Category Archives: 3D CAD

3D CAD (Computer-Aided Design)

Q&A Session: Prototyping, Product Design, 3D Printing & Much More…

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“Don’t make assumptions. Find the courage to ask questions.” – Miguel Angel Ruiz

As you know, last week and this week we held two Product Development and Design Seminars in Hawaii. We found that these were not only a great opportunity to get out into the community, but they also proved very useful to help entrepreneurs and small businesses get their engineering, manufacturing, prototyping, 3D CAD, additive manufacturing/3D printing, product design and development questions answered. This got us thinking, there must be many more people out there that are curious about all of these design aspects as well, but just do not have a resource in which to ask their questions… Well now you do!

Please feel free to e-mail info@3d-innovations.com with your questions, or post them as a comment on this blog post because chances are that if you have a question, someone out there has the same question! We truly love educating entrepreneurs and small business owners about all aspects of the product development life cycle, so that in the end you are able to make a clear and informed decision about the future of your product.

Product Design & Development Seminar in Honolulu, HI on June 10, 2013

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3D Innovations is a full service 3D Engineering/Design company – from the  3D Design to a fully functional 3D Prototype & Product.

What Does the Future Look Like For Computer Aided Design (CAD)?

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Computer Aided Design (CAD) is a tool that many engineers have come to heavily rely on. This technology has been around for decades and we have witnessed many advancements in the technology. Recently though we are starting to see a shift in CAD to more “futuristic” ways of using the technology and we wanted to pose a question to our community, What do you think the future looks like for CAD?

For two months in a row now, Rapid Ready Technology has posted some intriguing articles about companies that are trying to advance CAD applications and software in very drastic ways.

1. Leonar3Do Brings Virtual Reality to 3D Design: A Hungarian startup, is ready to offer a different approach to 3D design by allowing people to actually design in 3D. The company’s proprietary technology uses imaging glasses and a stylus called the “Bird” as part of a virtual reality (VR) design space that creates objects in 3D.

“Leonar3Do’s vision has always been to breakout of the antiquated 2D mold and drive design innovation to empower how people can visualize, create and innovate their ideas they have imagined but in real, 3D space,” said Roland Manyai, Leonar3Do’s business development and marketing director.

The system uses infra-red position detection in the form of three sensors mounted around the workspace. The glasses have built-in infra LEDs enabling head-tracking positioning, and the Bird is a spatial input device that allows users to create and interact with 3D VR images.

2. Thinker Thing Directs Digital Design with Your Mind: What if someone could build a design tool that allows the user to make anything they can imagine, by thought alone? Thinker Thing is a company that has taken on this ambitious project, with startup funding from the Chilean government. Instead of controlling the evolution of a design with a mouse or touchscreen, the company is developing a method of using an Emotiv EPOC EEG reader to build 3D objects.

At this point users aren’t directing complete designs with their thoughts, as though your brain were controlling the mouse. Instead, the EPOC measures reactions to different design elements and selects the element that, according to your EEG, is most appealing to the user. Each piece of a larger design slowly evolves as EPOC continues to monitor a user’s thoughts, until eventually the entire piece is complete.

Both of these projects are extremely interesting but at the same time seem a little far off. As far as the future of CAD goes, we expect to see a couple advancements within the next few years. One, Multi-Touch CAD; Take away the keyboard and mouse and you are left with designing on touch screens with your fingers (much like how we use an iPad). Moving geometry, viewing and sketching could all be done with your digits, and could even allow for greater expression than through a keyboard and mouse. Some apps have achieved this, but we expect to see this technology translate to our workplace and become more common. Two, Sharing; One aspect to CAD is the ability to share files from one person to the next. Currently, there are many types of files that cannot be opened with different applications and we expect to see immense growth in this area of CAD as more designers collaborate on projects and push software developers to find better and more standardized was to share files.

These are exciting times for designers, engineers and CAD! We are eagerly anticipating future CAD advancements and can’t wait to see this technology continue its transformation.

Research Articles

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3D Innovations is a full service 3D Engineering/Design company – from the  3D Design to a fully functional 3D Prototype & Product.

