SolidWorks 2016 Bidirectional Sweep
There’s a new enhancement to the sweep function in SolidWorks 2016 that will allow you to create sweeps for a mid-path profile in either direction or bidirectional. In previous versions of SolidWorks, a profile had to sweep the entire length of the path, no matter the location of the profile sketch. This is no longer the case. Now mid-path profiles can be swept using direction 1, direction 2, or both directions. This simple part (below) contains both a profile and a path sketch. Go to Insert > Boss/Base > and select Sweep. In the Property Manager under Profile and Path, click Sketch Profile. And then, in the fly-out Feature Manager design tree, select a sketch for the profile and a sketch for the path. Select Bi-directional and click direction 1 and direction 2 to toggle the sweep display. For profile orientation, click Follow Path and accept the changes. This enhancement to creating sweeps will give you more control over the sweep behavior and more flexibility in your design method. Be sure to sign up for our 2 Minute Tuesday video series to receive tips and tricks like this one in video form every week. More info at the button below. More Info [...]
Artistic Visions and 3D Printing
Art and design have certainly benefited from the 3D printing world and its liberating capabilities. Artists with 3D printers have been producing some unique geometries, seemingly “impossible” shapes, and unprecedented combinations of color and materials for many years. The release of the new Stratasys J750 multicolor3D printer has opened up even more new doors in the artistic worlds. In this blog article we will showcase the work of one ground-breaking 3D artist named Jose Sanchez. “Polyomino” is the final stage of a two-year professional collaboration between Stratasys and Jose Sanchez, an architect, programmer and video game designer. This shape-shifting 3D printed structure can be reconfigured using magnets and recalls the building ethos of classic video games like Tetris. With more than 360,000 colors available for use on the Stratasys J750 3D Printer, Sanchez was able to allow the color to be the lead element of the piece. WOLFKIAM by Nick Ervnick is inspired by Mayan and Incan design. The intricacies in color and geometry in the sculpture were made possible by the new Stratasys J750 3D Printer. Photo credit: Yoram Reshef “The artwork uses color as a guideline to construction,” Sanchez said. “Consisting of only two different geometries, we explored the use of [...]
New 3D Technology
Magic Leap is an augmented reality headset developer that is working on technology that is a totally different concept from all the other AR and VR platforms that are out there. Magic Leap’s advisors, Boston-area serial entrepreneur Jon Hirschtick (most recently the founder of Cambridge 3D CAD software firm Onshape) stated, “When people say ‘Magic Leap’s 3D looks really better than others,’ they assume it’s better because it’s higher-resolution. Like how a new iPhone looks better than an old iPhone,” Hirschtick told me. “That’s not it. It’s not a higher-resolution thing. It’s a different concept for how it produces 3D.” The way Magic Leap produces images is by replicating “the way your eyes really work” by bending light fields – rather than by tricking the eye (using “stereoscopic” imaging) as other platforms do. With other projected 3D images, the 3D stops working when close one eye—though of course, you can still see 3D images in real life with one eye closed. That’s what Magic Leap has figured out how to do—which has been “an unbelievably ambitious project.” This technology works the way you normally see things. If you use the Magic Leap device and close one eye, and there’s a synthetic monster walking [...]
Stratasys Demonstrates Advantages of 3D Printing at 32nd Annual Space Symposium
The 32nd annual Space Symposium was recently held at the historic Broadmoor in Colorado Springs. New capabilities and markets are opening in the commercial space and there is renewed focus in the civil market – driving science and exploration to new heights. To achieve these lofty aims, there are new technologies being brought to bear – decreasing cost and increasing utility in the industry. 3D printing is one of the technologies supporting this period of aggressive innovation in aerospace. This is the second consecutive year that Stratasys has been invited by United Launch Alliance (ULA) to participate in their exhibit, and is also the first appearance for a Stratasys booth. In the year since the last Space Symposium, Stratasys has had the opportunity to highlight how ULA has adopted Stratasys FDM 3D printing solutions and ULTEM 9085 material in some very innovative ways. Dual presence with a Fortus 250 printing rocket models in the ULA booth, and a Fortus 450mc 3D Printer printing a light-weight camera mount in the Stratasys booth. Last year, ULA discussed how they undertook flight-qualifying 3D printed thermoplastic parts, and the millions of dollars they would save from consolidating parts and replacing aluminum with plastic. Flight qualification [...]
3D Printing and Fashion
Rapid prototyping offers solutions to engineering obstacles over a wide spectrum of industries. A business focusing on manufacturing new pharmaceutical devices, for example, is just one of the many sectors that we would typically expect to have been positively influenced by this cutting edge technology. Naturally, the public has been awestruck by these innovative printer and people are eager to get their hands on one – well, that is, if they can afford it. One group in particular showing an interest with this applied science is the fashion industry. Designers are utilizing 3D Printing technology to offer a unique and artistic twist to the already fashion-forward garments they create for their models. Is it possible that society is trending toward wearing 3D Printed items as part of their everyday attire? There are some designers out there looking to make a statement, both on and off the runway. Last Spring, Dutch fashion designer Iris van Herpen, had a 3D Printed dress featured during a fashion show in Paris. Van Herpen worked to create this icicle-like dress with the “Father of 3D Printing,” Chuck Hull. Hull invented the Stereolithography or “SLA” printing method, where thin layers of plastic are printed from bottom to top, and [...]
Stratasys Announces GrabCAD Print
Stratasys today unveiled a bold, new software strategy designed to make 3D printing significantly easier, more intuitive and highly accessible. The approach is powered by a new, open architecture “design-to-3D print” workflow application, GrabCAD Print* – residing on the popular GrabCAD SaaS platform and supported by a community of more than 3 million designers, engineers and students. GrabCAD Print is designed to make 3D printing fast and easy-to-use, while reducing errors by eliminating requirements to translate and repair CAD files. Product designers, engineers, and 3D printer operators can now send native CAD files to a Stratasys 3D Printer or service bureau directly from their familiar CAD environments. GrabCAD Print works with a variety of Stratasys FDM and PolyJet 3D Printers and can natively read several popular CAD formats from PTC Creo, Dassault Systèmes’ SOLIDWORKS, Siemens PLM Software’s NX software, CATIA and Autodesk Inventor. The application also facilitates data sharing related to job scheduling, print queue status, material usage and historical usage. All information is readily available via standard Web browsers, mobile applications or locally installed clients while securely managed through the GrabCAD Platform. “When we acquired GrabCAD two years ago, our vision was to provide a digital manufacturing backbone to support adoption of [...]