and its
existing design package, Creo.
The demonstration showed how a
Santa Cruz mountain bike could be
rigged with sensors that feed directly
into a web-based interface, enabling
the performance of the bike to be
monitored in real time.
Then, taking things a step further,
the information was streamed directly
into a Creo model of the same bike. As
the bike was ridden and its constituent 1
parts moved, so did those on the
‘digital twin’ version on screen.
This got attendees’ minds racing,
and one of the first things they wanted
to know was, of course, “How much
did that cost?”
The answer, provided by Brian
Thompson, senior vice president
of PTC Creo product management
and part of the team that created the
demonstration, came as a surprise to
many in the audience.
“The total cost was $216 – at single
unit volume prices and not exactly
directly from the manufacturer. This,
of course, doesn’t include duct tape or
labour. We also 3D-printed some parts
to make it easier to attach some of the
tech to the bike,” he said.
THE BUILD PROCESS 2

There were three main steps involved
in the development of this prototype.
The first step was to rig up the gives the user a real-time view of the and the software. ●
1 The Thingworx
bike with the components (see the data stream from the sensors, in the As Thompson commented, “The dashboard that shows
the output from the
parts list on page 33). Much of the form of meaningful information on [integration] between the PTC Creo sensors on the bike as
hardware involved is widely available. the bike’s performance. simulation and Thingworx is new it is ridden
Connecting it up, meanwhile, was For example, rather than displaying technology. We built some custom ●
2 The Digital Twin.
pretty much a case of following the pure measurement data captured from code to enable that, so it’s not possible Connected to the real-
world product via
correct wiring diagrams, combined the steering axis, users instead get [right now] for a customer to duplicate Thingworx, this Creo
with a bit of background knowledge. more useful, real-time information on what we did with Thingworx, the model updates to
The second step was to create the steering angles. sensors and the bike. Of course, we are show how a product
is performing
communication links between these While this was one part of the working on making such connections
components and PTC’s Thingworx demonstration, the next part showed possible for all of our customers.”
IoT platform. The data generated how the same information could be In time, he added, customers might
is pretty lightweight – just a small linked directly to a model of the bike be able to create such data links in a
number of real values. The delay in the inside PTC’s Creo 3D design system. matter of minutes.
total communication loop was in the With its IoT focus, PTC clearly
order of 0.5 seconds. DEMOCRATISING TELEMETRY hopes to find new sales opportunities
According to PTC, setting up these For now, this is just a demonstration for its software products, among
communication links took less than –but it’s pretty clear that PTC’s plan is both new and existing customers.
a day (not surprising considering the to productise this work and get it into Many of the pitches for IoT in the
team’s knowledge of Thingworx). the hands of customers. In order to manufacturing sector tend to focus
The third step was to connect the do so, the company will need to work on the use of sensors to measure a
Thingworx input into a dashboard- on integration, so that it becomes far product’s performance in the field, to
style interface (as shown in Figure 2). easier for customers to create the links predict when it might need servicing,
This took a couple of days to create and that transfer data between the sensors for example, or is experiencing some

TECHNOLOGY
kind of malfunction. What they don’t tend to consumer electronics and the ‘maker scene’ be time-consuming and typically requires
address is the huge potential here for product that is springing up around open-source coding expertise that isn’t necessarily part
developers. This is where PTC has a real hardware is opening up IoT opportunities to a of the average design and engineering
opportunity to make its mark. far wider audience. (In the PTC demonstration, team’s skillset.
for example, the Adafruit and Raspberry Pi Instead, PTC executives are talking about
PRODUCT DESIGN OPPORTUNITIES technologies are all examples of open-source offering a much more ‘plug-and-play’
For product developers, the ability to gain hardware. As of February this year, around five approach, using packaged integrations that
real-world insight into how a planned product million Raspberry Pi units had been sold since help customers get their own digital twins up
might perform, long before it hits the market, the product was launched back in 2012.) and running in a matter of hours.
could be invaluable. The use of PTC’s Thingworx software is What’s not yet clear is how and when the
Historically, this type of information has also interesting from a cost perspective. A digital twin concept will eventually be rolled
been difficult to capture at a reasonable cost software package like this is typically geared out. The next year or so should provide some
and just as difficult to turn into meaningful up for large-scale use and priced on a per- clues and there’s a good chance that further
insights that might usefully inform the sensor basis. That suggests that users who announcements will accompany the Creo 4
design process. are working on small-scale projects invollving release, which is still some way out.
In Formula 1 racing, engineering teams fewer sensors may be able to take advantage In summary, there’s huge potential for this
already place great stock in on-board and of that pricing structure to keep costs low. kind of technology in the product design
real-time telemetry that allows them to assess By contrast, the integrations that PTC is process. Imagine, for example, being able to
vehicle performance during tests and races – promising between Thingworx and Creo are rig up a prototype, gain real-world loading
but relatively few organisations have at their unlikely to prove quite so inexpensive. On the conditions and feed that back into simulation
disposal the budgets necessary for that kind other hand, there will be real value here for in order to perform fatigue analysis.
of analysis. users, since these will save them the hassle of The good news is that this is now close to
What this technology demonstration hard-coding integrations from scratch. becoming an accessible reality for the many,
from PTC shows is that the combination of This kind of manual intervention can rather than the few.
DIGITAL TWIN PARTS LIST: $260 TO BUILD THE SAME RIG

RASPBERRY PI 2 ADAFRUIT 10-DOF IMU BREAKOUT
SUPPLIER: Rasberry Pi distributors - L3GD20H + LSM303 + BMP180
USE: A small computer the size of a tin of SUPPLIER: Adafruit
mints (albeit with less power than many are USE: This inertial measurement unit (IMU)
used to these days), the Raspberry Pi has can give users all manner of data but in
changed the game for DIY computing. In the PTC’s case, it’s used to measure the vertical
PTC demo, it handles the comms between acceleration feed to scale/factor the loads.
the sensors and streams the data to the web. Static – at 1g – the occupant’s weight is
known based on suspension reactions.
QUANTITY: 1
PRICE: $43 QUANTITY: 1
PRICE: $29.95
USB BATTERY PACK FOR SAINSMART HC-SR04 RANGING

RASPBERRY PI - 10000MAH - 2 x 5V DETECTOR MOD DISTANCE SENSOR
SUPPLIER: Adafruit SUPPLIER: Sainsmart
USE: These are pretty bog standard USB USE: This is an ultrasonic sensor that
charging devices, used to keep the whole measures distance by waves reflecting from
system running and there’s more than a few a plate placed on top of the front wheel.
options available in terms of size, capacity QUANTITY: 1
and power. PRICE: $12
QUANTITY: 1
PRICE: $49.95
ARDUBERRY FOR RASPBERRY PI WIRE JUMPER AND WIRING

SUPPLIER: Arduberry SUPPLIER: Available from Amazon
USE: The Arduberry provides a hardware USE: Of course, with all of the sensors
interface between the Raspberry Pi platform placed all over the bike, they’ll need to
and the wealth of add-on modules available be connected to the communications and
for the Arduino platform. It’s pretty much computation devices. Pre-cut packs of wires
plug and play. and reels are pretty commonplace and
QUANTITY: 1 readily available.
PRICE: $25 QUANTITY: 2
PRICE: $31 each
REFLECTIVE IR SENSOR WITH 470 10K OHM 3 PINS 6MM SPLIT SHAFT
AND 10K RESISTORS ROTARY POTENTIOMETERS
SUPPLIER: Adafruit SUPPLIER: Available from Amazon
USE: Reflective strips are placed on the USE: This is a potentiometer mounted in a
bike’s rotating sprockets and this sensor way that the bottom is fixed to the frame,
triggers a signal every time a reflective strip and the knob is fixed to the rotating part
passes it, forming a kind of encoder so that (fork in the front, and top suspensions link in
the rotation speed of the wheels and the the rear). That tells the angle of the moving
pedals can be detected. part relatively to the frame.
QUANTITY: 3 QUANTITY: 2
PRICE: $1.95 each PRICE: $8.60 (for 10)