The Magic of Robohand

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This is just one of those news stories that leaves you inspired, and this is precisely why we wanted to share it with our 3D Innovations community.

Makerbot has released a video about how a group of hackers built 3D-printed hands for children and adults who are missing fingers or entire hands. The project aims to take the cost and complexity associated with hand prosthesis out of the process. It is working.

In short, the Robohand project is an effort to release the plans for a completely open-source, 3D-printable hand. The fingers close when the user bends his or her wrist and the parts can be printed on any 3D printer. It’s perfect for kids because, as they grow, caregivers can simply upgrade the hand with a few mouse clicks.

How Do I Get A Robohand? Robohand was not imagined as a service or a product. Instead, Richard has shared the design files and instructions for creating a Robohand on Thingiverse so that people around the world can download, customize, print, and assemble Robohands for themselves or for others.

To read the full blog post on Marerbot, click here.

To read the full article by Tech Crunch, click here.

The Product Development Process

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The 3D Innovations Product Development Process Explained

Concept
The conceptual phase typically begins with developing the basic idea and requirements into a visual object that depicts what the final product could look like. This involves integrating industrial design methods that include various materials, surface finish of the parts, and overall aesthetics.

Design/Prototype
With the requirements fully or partially defined, the conceptual design can be transformed into a virtual design that is not only functional, but manufacturable. Design For Manufacturability (DFM) is a critical part of this design phase. The DFM process will be based on the product type and ultimately, the production manufacturing method(s) that will be used. Once a virtual design is completed using 3D CAD (Computer Aided Design), it must be validated to ensure the proper functionality. Having a tangible item to feel, touch, hold, and test is always recommended and can save on the cost of re-design and re-working of production tooling and molds if errors are not caught before proceeding with the manufacturing phase. With 3D Printing becoming more mainstream and with more materials available for use, this is often times the preferred method for prototyping a design. Other prototyping methods can also be used if required. Prototypes can also be produced to be used as marketing tools to present to investors, potential partners, or for media releases.

Manufacturing
Once the design has been fully validated to ensure that form, fit, and function have been accounted for, the production manufacturing phase can begin. If high volume quantities are required, special molds and tooling are likely needed to efficiently and cost effectively produce final production parts. Low volumes can also be produced using various molding methods, but may not be feasible for quantities less than several hundred parts. Depending on the products functionality, an appropriate manufacturing method will be selected. If the product requires integrating electronics or assembly of other parts, this would be done during the manufacturing phase once all individual components have been produced.

Product
Product packaging and marketing play an important role in getting the product launched and promoted in the marketplace. Specialized packaging can be design and manufactured to fit the product specifications. With a team of Marketing and Graphic Design specialists, promotion/marketing, product packaging, graphic design for collateral and websites can be created to showcase the product capabilities.

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3D Innovations is a full service 3D Engineering/Design company – from the  3D Design to a fully functional 3D Prototype & Product.

The History of Computer-Aided Design (CAD)

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We are taking it back to the basics today with a blog post about the evolution of CAD. We all use CAD, but do you know its history?

Modern engineering design and drafting can be traced back to the development of descriptive geometry in the 16th and 17th centuries. Drafting methods improved with the introduction of drafting machines, but the creation of engineering drawings changed very little until after World War II.

During the war, considerable work was done in the development of real-time computing, particularly at MIT, and by the 1950s there were dozens of people working on numerical control of machine tools and automating engineering design. But it’s the work of two people in particular—Patrick Hanratty and Ivan Sutherland—who are largely credited with setting the stage for what we know today as CAD.

The Fathers of CAD
Hanratty is widely credited as “the Father of CADD/CAM.” In 1957, while working at GE, he developed PRONTO (Program for Numerical Tooling Operations), the first commercial CNC programming system. Five years later, Sutherland presented his Ph.D. thesis at MIT titled “Sketchpad, A Man-Machine Graphical Communication System.” Among its features, the first graphical user interface, using a light pen to manipulate objects displayed on a CRT.

The 1960s brought other developments, including the first digitizer (from Auto-trol) and DAC-1, the first production interactive graphics manufacturing system. By the end of the decade, a number of companies were founded to commercialize their fledgling CAD programs, including SDRC, Evans & Sutherland, Applicon, Computervision, and M&S Computing.