PROFILE
LAYER
BY LAYER
» Ammar Kalo’s Stratum chair skillfully combines shapes
inspired by the natural world with advanced CNC milling
and fabrication technologies, writes Stephen Holmes
I
n creating his Stratum chair, designer produce distinctive, handcrafted qualities. The Stratum
Ammar Kalo drew on a number of sources for chair is no exception: created from sheets of laminated
inspiration: the sinuous shapes of the human plywood, the use of 5-axis CNC machining gives it its
body; rock formations carved out by the sea sharp edges and flowing, uninterrupted curves.
and wind; and the Art Nouveau style of French “‘[The Stratum chair’s] unique formal and visual
architect Hector Guimard. qualities are born out of the ways in which the plywood
The idea for the chair’s folding hinge, strata layers are carved to highlight the chair’s functional
meanwhile, came from studying religious book features,” Kalo says, explaining that this is how the
stands, carved from a single piece of wood with flowing, striated pattern was achieved. “Its termination
two interlocking parts. at the ground with three legs accentuates the design’s
With a background in architecture and post-graduate edginess and gives it a delicate sense of balance.”
research work in both digital technologies and material The chair was designed in 3D on Rhino, with the
systems, Kalo’s focus is on using the latest technologies to Autodesk T-Splines plug-in for Rhino used to add the
organic smoothness. Throughout the design process,
Kalo produced scaled-down, 3D-printed models of the
chair to provide him with a physical reference, using
a 3D Systems ProJet 360 printer. The powder-based
material used meant that Kalo could make hand-carved
adjustments to his models, helping to refine the overall
geometry, before adding the changes back into the CAD
model, using T-Splines’ simplified push/pull geometry
controls.
The most difficult part of the design process lay in
figuring out the interlocking connection detail of the
folding hinge. Its swivelling action reduces the space
occupied by the chair by half, making storage and
shipping easier, but involved multiple studies in terms of
design and fabrication.
As the design of the mechanism took shape,
MasterCAM X6 was used to program the 5-axis CNC
machine. Kalo initially used virtual toolpath tests within
the software, so that he could make last-minute changes
before starting to physically cut away at the plywood.
In total, the Stratum chair took four months to design
and machine. The finished product was hand-finished in
Michigan, where Kalo is based, before being exhibited at
the SIKKA Art Fair 2015 in Dubai.
Kalo continues to research new fabrication processes
using industrial CNC, including 7-axis robotic arms, to The chair’s folding
hinge was inspired
create new freedoms in his design process. by studying religious
ammarkalo.com book stands
34 MONTH 200X DEVELOP3D
p34_35_D3D_JULAUG15_Stratumchair.indd 34 09/07/2015 18:12


The Stratum chair’s termination at the
ground with three legs accentuates the
design’s edginess and gives it a delicate
sense of balance
Ammar Kalo, designer

DEVELOP3D MONTH 200X 35
p34_35_D3D_JULAUG15_Stratumchair.indd 35 09/07/2015 18:12

PROFILE
GOING BACKWARDS
TO MOVE FORWARDS
» When New Zealand-based 3D Hub was asked to
convert HVAC units for modified US trucks, reverse
engineering was the best plan of attack
W
hat does it take to squeeze a left- “All the complex functionalities had to fit into a right-
hand heating, ventilation and hand space that was smaller than the original left-hand
air conditioning (HVAC) unit HVAC unit. Moreover, the reusable components, such as
into the right-hand interior of a fans, sensors, servo motors, airflow flaps and so on had to
US-manufactured Chevrolet or be integrated in the CAD design.”
GMC truck? The people to ask Then there was the fact that the HVAC unit was just one
are the team at New Zealand-based product development of a number of components that needed to be converted
company 3D Hub, because they recently solved this in the switch from left to right. Others included the
puzzle themselves, using a clever combination of reverse dashboard, the steering column and the electrics.
engineering, 3D scanning and printing and CAD
modelling. PIECE BY PIECE
Adapting American vehicles for right-hand-side drivers The first step was to disassemble the truck. The original
is no easy feat. The main challenge in this project was its dashboard was cut into critical sections (the glove box, the
reverse engineering aspect: the team wanted to develop a centre console and so on) and moved to their new positions
right-hand HVAC unit by acquiring the 3D measurements with a right-hand-side alignment. These sections were
of the existing left-hand components and integrating them mounted onto the dashboard support bar, removed as one
within a CAD environment, so that the designs could be from the vehicle, before being rejoined, hand-shaped and
converted using the company’s 3D printing capability. formed to create the final dashboard. From this final shape,
But it wasn’t just a simple left-to-right conversion. There a plug was made to create future fibreglass dashboards.
was also a question of a dimensions to contend with, as Meanwhile, the steering wheel and column were ●
1 The HandySCAN
3D handheld scanner
Craig Russell, director and mechanical engineer at 3D Hub removed and repositioned to fit on the opposite side of the from Creaform in
explains: engine bay. action
p36_38_D3D_JULAUG15_3DHubcasestudy.indd 36 10/07/2015 07:45

New from the
3D TOTAL SOLUTIONS PROVIDER
A Range of New Products for 3D Scanner Applications
EviXscan 3D Heavy Duty 3D Scanner
With its dust and water resistant enclosure, the versatile 3D Heavy Duty scanner is ideal for applications in harsh
environments such as dusty foundries, welding shops and outdoors in poor weather. It is a blue light scanner which
allows it to capture useable data from reflective objects and in difficult environments such as outdoors. Applications
include cultural heritage, reverse engineering of foundry patterns, metrology, pressings etc.
EviXscan 3D Loupe+ 3D Scanner EviXscan 3D Pro+ 3D Scanner

Having the highest precision of the Evatronix range, the 3D The high performance 3D Pro+ scanner offers all the benefits of
Loupe+ is a highly versatile scanner suitable for a wide range of the 3D Loupe+ for mid-sized parts and offers extremely good
applications such as automotive, reverse engineering, fast value for money in an easy to use format. The 3D Pro+ is
metrology, tool wear monitoring and cultural heritage. Its perfect for reverse engineering, tool wear monitoring, cultural
configuration can be changed in minutes to allow it to measure heritage and animation applications.
large parts or small parts with high resolution and accuracy.
UK & Ireland distributor for Evatronix
Total Solutions Provider for 3D Printing & Scanning Applications

Laser Lines Ltd | Beaumont Close | Banbury | Oxon | OX16 1TH
Tel: 01295 672500 | Email: 3dworld@laserlines.co.uk | Website: 3dprinting.co.uk
Laser Lines Ad.indd 1 09/07/2015 15:38

PROFILE
2
With the dash removed, the original HVAC
unit could finally be removed and the firewall ‘‘ All the
complex
easily accessed for 3D scanning, using a
hand-held, HandySCAN 3D scanner from
functions
Creaform. had to fit
First, positioning targets (datum targets) into a right-
were applied to the firewall surface. These hand space
would not be removed before the end of the
project, because the 3D Hub team realised that was
that they would be useful later for precise smaller
positioning and alignment work. than the
With the HVAC removed, it was finally
ready for reverse engineering. The 3D Hub
original left-
team began by 3D scanning the HVAC and hand HVAC
the resulting data was used to lay out the new
HVAC with its major components.
unit
’’
The recirculation unit was positioned in the
vehicle to verify fit and final placement. Once
it was in the final position, it was scanned
relative to the original positioning targets on
the firewall.
This data was then brought into the CAD
environment in exactly the same place; no
alignment was necessary, thanks to the
retained positioning targets – a handy piece
of forethought that significantly reduced
processing time.
Once the reformed dashboard was
completed and positioned in the vehicle,
3D scanning enabled operators to inspect
the underside of the dashboard with the
electronics and ducting in place. Again, the
scanned data was aligned to the original target
location on the firewall.
The HVAC unit could then be checked,
in order to verify that it sat clear of critical
components such as the dash bar and the
glove box.
TIME TO PRINT
The converted HVAC unit was now ready to
be 3D printed in SLS nylon. The prototype
was mounted and tested in the vehicle and,
due to the accurate scanning data, only minor
adjustments needed to be made before a final
product could be manufactured, one that
performed to the same high standards as the
original manufacturer’s unit.
This reverse engineering project could
have been carried out using 3D scanning
technologies other than the HandySCAN 3D
– but the team at 3D Hub believe this would
have involved longer preparation times. The
HandySCAN 3D’s flexibility, auto-positioning
and fast, accurate localisation of the HVAC
unit that the positioning targets enabled made
it the best option for this project.
“The ability to scan anywhere, move the
parts during the scanning process and split
the job up over periods of time was what made
us choose the HandySCAN 3D,” Russell
explains.
“Scanning is now an integrated part of our
design development process. This particular ●2 The original HVAC
unit was scanned,
reverse engineering project and the outcome along with the
for the customer led to a referral to another dashboard underside,
to establish the best
company doing similar work in Australia.”
size and positioning
3dhub.co.nz for the 3D printed
creaform3d.com prototype shown here
p36_38_D3D_JULAUG15_3DHubcasestudy.indd 38 10/07/2015 07:45

UK- half-A4-VC at the heart_2015 DVD3d ONLY.pdf 1 10/03/2015 07:52:23
At the heart of Global

CNC Manufacturing
M Machine Simulation for:

Y
• Multi-Axis Milling • Mill/Turn Centres
CM
• Machining Centres • WaterJet Cutting

MY
CY
CMY
VERICUT is the world’s leading CNC simulation,

See our equipment LIVE at our FREE roadshow: verification and optimisation software. Used
throughout the world, in all industry sectors, it can be
7th September
St Johns Hotel, Solihull integrated with all manufacturing software systems
and machine tools including CAD, CAM and CNC
19th October programming systems, and Tooling and Tool
Wokefield Park, Reading
Management Systems.
2nd November
Cotswold Water Park, Bristol Right First Time with VERICUT.
11th December Visit cgtech.co.uk to learn more.
Grand Connaught Rooms, London
Curtis House, 34 Third Avenue, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 2PD, England
Phone: +44 (0) 1273-773538 info.uk@cgtech.co.uk
.co.uk
39 D3D Ads.indd 1 09/07/2015 15:40

PROFILE
» PTC recently unveiled its Digital Twin technology demonstration. With its
mix of off-the-shelf electronics, internet-connected computing devices and
some smart software, it’s a thing of beauty. Al Dean explores how it was built
STREETS
STREETS
STREETS
STREETSAHE
AH
AH
AH
» DAX Sports Cars teamed up with Majenta PLM and Physical Digital to reverse
engineer its DAX 427 kit car and give customers more choice with custom designs
D
AX Sports Cars was the first UK was Siemens PLM Solid Edge and NX. into the CAD system. This allowed the
kit car manufacturer to produce Physical Digital team to make use of
a Cobra 427 replica back in 1983 1. The project kicked off with a visit to A-class surfacing technology to produce
and, over the intervening three the DAX workshop by Majenta PLM, a complete and accurate solid 3D model
decades, has sold over 4,000 kits. in which a full-car bill of materials was of the car.
Today, it’s on a mission to revolutionise the kit collected, along with all existing 2D
car industry, by using reverse engineering and drawings of manufactured parts. 4. Attention then turned to the inner
CAD/CAM/CAE software to boost quality in workings. Again, the team used the
the build and fit stages and reduce the time it 2. The original 2D drawings were then scanned data of all the parts beneath the
takes to recreate kit car models and parts. redesigned using Solid Edge to turn them bodywork to complete the mechanical
With that goal in mind, the company into 3D CAD data. workings.
recently teamed up with software reseller
Magenta PLM and Physical Digital, a 3. Physical Digital then scanned the major 5. The reverse-engineered data and 2D
specialist in 3D scanning and reverse body parts. Once scanned, the bodywork model drawings were then assembled
engineering, to scan and reverse engineer the – including body, doors, bonnet, boot together to create a complete 3D model
DAX 427. The software used in this project and coupe roof – was reverse engineered of the DAX 427 replica, while other
p40_41_D3D_JULAUG_DAX.jlt.indd 40 09/07/2015 18:15

DIGITAL
DOPPELGÄNGER
AHEAD
AHEAD
HEAD
HEAD parts were modelled directly into
the CAD software.
enable DAX Sports Cars to expand its
portfolio of cars and give customers
virtual build options, so that they can
This approach, says Johns, doesn’t just pick and choose between fit options,
1
enable DAX to carry out a full analysis parts and colours.

and create custom designs. It also “In addition, the use of 3D CAD and
means it can provide its customers with reverse engineering has allowed us
the option to see their car in a virtual to do away with the worry of locating
3D environment prior to purchase. parts and their specifications, as they
“That gives us a unique selling point in are stored right on the system, [for us]
today’s kit car market,” he says. to send to our suppliers,” he says.
“The ability to interact with your “We’re so pleased with the progress
design on a computer screen is so far and can’t wait to start virtually 3
incredible. Being able to manipulate testing modifications and so on. From
designs at any stage during the design jigs, cars, parts and old drawing files,
process is a key advantage, as this we’ve been able to fully rebuild the
allows us to save a substantial amount car in the CAD system very quickly – ●
1 Scanning and
reverse engineering
of time and provide revisions quickly something we once thought would be
●
2 Solid Edge CAD
and efficiently to our customers.” impossible or too expensive.” model of the DAX 427
The partnership with Majenta PLM physicaldigital.com | majentaplm.com |
●
3 The DAX 427 on
and Physical Digital, he adds, will daxcars.co.uk the open road
p40_41_D3D_JULAUG_DAX.jlt.indd 41 09/07/2015 18:15

PROFILE
THE NEW
BODY
BUILDERS
» Jessica Twentyman
speaks to Shane Fox of
Within Technologies, now
part of Autodesk, about
how 3D printing could
An implant used in facial
reconstruction surgery
and built using Within
I
revolutionise healthcare Technologies’ software
n May 2014, Autodesk acquired a finished implant. What could take around how we use them. Being able to extrapolate
Within Technologies, a UK- eight to 12 weeks, can be cut down in some this level of detail means we’re able to
based developer of design cases to two to four weeks. mimic bone structure, convert the data into
and simulation software for It’s also enabling biomedical firms to create a 3D-printed file and print an orthopaedic
advanced manufacturing. One patient-specific implants, or PSIs, which used implant. The benefits of mimicking bone
of the company’s main areas to be very difficult and expensive. Implants growth are overwhelming: patients have less
of focus has been creating traditionally come in set sizes and are then discomfort; there’s less chance of infection;
software to support the use of cut down to size to fit the individual patient. and a reduced need for a secondary surgery.
additive manufacturing in the Today, we can CT-scan areas of the body and 3D printing has already increased the success
biomedical space, with its products used in use 3D printing to create an implant that rate of orthopaedic surgeries, but this will
the creation of cranial flaps and jaw implants, replicates the exact shape and size needed. dramatically improve it.
for example. Using customised implants reduces surgery
This is an area set to boom. According time, because they already fit the dimensions D3D: How important is the development
to recent estimates from of the patient’s body perfectly of new materials in this process?
Transparency Market
Research, the market for  and don’t have to be made
to fit the patient during the
SF: Creating new materials is vital for the
continued success rate of 3D printing within
3D printing in medical
applications is set to rise from
3D printing operation.
One example of this that
medicine. Currently there are four main
materials being used – titanium, ceramic and
$354 million in 2012 to $965.5
million by 2019.
integrated we’ve seen was with a man
who lost 85 percent of his face
the polymers PEEK and PET – but just as 3D
printing techniques develop, so too must the
DEVELOP3D caught up
with Shane Fox, business
with in a car accident. We were able
to use a CT scan of his face,
materials being printed. Over the next couple
of years, we’ll see the development of new
development specialist at
Autodesk Within, to hear
nanobiology upload it to the cloud and use
facial recognition software to
polymers that will be stronger, cheaper, less
toxic and more flexible than current materials
where the most exciting work is the future, match the bone structure. We being used. We’ll also see the emergence
is going on and where he then designed, 3D-printed and of materials that are able to mimic bone
thinks this market is heading. to my mind implanted a one-piece titanium growth which will help with facial and dental
facial implant — something reconstructions.
DEVELOP3D (D3D): What  that can only be achieved using
impact is 3D printing 3D printing. And because D3D: Do you see any barriers to the
having on medical technology? of the structural design of the 3D-printed adoption of 3D printing in medicine?
SHANE FOX (SF): 3D printing is giving implant, bones were able to fuse with it, and SF: One of the biggest barriers is the lack of
biomedical firms more flexibility when hair and skin tissues were also able to grow. data available. The technique is still relatively
it comes to manufacturing implants. new and there’s not a lot of data available
Traditionally, biomedical engineers created D3D: What, for you, are the most exciting from previous treatments. What we need
the designs and sent them to be made at developments on the horizon? are more human use-cases that prove the
manufacturing hubs. But because 3D printing SF: 3D printing integrated with nanobiology worth of 3D printing and why it’s better than
is smaller, cleaner and much easier to use is the future, to my mind. There is a new traditional methods. The more data we have
than large, traditional industrial machinery, technology emerging where it is possible from surgeries, the more research can be
it allows biomedical firms to bring this to take CT scans of bones at a cellular level undertaken and this will advance 3D printing
process in-house. This can help reduce the and see how they grow. Everyone’s bones within the medical field.
turnaround time from the initial design to grow significantly differently because of autodesk.com | withinlab.com
p42_D3D_JULAUG15_3dprinthealthcare.indd 42 09/07/2015 18:15

“The 3D Print Bureau is your personal 3D printing industry expert.
With the widest range of technologies at our disposal, we can provide
all your 3D printing needs from a single part to short production runs.
All backed by superior levels of service and support.”
Gary Miller, Managing Director at 3D Print Bureau
Perfect parts, on time...

Call Gary for a quote on 07761 778000
E: gary@3Dpb.co.uk
VISIT: www.3Dprintbureau.co.uk
E
TH AT 15
N
O O 20R
US LO E
I S IT ND F LIV
V U 3D
O
GRELOP
V
DE
[ VIVID COLOUR + FLEXIBLE + TRANSPARENT + RIGID ]
Life’s a lot more colourful

with the new Connex3
Introducing the new range of triple jetting Connex 3 3D printers from Stratasys.
The world’s only multi-colour multi-material 3D Printers, available in three
platform sizes.
To find out more call Tri-Tech 3D – the leading distributor of Stratasys 3D Printers.
TELEPHONE: 01782 814551 VISIT: WWW.TRITECH3D.CO.UK
43_D3D_Ads.indd 1 09/07/2015 15:48

RELY ON THE POWER
OF AMD FIREPRO TM
Siemens NX powered by AMD FireProTM and Dell

workstations get the job done fast when speed
is important.
AMD FirePro™ professional graphics are certified and optimized
for NX 10 and enables advanced CAD/CAM/CAE workflows with
high performance and reliability.
Dell Precision Tower 5810
• E5-1620 v3 processor
• 16GB RAM
• 2.5” 5.12GB SATA SSD
• AMD FireProTM W7100 (8GB) graphics
RRP £2,870.89 Excluding VAT
(including shipping costs)
Offer price £1,995.00 Excluding VAT
(including shipping costs)
30% Saving!
Where to buy from:

TEAM Engineering
www.team-eng.com
08456 442882
Your number 1 choice for Siemens PLM Software solutions,
NX CAD, CAM , CAE & CFD products and support
© Copyright 2015 Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. All rights reserved. AMD, the AMD Arrow logo, FirePro, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. OpenCL and the OpenCL
logo are trademarks of Apple Inc. used by permission by Khronos. Other names are for informational purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
REVIEWS SOFTWARE REVIEW
Ansys AIM 16.1

Don’t be fooled by the release number – Ansys AIM 16.1 is a brand new, next-
generation mainstream simulation tool. Al Dean is impressed by its new take on
solving the challenges of multiphysics simulation and bringing it to a wider audience.
V
endors in the analysis and leading names in CFD simulation into the » Product: Ansys investment in training, more workarounds
simulation market have been fold, including CFX (acquired in 2003) and AIM 16.1 to figure out and more integration hassles
calling multiphysics the ‘next Fluent (2006). » Supplier: Ansys with which to contend when it comes to
big thing’ for some time now — At the same time, the company has also Price: On application connecting systems up.
and from a theoretical standpoint, that been fleshing out its portfolio in other ansys.com/aim In other words, Workbench has been a
makes sense. Why wouldn’t you want areas, from composites and systems-based step in the right direction, but it hasn’t
to simulate structural, thermal and engineering, to more specialist code for gone far enough to make multiphysics truly
fluid interactions in a single system? internal combustion simulation (with its accessible to a broad swathe of customers.
Real-life products, after all, are subject 2014 purchase of Reaction Design) and
to stresses exerted on them by multiple in-flight icing for the aviation industry CONSOLIDATED INTERFACE
different physics models. (with this year’s Newmerical Technologies It’s against this backdrop that Ansys AIM
The issue has been that, for each of acquisition). 16.1 makes its impressive debut. While it’s
the key physics models, dramatically Finally, Ansys has also been building out flagged as the AIM 16 release, that’s purely
different approaches are required. That’s its Workbench product, which provides to bring it in line with Ansys’ release-
why you have FEA systems for structural a single point of entry and connection naming conventions. But make no mistake:
analysis and CFD systems for simulating to a range of solver codes. This gives this is an entirely new system.
fluid and thermal effects. This has been you a single venue in which to build up The big picture is that this is the next
compounded by the fact that vendors geometries, create meshes and pass data generation of Workbench, with a laser-
have typically focused on a single area between different solver codes. precision focus on delivering multiphysics
of physics — or at least they did until But while the Workbench interface was simulation within a single, integrated
relatively recently. clean and consistent, the user still needed environment to anyone who needs it, but
In the last few years, however, we’ve to have a decent level of understanding specifically designers and engineers. So
seen the consolidation of the simulation of the intricacies of each solver to get it let’s take a look through the new release
industry, as vendors have branched out all to work together. When it comes to and see what’s been accomplished.
into new areas. performing multiphysics studies, that’s ●1 After running a
Ansys has been at the forefront of this essential — but it’s also a royal pain in template, you’re A NEW USER EXPERIENCE
guided through the
movement. Having mastered structural the backside, particularly for customers The first thing to know about Ansys AIM is
simulation process (as
FEA-based simulation in its eponymous looking to expand the use of simulation in shown in the workflow that the development team behind it has
Ansys product, it then embarked on a their design and engineering teams. panel at the bottom of taken a very different approach to the user
series of acquisitions that brought some of More systems to learn also means more the UI) interface and how the user interacts with
p45_46_47_D3D_JULAUG_Ansys_AIM copy.indd 45 09/07/2015 18:18

SOFTWARE REVIEW
the system than that seen in Workbench

and many of the other Ansys products.
The goal with AIM is to provide a single
interface through which you drive the
whole process. It’s also designed to be
highly template- and workflow-driven, for
reasons we’ll get to shortly.
When you open up the system, you’ll
notice that there are a few pre-defined
templates in the panel to the left of the
UI. These give you fast entry into common
processes or study types, including
structural analysis, fluid flows simulation,
thermal analysis, electric condition and
fluid structure interaction. Each of these
templates provides a pre-defined workflow,
guiding you through the process.
In this release, the starting point is the
import of your geometry. At present,
AIM doesn’t have any geometry creation 2
or editing tools, but with Ansys’ recent
acquisition of SpaceClaim, I’d put money
on some of those tools — engineered
to provide simulation pre-processing —
making their way into AIM at some point
soon. Once your geometry is in place, you
then work through the appropriate tasks.
At the bottom of the screen, you’ll see the
task panel. This gives you a workflow-style
chart showing the constituent steps in the
study you’re trying to complete.
As you work through the tasks, you’re
prompted for the information you need to
supply and given the option to add further
information, input and controls. Figure 2
shows the inputs panel for a fluid flow task.
You can see that the minimum inputs are
detailed here and it’s made clear if you’ve
either missed something or the set-up is
otherwise incomplete.
For example, when it comes to dealing
with geometry for internal fluid flow- 3
based studies, you need to define the
internal volumes.
You then move onto the meshing tasks.
Again, the system can handle much of
the donkey work for you, based on your
previous inputs. As you’ve already defined
the fluid region, it knows what type of
mesh you need to have in place in order to
complete the study.
When everything is in place, you’ll then
be able to compute the study and use the
built-in inspection tools to visualise and
report on the results. As you’d expect, this
is pretty comprehensive and you’ve got
Ansys’ wealth of knowledge and experience
to guarantee that these tools are top notch.
When it comes to more structural jobs,
you follow similar processes, but tailored
(in terms of inputs, outputs and mesh
requirements) for a structural analysis
study. 4
ENABLING MULTI-PHYSICS
While so far we’ve discussed the use of physics model; in our workflow example when the results are complete, the system ●2 AIM clearly flags up
the inputs required to
AIM to conduct single-physics studies, the on the opposite page, we’re conducting an guides you into the process of taking those
set up a fluid flow job
system has been built from the ground analysis of a valve and have started with results as the basis for setting up the
up to support the interaction between fluid flow. structural simulation.
●3 A bus bar electrical
potential simulation
multiple physics in a single job. While the As previously detailed, you pick the It’s at this point that a more traditional
●4 An exhaust header
use case is pretty much the same, it’s workflow or template you want (in this multiphysics approach would involve thermal stress
worth following the process through to case, single-direction multiphysics) and multiple software packages and hours of study. Note the more
learn a little more about what’s involved. the system guides you through it. Here, work to set up the transfer of results from complex workflow at
Essentially, you begin with the first the fluid flow set-up is pretty simple. Then, the fluid-flow simulation, define how that the bottom of the UI

maps onto the structural mesh and then methods of simulation, leading users to a
fine-tune things to get them to solve. greater understanding, far faster, of how a
With AIM, you’ve got pre-baked product performs under different stresses.
workflows to handle these tasks and The template-driven approach will
control over all of the different solver doubtless be expanded with each release.
technologies involved, making the process Right now, it gives you some of the basics,
pretty simple. then teases you with single-direction
The system is aware of where the results multiphysics, but I expect to see more
are, how to map them (by automatically sophisticated capabilities in each new
finding the key coupling surfaces) and release.
then how to feed them into the structural There’s also the possibility of a more 5
analysis. customised, specialised approach for those
companies with the internal expertise to
CONCLUSION develop their own templates, define their
The work that Ansys has done with AIM, own workflows and roll those out to their
in this first release, is outstanding. The engineering teams.
ability to rip through a simulation study The fact that the system is built on top
(and not just in simple use-cases either) of Workbench, with its breathtaking speed
will give the system huge value and appeal and proven control over all of Ansys’
to a much wider spread of the design and solver technologies, means that there is 5
engineering industry. plenty of scope for expansion as new tools
What’s most interesting, however, is are brought into the environment.
how Ansys is delivering that efficiency, I’ll be honest: this is one of the most
with easy-to-use templates for conducting exciting developments I’ve seen in the
a wide range of analysis and simulation simulation space for a good long while and
6
tasks, but ones that have access to all I’m eager to see how it develops in future.
manner of complex physics models from It won’t be cheap, but you’ll get a business for companies previously forced ●
5 Biomedical scan
the very start. great deal more ‘bang for your buck’ to buy multiple packages and invest in data used to study
pressure distribution
Because of that, Ansys AIM 16.1 has the than you would with many of the CAD- training to master them all. Ansys AIM
in a nasal cavity
potential to cure a lot of the headaches integrated simulation options. In any case, changes this.
involved in connecting up very different multiphysics has never been a low-cost ansys.com/aim ●
6 Exterior flow
simulation
WORKFLOW: SETTING UP A MULTI-PHYSICS STUDY IN ANSYS AIM
●1 Initial control valve geometry for structure and flow ●2 AIM automates many tasks, such as the mesh generation ●3 You are then prompted to identify the required items for
volume imported from SpaceClaim for the fluid flow physics region, extracted from the CAD data fluid flow, such as inlet and outlet boundary conditions
●4 Once computation is complete, visualisation tools ●

5 Information, such as pressure distribution inside the ●
6 Again, automated tools for meshing are used, this time
enable you to see, for example, the fluid flow velocity field control valve, can then be used in structural analysis for generation of the structural physics region
●
7 Fluid-structure interaction coupling surfaces are ●
8 Deformation of the control valve resulting from fluid ●
9 AIM includes integrated parametric study capabilities to
automatically detected and the solve computed flow can be visualised and reported on assess performance over a range of operating conditions