By the 1970s, research had moved from 2D to 3D. Major milestones included the work of Ken Versprille, whose invention of NURBS for his Ph.D. thesis formed the basis of modern 3D curve and surface modeling, and the development by Alan Grayer, Charles Lang, and Ian Braid of the PADL (Part and Assembly Description Language) solid modeler.

With the emergence of UNIX workstations in the early ’80s, commercial CAD systems like CATIA and others began showing up in aerospace, automotive, and other industries. But it was the introduction of the first IBM PC in 1981 that set the stage for the large-scale adoption of CAD. The following year, a group of programmers formed Autodesk, and in 1983 released AutoCAD, the first significant CAD program for the IBM PC.

The CAD Revolution
AutoCAD marked a huge milestone in the evolution of CAD. Its developers set out to deliver 80% of the functionality of the other CAD programs of the day, for 20% of their cost. From then on, increasingly advanced drafting and engineering functionality became more affordable. But it was still largely 2D.

That changed in 1987 with the release of Pro/ENGINEER, a CAD program based on solid geometry and feature-based parametric techniques for defining parts and assemblies. It ran on UNIX workstations—PCs of the time were simply not powerful enough—but it was a game changer. The later years of the decade saw the release of several 3D modeling kernels, most notably ACIS and Parasolids, which would form the basis for other history-based parametric CAD programs.

CAD Today, CAD Tomorrow
The modern CAD era has been marked by improvements in modeling, incorporation of analysis, and management of the products we create, from conception and engineering to manufacturing, sales, and maintenance (what has become known as PLM, product lifecycle management).

“Engineers and designers are being asked to create more, faster, and with higher quality,” says Bill McClure, vice president of product development at Siemens PLM. With all of this pressure on engineers and designers, what do you see as the next big evolution in CAD?

 

This article is a reprint from Desktop Engineering, click on the article title to view the original article in its entirety: Evolution of Computer-Aided Design

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3D Innovations is a full service 3D Engineering/Design company – from the  3D Design to a fully functional 3D Prototype & Product.

The Product Design & Development Process

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Many entrepreneurs are often taken back slightly when they are working on their very first product because of the time and effort involved in product design and development. Below is a summary discussing the design and development phases and what exactly goes on behind the scenes to ensure you launch a successful product.

“Product development is the process of creating a new product to be sold by a business or enterprise to its customers.Design refers to those activities involved in creating the styling, look and feel of the product, deciding on the product’s mechanical architecture, selecting materials and processes, and engineering the various components necessary to make the product work. Development refers collectively to the entire process of identifying a market opportunity, creating a product to appeal to the identified market, and finally, testing, modifying and refining the product until it is ready for production.”

The task of developing a new product is challenging, time-consuming and can be costly. “Great products are not simply designed, but instead they evolve over time through countless hours of research, analysis, design studies, engineering and prototyping efforts, and finally, testing, modifying, and re-testing until the design has been perfected.”

A good new product is the result a methodical development effort with well defined product specifications and project goals. The first stage of product development is concept development. “During this stage, the needs of the target market are identified, competitive products are reviewed, product specifications are defined, a product concept is selected, an economic analysis is done, and the development project is outlined. This stage provides the foundation for the development effort, and if poorly done can undermine the entire effort.”

Once the concept development stage has been completed, you then move on the the system-level design of the product. “System-level design, or the task of designing the architecture of the product, is the subject of this stage. In prior stages, the team was focused on the core product idea, and the prospective design was largely based on overviews rather than in-depth design and engineering. Designers and engineers develop the product architecture in detail, and manufacturing determines which components should be made and which should be purchased, and identifies the necessary suppliers.”

Once the architecture of the product has been established you move into the design detail phase. “Detail design, or design-for-manufacture, is the stage wherein the necessary engineering is done for every component of the product. During this phase, each part is identified and engineered. Tolerances, materials, and finishes are defined, and the design is documented with drawings or computer files. Increasingly, manufacturers and developers are turning to three-dimensional solid modeling using programs such as Pro-Engineer. Three-dimensional computer models form the core of today’s rapid prototyping and rapid manufacturing technologies. Once the database has been developed, prototype components can be rapidly built on computerized machines such as CNC mills, fused deposition modeling devices, or stereo lithography systems.”