CALL FOR MAKERS... DEADLINE 31 AUGUST
Derby Mini Saturday 24 October

Maker Faire ®
The Silk Mill, Derby
Come and show what you make!
Apply via the website - www.makerfairederby.com

Derby Mini Maker Faire is independently
@makerfairederby #DMMF15
organised by Derby Museums and operated
under license from Maker Media, Inc.
info@derbymuseums.org | 01332 641901
2615 - SSA quarter page x3D ad:Layout 1 15/9/14 13:55 Page 1
Simulation software,
engineering methodology,
consultancy and training.
We simply call it
Product Design
joined-up thinking.
Rapid Prototyping
Conceptual Design
From Sketch to Production
South East London Design Studio
SSA has many years experience helping
SOLUTIONS
PARTNER customers create and implement different types of
simulation strategies which is why we recommend
SIMULIA Abaqus.
SSA also provide a consultancy service to help with complex
and exacting analysis problems as well as creating engineering
methodology for you.
To find out more about how SSA and SIMULIA Abaqus can
provide real financial and technical benefits for your business just
call us on 01608 811 777 email info@ssanalysis.co.uk or click
through to www.ssanalysis.co.uk
To register for one of our FREE events

visit www.ssanalysis.co.uk/events 02086 922873 | projects@luma-id.com | www.luma-id.com 02086
92 x 130mm
48_D3D_Ads.indd 1 09/07/2015 15:53

SOFTWARE REVIEW
Theorem Solutions Publish 3D

When it comes to readily accessible data formats, they don’t get much more universal
than PDF. Al Dean takes a look at a new solution from Theorem Solutions that makes
PDFs more usable for communicating 3D information
T
he PDF format is perhaps A good five or six years ago, Adobe » Product: Publish 3D The end result is that PDF is now a
one of the most widely used started to make a great deal of noise about » Supplier: Theorem well-developed and almost universally
Solutions
formats for communicating a how it was enabling its PDF format to accepted 3D data comminication format
wide range of data. For text, support 3D geometry and allow software Price: On application – and this last part is key. 3D PDF isn’t
images and tables, it’s pretty much developers to do interesting things with it. theorem.com a translation format, like IGES or STEP.
the gold standard. In engineering The company made several acquisitions Instead, it has become a near-universal
and design circles, this is even more to support the move, most notably that format that can hold rich 3D geometry, 2D
the case. For material safety data of Trade and Technologies France (TTF) in and 3D annotation and all manner of other
sheets, requirements lists or technical 2006. TTF was a data translation specialist information.
drawings, the PDF has become the that had both a line of converters and So how does one take advantage of this?
lingua franca for many. Why? translation tools and also its own PRC The answer is that you need an additional
The reason is that a PDF document can format, which allowed users to store both tool. Many of the workhorse CAD systems
be read by almost anyone. Adobe’s format precise surface (B-rep) and tessellated we use on a daily basis have 3D PDF
has the ability to represent information geometry in a single file. support in their output options, but the
exactly how you want it to appear, with Then Adobe decided to focus its efforts output is typically rudimentary – it’s a
all of the controls you could need to elsewhere and closed down the initiative. spinnable 3D model. The reality is that if
exert, from simple password protection This left it with something of an issue: PDF you want to take advantage of 3D PDF as a
to full-scale digital rights management. was now 3D-enabled, but the company means of communicating engineering and
Viewers are plenty and an entire industry had no interest in developing the tools to manufacturing information, then you need
revolves around selling add-on tools that support it or providing software developers something else. And that’s where Theorem
complement and build on the capabilities in with the toolkits they’d need to build those Solutions’ recently released Publish 3D
Adobe’s own suite of software. tools themselves. comes into play.
But while we’re all used to sharing office This is where Tech Soft 3D enters the
and technical documents using PDF, one of frame. If you’re not familiar with the INTRODUCING THEOREM
its hidden capabilities is the ability to hold company, I wouldn’t be surprised – but I If you don’t know Theorem Solutions, it’s
3D data. can almost guarantee that you’re using a a 3D data translation specialist, based
We’re not just talking about the ability to 3D CAD system with at least one or more in Tamworth, Staffordshire. It has been
show a 3D model embedded in a document, of its component technologies inside. developing its line of advanced translation
allowing the viewer to spin and pan and The company provides a range of 3D
●1 A bill of materials
tools for a good two decades now and
created using Publish
zoom, but rather, something much more development toolkits to all of the vendors 3D, featuring fully its reputation is pretty much as good
sophisticated. to assist with their development efforts. interactive 3D views as it gets among some of the leading
p49_50_D3D_JULAUG_TheoremSolutions_Publish3D.jlt.indd 49 09/07/2015 17:34

SOFTWARE REVIEW
engineering and manufacturing OEMs in copy and pasting elements using Acrobat.
the world. All manner of information can be extracted
Alongside its data translation tools from the 3D CAD data, whether that’s
for CAD-to-CAD conversion, Theorem translation data, CAD attributes, parts
Solutions has also been active in the lists, author information and so on, to
CAD-to-visualisation industry for some match your own business processes and
time, developing a line of tools for moving requirements. Theorem also offers its own
data from your 3D design system to customisation service.
formats such as JT, 3DXML or CreoView So that’s how you use the Interactive
(ProductView), while ensuring that the version directly from your 3D CAD system
required metadata remains intact and in — but what if you want to automate
place. the process, or mix in more extended
At the same time, it’s also been working information, perhaps drawn from other 2
on a set of tools to allow engineering business systems and sources? This is
and manufacturing customers to take where you need to use the next levels up in
advantage of 3D PDF in a way that goes the Publish 3D product line.
beyond a pure technology demo and
provides something much more realistic in PUBLISH 3D ON DEMAND
terms of process integration. This line of Publish 3D On Demand transfers your
tools is called Publish 3D. design from your CAD system and into
There are three key products in the Theorem’s own software. This gives you
Publish 3D suite, so we’ll start with the a more flexible approach: opening the
entry-level product, then look at how you design outside of the CAD environment
move up the chain. gives it a little more independence.
Publish 3D On Demand includes batch
PUBLISH 3D INTERACTIVE processing of your data from a number of
This is the starting point of the Publish 3D sources in terms of CAD data formats and 3
product line. Essentially, it sits inside your allows you to publish that data to multiple
3D CAD system (assuming you’re running templates in a single job. It also opens up
Catia V5, Siemens PLM NX or PTC Creo) the capability of the system to work with download, so IT doesn’t need to spend a ●2 One of the
and allows you to take your 3D data and JT data alongside the existing NX, Catia V5 month approving desktop software. Almost NIST-standardised
3D annotation
prepare interactive 3D PDFs. and Creo formats. everyone has got Acrobat Reader, as a bare
examples, showing
The goal here is to add value to the Another point worth considering is that minimum, on their system already. how 3D annotation
process and much of this revolves around it’s also possible to extract data from other The issue instead has always been a lack can be displayed in a
not just outputting a 3D model that can be business systems and include that in your of awareness of what’s possible with PDFs 3D-enabled PDF
viewed, but also taking 3D annotation and documents — whether that’s information and a lack of access to tools that allow you ●3 3D PDFs include
using this as the driving reason to use 3D from ERP or MRP systems or from your to make the most of the format in a process all manner of tools,
PDF in the first place. To use it, you find PLM system. or business workflow. including dynamic
sectioning, as
the menu, select the template you want It’s also the case that the greatest standard
and generate your 3D PDF. It’s really as PUBLISH 3D AUTOMATED benefits are gained when an organisation
simple as that. While both Publish 3D Interactive and has additional information to place into
On Demand focus on the creation of these documents: 3D annotation, PMI,
TEMPLATES ARE KEY documents from single sets of data, call it what you will, can transform 3D
These templates are fundamental for Publish 3D Automated is a server-based, geometry into something instantly more
making good use of this system. They full-scale enterprise version that gives you understandable to more people.
drive how the information from your CAD support for high volumes of data creation Now that more organisations are using
system is presented, how the system and tight integration with enterprise this approach, the stage is set for the PDF
extracts additional information from the systems. It might be linked, for example, format to take its rightful place and fulfil
CAD model (such as metadata for part to your PLM system and be able to take its true potential.
tables and so on), as well as how you to advantage of processes kicked off by a Many organisations are looking for
configure any 3D annotation views. much wider range of users of that system. more efficient ways to communicate
As you’ll see from the samples shown vital engineering and manufacturing
alongside this review, these templates CONCLUSION information, but more often than not,
are pretty flexible and can feature as 3D PDF has always had massive, albeit the traditional methods they use (such as
much information, or as little, as needed unfulfilled, potential in the design and drawings) can’t take advantage of a wealth
in order to create documents such as engineering space. After all, it’s the of 3D data.
requests for quotation, parts lists, data perfect format for making complex data Theorem Solution’s new offering, by
exchange packages and engineering available to a much larger proportion of contrast, allows you to combine designs
change requests. the folks who might need it. and data to great effect.
Templates can be created in-house, by There’s no specialised client to theorem.com
WORKFLOW: INTERACTIVE 3D PDFS FROM SIEMENS NX USING PUBLISH 3D
●1 A native NX landing gear assembly ●2 To export as a PDF file with 3D content, ●3 Select PDF output options for target ●4 The published PDF document containing
loaded into the Siemens NX modelling select ‘Export’ from the file menu > directory, target file name and PDF 3D content with model tree, additional
application ‘Theorem Publish 3D Interactive’ template file views and properties
p49_50_D3D_JULAUG_TheoremSolutions_Publish3D.jlt.indd 50 09/07/2015 17:34