When your design details are complete your product is then ready for testing and refinement. During this phase a number of prototypes are built and refined. These prototypes are necessary to determine whether the performance of the product matches the established specifications. “Models and prototypes are necessary because of the limitations of theoretical work and artificial mediums. A product can be designed and put into simulated use on computer, but one doesn’t really know how it will work until the item is built and tested in its intended environment. Prototyping and modeling efforts begin virtually at the inception of the project and continue into production.”

Once your models have been perfected your product is then ready for production! During this time your product is slowly  being assemble. The production is comparably slower because it provides time to work out any final issues with supplier components, fabrication and assembly procedures. Once things get going though, production will ramp-up and you will begin to see the fruit of your labor!

*If you have any question about product design & development, you can contact us at info@3d-innovations.com

Research:

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3D Innovations is a full service 3D Engineering/Design company – from the  3D Design to a fully functional 3D Prototype & Product.

How 3D CAD Can Benefit Your Next Project

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Often times entrepreneurs find 3D CAD to be extremely interesting and “cool” but do not actually grasp the immense benefits of the technology in relation to product development, prototyping and manufacturing.

Below are some of the major benefits to utilizing 3D CAD for your next project:

  1. Concurrent engineering (CE) - Engineering and manufacturing process are enabled simultaneously from shared 3D CAD data.
  2. Higher quality - Due to increased efficiency resulting from the ability to explore a greater number of design iterations during product development.
  3. Lower unit costs - Due to reduced development and prototype expenses.
  4. Rapid prototyping (RP) - 3D CAD models can be used to produce prototypes from  RP technologies.
  5. Identify inefficiencies - 3D CAD develops opportunities for the elimination of inherent inefficiencies in a design.
  6. Increased accuracy of MRP data - 3D CAD data files can be easily linked and managed by MRP software.
  7. Increased design flexibility & customization - 3D CAD offers a more robust set of tools and methods to modify designs.
  8. Increased design data integrity - With a single 3D CAD model supporting all downstream processes, changes are reflected quickly and accurately.

During the planning stages of your next project, consider using 3D CAD technology to streamline your product development and manufacturing life cycles.

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3D Innovations is a full service 3D Engineering/Design company – from the 3D Design to a fully functional 3D Prototype & Product.

 

What does “design” mean to you?

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“Design is the search for a magical balance between business and art; art and craft; intuition and reason; concept and detail; playfulness and formality; client and designer; designer and printer; and printer and public.” -Valerie Pettis

Design is incorporated into every product we use every single day of our lives.

When people often think of design the first thing that comes to mind are graphic designers or fashion designers, but when you use design as a verb it reaches a much larger audience; such as “A child designing a rocket ship” or “He is designing airplane” — these people would say that “I’m designing a new solution or answer for something”. These people could be called designers, engineers, entrepreneurs…the list goes on.

What design means to us: As a company that specializes in design, we understand the importance of good design. Yes we are designers, but we also consider ourselves innovators; design to us is innovation. Entrepreneurs often come to us with great product ideas and they communicate them through drawings and words, but having a person that can translate this (into a 3D CAD file for instance) takes a designer that can think outside of the box and innovate. Entrepreneurs are not coming up with ideas for product that are already available, they are coming up with new ideas, and building their vision using digital technology takes a special skill set. We really love this quote by Brenda Laurel, ”A design isn’t finished until somebody is using it“.

In a way we are all designers, we just specializes in different mediums. So tell us, what does design mean to you?

Meet Our CEO: Collin Kobayashi, 3D Designer/Engineer

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NAME: Collin Kobayashi
EDUCATION: Master’s of Business Administration (MBA), B.S. in Manufacturing Design

3D designers like Collin Kobayashi are engineering the future through innovative product development using 3D technology.

 

What is your job?
In addition to managing and operating 3D Innovations as President and Principle Consultant, I work to turn 2D sketches into a 3D object through the use of a software program called CAD. CAD stands for Computer-aided Design and is the first step in starting the product development cycle. Most products that are made today are designed through the use of CAD, from your iPhone or iPad to tables and chairs.

I also work in an educational capacity to provide 3D CAD and pre-engineering training for middle, high school, and post- secondary education students with the 3D Academy, a division of 3D Innovations.

Why did you choose this career?
CAD came out in the late 1980′s as a 2D system. My interest in product design started as I was finishing high school in the mid 1990′s. At that time the market was changing from 2D to 3D and once I learned what 3D is all about I was hooked. From there I wanted to be involved with the design and manufacturing processes to learn about different industries and how systems are designed to fit with today’s technology. I was also interested to see the various engineering aspects of technology products.

Once I was established in the field I became interested in helping students learn about 3D engineering. 3D Academy was started as an extension of 3D Innovations, taking the engineering/design and manufacturing processes and integrating it with Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) programs that enable students to learn important core academic skills. STEM education has been supported for many years now to provide students with industry and real life skills. My motivation for starting 3D Academy was to provide students with these valuable opportunities that were not available to me during my high school education and to prepare them for a competitive technological career.

Explain what an average day at work is like for you.
When we begin a project for a client, one of the most common things that we get from them is some sort of idea or input that could be in the form of a picture, sketch or in some cases a detailed drawing. Customers come to us because they need to have their idea taken from their 2D format and turned into a 3D model. Once we get the idea plugged into the CAD program we then refine it based on customer needs. Sometimes the clients need the object to look a certain way or function in a certain way and we ensure those aspects are integrated into the 3D model.

Can you talk a little bit about 3D printing?
One of the methods we use to validate a completed design is 3D printing. 3D printing has been around for 15 or so years now, but it has really come alive in the past 2 or 3 years through more robust technology. 3D printing builds a product in layers based on a CAD design. If you can imagine taking an everyday water bottle that stands about 8 inches high, through 3D printing technology we are able to print it in many paper-thin layers and evaluate if our design will work. One of the greatest benefits of 3D printing is that it allows us to test and evaluate product designs before they go to market.

Was there a moment when you knew that you wanted to become a 3D engineer? 
Being involved with the advances in the early stages of this industry was exciting and motivated me to continue down this pathway. Being able to see that designing a product or system was within my realm solidified my decision to further develop my knowledge to enter this industry and career path.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in your journey to becoming a 3D engineer?
Most of the technical classes that I took in college were challenging because I was never exposed to the areas that my peers had been exposed to for several years. My personal challenge was trying to keep pace with my peers and apply what I was learning to my educational projects, and eventually my daily career activities. Behind all technical activities lies the entrepreneurial aspect of my business. The main challenges are trying to position the business to provide the best possible service while monitoring any changes in the market that might affect our company business model. Keeping up with technology is always challenging as it changes rapidly and systems quickly become obsolete.

Was there a person who inspired or convinced you to get involved in your field? Who was he/she and how did he/she do it?
Initially, I was not inspired or convinced by anyone to get into the areas of entrepreneurship, engineering/design or manufacturing. Yet, throughout the years of my career, I have met many people and colleagues who have shared their vision of business and technology, which had a profound effect on me. I really believe those experiences positively impacted my decision to remain in the interdisciplinary field that I’m currently in.

To learn even more about Collin Kobayashi check out the STEM Works article about him, or contact him at info@3d-innovations.com.

3D Innovations- About Us (video)

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We have recently put together a brand new video about 3D Innovations and wanted to share it with our followers! Please take a moment to watch it and also share it with your friends and colleagues.

Thank you…Have a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!

3D Innovations is a full service 3D Engineering/Design company – from the 3D Design to a fully functional 3D Prototype & Product.

3D Innovations provides Engineering/Product Design, 3D CAD, Design Documentation, and 3D Printing/Rapid Prototyping services to support all of your design, prototyping, and manufacturing needs.

We support various Commercial and Government industries that include Industrial, Military, Construction, Medical, Manufacturing, Automotive, Mechanical Design, R&D, Inventors, and many more.