Overclockers Ad.indd 1 09/07/2015 15:54
NVIDIA QUADRO
® ®
ACCELERATE
YOUR CREATIVITY.
Accelerate your creativity with NVIDIA® Quadro®— the world’s most powerful workstation graphics.
Whether you’re developing revolutionary products or telling spectacularly vivid visual stories,
Quadro gives you the performance to do it brilliantly.
NVIDIA Quadro K6000 NVIDIA Quadro K2200

VCQK6000-PB VCQK2200-PB
NVIDIA Quadro K5200 NVIDIA Quadro K2000DVI

VCQK5200-PB VCQK2000DVI-PB
NVIDIA Quadro K5000 MAC NVIDIA Quadro K620

VCQK5000MAC-PB VCQK620-PB
NVIDIA Quadro K4200 NVIDIA Quadro K420

VCQK4200-PB VCQK420-PB
Learn more www.pny.eu/quadro & pny.quadrok-selector.com
Insight Misco Dabs.com Scan Computers

uk.insight.com www.misco.co.uk www.dabs.com www.scan.co.uk
Tel: 0844 846 3333 Tel: 0800 038 8880 Tel: 0870 429 3825 Tel: 0871 472 4747
NVIDIA Quadro® / Tesla® / GRID™ / Prevail SSD
© 2014 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved. NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, and Quadro are trademarks
and/or registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation. All company and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of the
respective owners with which they are associated.
PNY Ad.indd 1 09/07/2015 15:54

SOFTWARE REVIEW
KeyShot 6: beta preview

Due for launch at this year’s Siggraph conference in Los Angeles, KeyShot 6
is a major update to everyone’s favourite rendering system. Al Dean takes
a look at what its developer Luxion has in store for users
F
irst, a quick recap: KeyShot doesn’t require users to figure out a » Product: KeyShot 6 with this release at any fundamental level.
is a rendering and animation random workaround. It loads the native » Supplier: Luxion When you open the system, you still have
system that focuses on making CAD geometry and even establishes live Price: From $995 the model/rendering window, with its strip
the process of taking heavy, links to it, so any design changes can be keyshot.com of global commands (for things like view
often highly detailed 3D geometries quickly pushed through the system. control) running along the top.
and turning them into photorealistic Finally, KeyShot does a great job on There’s also a strip of pull-down menus,
representations very quickly. providing efficient workflow: it’s all about although experience tells me that this
It achieves this using a couple of key drag, drop and render. KeyShot is not isn’t used much in practice, unless you’re
pieces of technology. The first is the core about spending hours creating materials delving into preferences and such. One new
progressive renderer, which gives you a from scratch or tweaking lighting set-ups. addition here is the Lighting preset menu.
real-time streamed rendering as you work It’s about getting the final image in front of We’ll get onto this shortly.
with a model, materials, textures and the user quickly and making sure that final The bulk of your time will be spent
lighting. Instead of waiting for a preview image is as good as possible. instead in the various panels around the
render to complete, you get a near-instant So with that focus on efficiency in mind, it edge of the UI, with several key panels to
look at how your scene will appear. may seem counterintuitive that KeyShot 6, get your head around.
Second, KeyShot uses HDR (High due for release in August, introduces more The first is the Library panel (by
Dynamic Range) images as its light control and fine-tuning capabilities to the default, this is found on the left). This
source, so rather than setting up multiple system. gives you access to all of your presets
lights to mimic real-world lighting The big question is: can KeyShot support and your library of materials, textures,
conditions, you use an HDR environment more complex tweaks and refinements, environments and so on. Each is
map as the primary light source, taking without sacrificing the ease of use and categorised and searchable – useful for
a lot of the hard work out of the process. speed that has driven its wide adoption in materials, in particular.
That said, it’s worth noting that more design and engineering circles? The Library panel also plays host to
recent releases have also introduced the Bear in mind that this review is based the Colours functionality introduced a
ability to add in additional, more specific on beta software. The final details aren’t couple of releases back, which allows you
lighting sources. yet set in stone – but it should give you a to swap out a material’s colour without
Third, developer Luxion has focused good idea of what’s to come. ●1 KeyShot 6 has affecting its physical properties, making
greater control over
on ensuring that CAD geometry comes experimentation with different colourways
animation of more
into the system cleanly – a challenge with USER INTERFACE CHANGES items, including depth a snap. It even includes most of the
which many general-purpose rendering Let’s deal with the user interface (UI) first. of field in camera Pantone colour definitions, too.
systems struggle. In other words, KeyShot KeyShot’s UI hasn’t changed a great deal views The other key panel here is the Project
p53_54_57_59_D3D_JULAUG_KeyShot6.jlt.indd 53 09/07/2015 18:03

SOFTWARE REVIEW
panel. While the Library panel focuses on common The idea is that, while KeyShot gives you a lot which it was applied. As a result, you can now add
items, Project gives you control over everything of control over materials, textures and labels in polished details to brushed metal, for example,
you do with the dataset on which you’re working. the Project panel, once you get beyond simply or include engraved or etched details in your
It’s from here that environment, camera, lighting tweaking standard materials, the job can get quite designs (such as the owner’s name on the back of
and geometry are defined and where they can be complex. Now that KeyShot supports animated a smartphone), without the hassle of setting up
tweaked if necessary. materials, materials on decals and so on, you’re overly complex materials or geometries.
For example, inside the Camera tab, you have going to get a bit of much-needed extra control.
control over position and field of view, as well as The Material Graph Editor is a separate GEOMETRY EDITING
more advanced controls for depth of field. This window that pops up and gives you a more visual KeyShot 6’s new geometry editing environment
is how you drive the look and feel of your render representation of the current material. Each may sound odd at first, but once you understand
project. component is shown as a node and the connections its purpose, it becomes clearer why this
Alongside these two key panels, there are also between nodes are immediately clear. We detail functionality will be useful for certain activities.
a couple of others to bear in mind. One is the below how the Material Graph Editor works, but This is because, many times, when you bring
Animation timeline, which gives you the familiar what’s most important to note is that, while this a geometry into the system (particularly if it’s
and logical display of everything that’s animated in provides a different way at looking at material from a third party), you may not have all the parts
your scene (such as model geometry or cameras). definition, you can continue to use the existing separated out. That could be down to a quirk
With KeyShot 6, you have more options for panel approach as well. of the data format or it may be that you have a
animation of colours, depth of field and more. It’s Elsewhere on the materials front, perhaps the single model representing multiple parts – as is
also worth noting that the animation capability is most interesting update is greater integration the case with a conceptual model showing just the
no longer a separate add-on for KeyShot Pro. It’s between materials and animation, which manifests surfaces.
included at no additional cost. itself in several ways. What Keyshot’s Geometry Editor allows you
One other window to explore is the Geometry For one thing, the system now allows you to to do is split these parts out. If you’ve got
View. This is handy for more complex scenes, animate materials. For example, you can switch multiple body parts in a single ‘lump’, it’ll find
where you want to manipulate the camera view, colours during the course of an animation, fading separate shells and give you a list of parts. If
but the system is lagging. This gives you a more between two or more colours, or switch between you’ve got a single ‘lump’ of geometry with no
standard CAD-like view and it’s much easier to different values on colours (a process referred defined components, meanwhile, you can use a
manipulate, using the same controls as in the main to as a ‘number fade’). One thing you can’t do, at curvature-based analysis to find surface breaks
rendering window. You can see this in action in present, is add animation to textures and labels, for individual features (as shown in the workflow
Figure 3, on page 59. which would be useful for prototyping electronic below). Handily, you’ve got a lot of control, a good
devices and their user interfaces. preview using the new Geometry View tool and
MATERIALS RELATED UPDATES The other major update on the materials front the ability to merge separate areas back together,
So now let’s dig into the headline additions to this is that it’s now possible to add materials to a if you need to.
new release. Perhaps one of the most important label. These labels – often referred to as ‘decals’
new tools in KeyShot 6 is the Material Graph Editor. in other systems – allow you to add graphic ANIMATABLE ITEMS
This may look strange, and possibly a bit confusing designs to a material, which isn’t easy to do with Animation was introduced to KeyShot a few
to those of you who have only ever used CAD- ‘whole part’ material designations. With KeyShot releases back and its toolset is expanding in the
integrated rendering systems in the past. But if 6, you can add a label to a material, then apply new release. We’ve already discussed the improved
you’ve used other renderers, the likelihood is that a material to that label – previously, the label ability to animate some material properties, but
you’ll get it straight away. inherited the material properties of the part to there’s more in store.
MATERIAL GRAPH EDITOR: BUILDING UP MULTI-LAYERED MATERIALS
●1 Start with a metallic paint to ●2 Add in a texture map to

●3 The next step is to add in a ●4 An additional bump is ●
5 The final step is to add in a
replicate the underlying surfaces replicate the weather of the metal bump map to mimic a brushed added to give the weathering curvature control to enhance
of the padlock. Onto this, we’ll over time. It’s added as a clear effect underneath the clear layer some additional detail, the effects on the edges of the
add additional layers for realism coat over the top of the base layer coated patina mimicking the build up of grime padlock
Workflow courtesy of Esben Oxholm: www.esbenoxholm.dk

KeyShot ®
Amazing renderings and animations. In minutes.
Import your model file Drag-and-drop to Choose any HDRI to Set the camera for
into KeyShot apply your materials light your scene the perfect shot
KeyShot 6 is coming soon. For a limited time only, purchase or

upgrade KeyShot 5 and receive a free upgrade to KeyShot 6.
Model by Steve Talkowski Learn more at

Sketchbot.tv keyshot.com/keyshot-6/
SOFTWARE REVIEW
As well as giving you new camera-path browser, right click and hit depth of field. might not immediately appear to fall ●2 KeyShot’s new
animations (rather than using pre-baked This gives you a new item in the Animation within DEVELOP3D’s remit. This is the Material graph editor
gives you a clear way
turntables and so on), you can also add window and controls over focal point greater support coming in KeyShot 6 for of understanding
animation parameters into effects such as and F-stop at either end of the timeline architectural and interior renders. There your materials
depth of field. segment. The system then calculates the are two new tools that let you do this composition,
This is the type of effect with which changes required. This is highly effective type of work, offering some specialist particularly useful
those accustomed to making movies will for highlighting specific details of a product capabilities. now given the systems
updates to multi-
be familiar. With a physical camera, it during an animated sequence. The first is that there’s a new lighting
layer materials and
would involve a simple twist of a dial, preset for Interiors. This cuts back materials on decals
but in the digital realm, it’s a little more LIGHTING, INTERIORS & some of the options, makes your system
complex – but as you might expect from ARCHITECTURAL RENDERS more efficient and gives you a better
Luxion, the process here is nice and easy. Before we wrap up, there is one further environment for adding in special lights.
You select the camera from the scene area worth a closer look, although it The second is called Vertical Shift. This
WORKFLOW: USING THE GEOMETRY EDITOR IN KEYSHOT 6
●1 You bring in your geometry file and discover that the ●2 Accessed through the Project/Scene panel, select the ●3 Here you have options for geometry editing. We’re using
concept model isn't split out into readily assignable surfaces geometry and find Edit Geometry in the Right Mouse menu the Split by Surface option to find seperate part edges
●4 An angular value is needed to define edges – the ●

5 Geometry Edit also includes tools to merge areas of the ●
6 Once done, unlink the materials (from the Scene panel
Geometry view and list shows you what you’ll get model back together again to assist with definition again) and apply your new material definitions

EDS a4ad_Layout 1 25/06/2015 18:06 Page 1
Where design ideas

come together
SECURE YOUR FREE PLACE NOW
• 21 - 22 October 2015 • Jaguar Exhibition Hall •

• Ricoh Arena • Coventry •
SECURE YOUR FREE PLACE NOW

www.engineeringdesignshow.co.uk
Headline sponsors
SOFTWARE REVIEW
helps to address KeyShot’s physically

correct control over the virtual camera lens.
Because of that realism, large, perpendicular
geometry is always going to appear slightly
curved, as it would in the real world.
The issue here is that, in the architectural
world, where vertical lines need to be
vertical, this is an undesirable effect.
KeyShot 6 introduces vertical shift control
to allow you to account for this without
having to do any post-production work in
Photoshop in order to get the correct look
and feel.
CONCLUSION
KeyShot 6 isn’t due to be officially unveiled
until the beginning of August, but we’ve
been playing with the beta version. What
has been interesting is how the system has
grown in sophistication, without losing any 3
of the special magic.
In other words, KeyShot remains a
system that’s focused on getting you from Between then and now, the system has swathe of new tools that aim to drive ●3 There is now a set
a rich 3D CAD model to a stunning image grown through the addition of new tools this vision forward: more animation of lighting presets
in the shortest time possible. that give the user more control over the possibilities, more control over textures from the pull down
or Project panel.
When KeyShot was first released, this was final result, whether that’s a static image or and materials, and some new finessing of These include the new
achieved by stripping away many of the an animated sequence – but it’s managed existing tools. Interior mode, ideal
arcane controls and capabilities offered to do so without any loss of workflow While it’s possible that some features for those working on
by general-purpose rendering tools, in speed. This may be its developers’ greatest and functions could change between the these types of jobs
favour of giving designers and engineers triumph. publication of this review and the system’s
a tool that simply worked well for them. So what you get today is a system that actual launch in August, KeyShot 6 is
That meant creating a system that took can still give you a great image very already looking like a solid upgrade for
in their data without too many issues, let quickly, but will also allow you to refine it Luxion – worthy of its 6.0 release name
them slap on some materials, add in an HDR to produce something exceptional. and not just a point release to KeyShot 5.
environment and hit the render button. With this new release, there’s a whole keyshot.com

DEVELOP3DSERVICES
TO ADVERTISE YOUR SERVICES HERE CONTACT STEVE KING
STEVE@X3DMEDIA.COM | +44 (0) 20 3355 7314 | +44 (0)7850 507362
Welcome to DEVELOP3D’s professional

services section for product development
professionals.
To see your service advertised here,
please contact Steve King.
steve@x3dmedia.com
+44 (0)20 3355 7314 / +44 (0)7850 507362
Product
Design
World class design

and analysis to the
Composites,
Composites Design
Aerospace and & FE Analysis
Automotive
sectors.
Airbus
Boeing CS/FAR 25 Analysis
FIA F1/LMP Structures
R&D
Solutions
+44 (0)1243 840022

www.fluidformdesign.co.uk
JULY2015
60 MAY / AUGUST 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM
DEVELOP3D.COM
p60_D3D_JULAUG15_Services.indd
p60_D3D_MAY15_Services.indd 60 60 09/07/2015 22:17
17/04/2015 18:19
15 16
SEPTEMBER
2015
LYO N - F R A N C E
2 days to
compare and
integrate additive
manufacturing
technologies to
your process.
This document is published by
THE ONLY SHOW THAT PUTS

ADDITIVE MANUFACTURING
AT THE HEART OF THE INDUSTRY
Request your free badge at 3dprint-exhibition.com
pXX_D3D_JULAUG15_3Dprint.indd 1 09/07/2015 18:37

DEVELOP3DJOBS
JOBS.DEVELOP3D.COM
Welcome to DEVELOP3D’s jobs section.

Every issue we will bring you the latest product development
jobs to help you kick start your career.
In partnership with CADjobhunter.com we also have a dynamic

jobs website where you can find your dream job by searching by location,
keyword or CAD/CAM/CAE software.
Alternatively upload your CV to help your future employer find you.
Register your details at
jobs.develop3d.com
To advertise on the website or
inside the magazine contact
Matt Wells
matt@x3dmedia.com
+44 (0) 7990 573624
Technical-Sales-2015-Half-Page-Develop3D_v2.pdf 1 13/03/2015 15:34:31
MORE DETAILS AT HTTP://GOO.GL/SOADFZ

62 JULY / AUGUST 2015 JOBS.DEVELOP3D.COM TO ADVERTISE CONTACT MATT WELLS | MATT@X3DMEDIA.COM | +44 (0) 7990 573624
p62_63_64_65_D3D_JULAUG15_Jobs.indd 62 10/07/2015 19:27

JOBS.DEVELOP3D.COM
Where next?
Wherever you take us.
DESIGN, MECHANICAL AND RESEARCH ENGINEERS

£COMPETITIVE | WILTSHIRE, UK
What’s next for Dyson? You tell us. Actually, you won’t just tell us, you’ll show us. Because we’ll give you
the freedom to invent, to pursue your ideas and to push technological boundaries.
Great things are happening here. Not only are we working on some incredible new projects, but we’re
continuing to invest heavily in our UK Research, Design and Development (RDD) centre. Which tells you
two things. Firstly, that we’re doing fantastically well as a global business. Secondly, just how vitally
important engineers are to us. In many ways, engineers are Dyson. That’s why we’re looking for more
like minds to join us and create the technology of the future.
So if you’re unafraid to take risks and ready to turn conventional thinking on its head, we need to hear
from you. Your background could be mechanical engineering, technology, science.... we’re open to
ideas. Find out more at www.careers.dyson.com
MORE DETAILS AT HTTP://GOO.GL/H4OEFT

TO ADVERTISE CONTACT MATT WELLS | MATT@X3DMEDIA.COM | +44 (0) 7990 573624 JOBS.DEVELOP3D.COM JULY / AUGUST 2015 63

JOBS.DEVELOP3D.COM
MORE DETAILS AT HTTP://GOO.GL/7FB2C

64 JULY / AUGUST 2015 JOBS.DEVELOP3D.COM TO ADVERTISE CONTACT MATT WELLS | MATT@X3DMEDIA.COM | +44 (0) 7990 573624

Permanent & Contract
Mechanical Engineer Positions
Brixton, London, UK
Kokoon Technology Ltd are a successful start-up developing the world’s first brain sensing Bluetooth
headphones who have crowd funded over £1m on Kickstarter. The first device is due to hit the market
in 2016 and we need a highly talented and motivated mechanical engineer to lead the mechanical
design from prototype to mass manufacture.
This is a superb opportunity to join us at this exciting time in our development as a company.
The Role:
• Initial role is leading the mechanical design of the Kokoon headphone through detailed design,
testing, development and mass production.
• Following the initial product, the role will entail developing Kokoon’s product portfolio and
expanding the company’s R&D and mechanical capabilities.
Requirements:
The successful candidate will have a background & experience in the design and manufacture of mass-
produced consumer goods and have a good understanding of professional engineering practices. Top
tier MEng degree required. Top tier MEng degree required. 2-6 years’ experience required.
In exchange for your hardwork you will be rewarded with competitive salary, generous equity options,
fun team, dynamic working environment and global travel opportunities. Consideration will be given
for relocation expenses.
We are also on the look out for a talented Mechanical Engineer on a contract basis to help accelerate our
development.
To apply for either of these once in a lifetime opportunities please submit your CV and a cover letter
to: richard.hall@kokoontech.com.
MORE DETAILS AT HTTP://GOO.GL/K0ZDBS

JOBS.DEVELOP3D.COM JULY / AUGUST 2015 65

THE LAST WORD
With a new, larger workshop space,

Al Dean has been itching to put together
his next big bit of making kit. So how
has the first fortnight on the X-Carve
CNC router been? It’s been fun, with
a wee dose of aggro
T
here’s nothing like three
boxes stuck in Customs to
send your blood pressure
rising. And if you’ve
bookmarked the Post Office’s
tracking page on your mobile phone,
you’re running the additional risk of a
wearing a hole in the gorilla glass, with
all the constant refreshing you’ll do.
This was me, three weeks ago. I’d put in my
order for Inventables’ X-Carve CNC router
back in April and I felt like I’d been waiting
ever since.
Once you receive the shipping notification,
you get to watch your packages, somewhat
voyeuristically, make their way from Chicago,
across the Atlantic, to a nameless logistics
park somewhere near Heathrow, where they’ll
sit until they receive customs clearance. Then
it’s a trip up to the sorting office to pick them
up. Only then can the real fun begin.
For those of us in the design and
engineering trade, model kits bring back
fond memories – some from childhood,
some more recent. Having a 1,000mm x
1,000mm CNC router delivered provides the the wiring and electronics. I’ve never been all and use Autodesk’s Fusion 360 CAM tools The X-Carve is a
beast (particularly
same sense of anticipation, but on a much that good at soldering, stripping cables and instead. These give you more control over
the 1,000 x 1,000mm
bigger scale. working out wiring routing. I’m the guy who the process, as well as how and where your version.) You’ll need
always has to google how to wire a three-pin cutter is working. I’ve cut a few test parts and to brush up on your
BUILD UP domestic plug. the workflow seems to function OK. soldering and wiring
When it comes to the build up, Inventables That said, over the course of the next few If you’re tempted to try this yourself, and chops. And you’ll need
has done a pretty good job of making the days, I learned a lot, discovered how to do haven’t had much experience with this type coffee – a lot of coffee
process clear and efficient. Everything things I’d never done before and developed of machine, you’ll need to use a different
is colour coded, labelled and counted, a deeper appreciation of what goes into a controller application (Universal G-Code
matching the online instructions and numerically controlled machine, as well as Sender is good and free) and output your
associated video. some of the theory and practice behind it. G-code from Fusion using the GRBL post
The first half of the build up was spent Then, in the final stages, I hit another processor.
on the mechanical aspects. This took about snag. The X-Carve is controlled by an I’m also going to hook myself up with
three days, spread over the course of a Arduino with a special-purpose machine a touch probe for finding the top of
week, and didn’t present too many issues. control ‘shield’ that plugs into it – but a workpieces more accurately than simply
While much of the process is pretty single, knackered terminal block once again eyeballing them. There’s a nice little hack
self-explanatory, I’d still suggest an initial delayed completion of the router. Again, a for this that is well-documented online.
browse through all of the instructions; a replacement needed to be shipped (and, to I’ve also got a tidy little plan for a low-
second, more thorough read-through; then be fair, Inventables has been good as gold profile work holding vice in development, too.
an in-depth review as you carry out each with this area of support). But first, I’m going to disappear into the
stage of the build. But I’m happy to say my X-Carve CNC wilds of a Suffolk farmer’s field with my
There was only one snag: a pack of missing router is now up and running. The machine ancient caravan and get me some holiday
socket cap screws. Inventables shipped some is tuned and some test projects have been fun. Have a good summer folks!
more from the US but, to be honest, it was completed. Now it’s time to get on with
quicker to drive over to my local industrial some real work.
suppliers (MSC Industrial in Wednesbury) GET IN TOUCH: I’m curious to know what other folk in the
and pick up a box of 200. M5s always come in NEXT STEPS profession think of this type of machine. Can you see the potential
handy, right? So what’s next? The first thing I want to for a piece of kit like this in your own design office workshop? Email
Then it was on to the part I was dreading – do is dump the Inventables Easel software me on al@x3dmedia.com or say hello on Twitter: @alistardean
p66_D3D_JULAUG15_Al copy.indd 66 09/07/2015 18:21

WS Ad.indd
WS_D3D 1
Advert_May 1 09/07/2015
26/05/2015 15:57
12:25

D3D Julaug15

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

D3D Julaug15

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

HP Sprout P18 Siemens NXP45

Ansys AIM 7.0 P40 Keyshot 6 P53

NEW MODEL ARMY 3D PRINTING IN HEALTHCARE REVERSE ENGINEERING

Watch the video or call

tiny.cc/drone-d3d +44 (0)1908 904367

Digital Media Editor

DEVELOP3D.COM JULY / AUGUST 2015 3

p03_D3D_JULAUGU15_EdsLetter.indd 3 09/07/2015 16:39

4 JANUARY 2009 DEVELOP3D.COM

p04_05_D3D_JULAUG15_Competition.indd 4 09/07/2015 16:40

★ Intel Xeon E5-1620 v3 (4 Cores, 3.5GHz)

DEVELOP3D.COM JANUARY 2009 5

p04_05_D3D_JULAUG15_Competition.indd 5 09/07/2015 16:40

We hereby invite Architects, Engineers, Technical Departments, Content Developers

For more information and to apply: bimobject.com/hackathon

JULY / AUGUST 2015 ISSUE NO. 70

66 THE LAST WORD

p07_D3D_JULAUG15_contents.indd 7 09/07/2015 16:40

INTEL SETS SIGHTS ON 3D CAD WITH

8 JULY / AUGUST 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

p08_D3D_JULAUG15_NEWS.indd 8 09/07/2015 16:41

Intel® Xeon® sales@thinklogic.co.uk

MOTION CAPTURE CAMERAS Frame launches

New bespoke kit

DEVELOP3D.COM THE BEST FROM THE WEBSITE

10 JULY / AUGUST 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

p10_11_12_D3D_JULAUG15_NEWS.indd 10 09/07/2015 16:44

version of Inspire Project Ignite, a free

AutoForm Engineering has

Rhino for Mac makes its anticipated debut version, AutoFormplus

DEVELOP3D.COM JULY / AUGUST 2015 11

p10_11_12_D3D_JULAUG15_NEWS.indd 11 09/07/2015 16:44

UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD DS delivers new

DEVELOP3D.COM THE BEST FROM THE WEBSITE

12 JULY / AUGUST 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

p10_11_12_D3D_JULAUG15_NEWS.indd 12 09/07/2015 16:44

Britain needs less talk, more action

14 JULY / AUGUST 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

p14_D3D_JULAUG15_SemtaComment.indd 14 09/07/2015 18:05

60 SECOND Why did you become a designer?

16 JULY / AUGUST 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

p16_D3D_JULAUG15_LETTERS.indd 16 10/07/2015 07:39

The wheel took a millennium

The Wright Brothers took seven years

Your component can be ready in just 24 hours

To view our FREE

Protolabs Ad.indd 1 09/07/2015 15:36

OPTIONS, PRICE &

18 JULY / AUGUST 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

p18_19_D3D_JULAUG15_viz design guide - HO Sprout copy.indd 18 09/07/2015 18:07

3The SCAN OBJECT

p18_19_D3D_JULAUG15_viz design guide - HO Sprout copy.indd 19 09/07/2015 18:07

p20_21_22_D3D_JULAUG15_PDG.indd 20 09/07/2015 18:07

DEVELOP3D MONTH 200X 21

p20_21_22_D3D_JULAUG15_PDG.indd 21 09/07/2015 18:07

p20_21_22_D3D_JULAUG15_PDG.indd 22 09/07/2015 18:07

A wide range of materials

www.hkh3d.com 01788 577 288

SOLUTIONS 3D Printers | Software | Materials | On Demand Parts

24 JULY / AUGUST 2015 DEVELOP3D.COM

p24_25_26_27_28_D3D_JULAUG15_CoverStory.indd 24 10/07/2015 07:41

p24_25_26_27_28_D3D_JULAUG15_CoverStory.indd 25 10/07/2015 07:41