For me, it never gets old seeing a 3D model go from the computer to a physical prototype.

These were printed with DuraForm PA Plastic on an sPro SLS 3D printer. 3D Pro Parts, a subsidiary of 3D Systems, actually did the printing for us. They offer a good explanation about what actually happens when a 3D print is made using their SLS technology.

Transit
The winning transit model was this electric sailplane by Joseph Culbert. Here’s the render, and some photos of the 3d printed part. This print was so large that Jody designed it so that it could be assembled. Note that there was enough detail to print each of the pilot’s fingers.

Consumer products
The winning consumer products model was the Blackberry Peer by Felix Lorsignol. Again, here’s a render, as well as some photos of the printed part. Each of the parts fit nicely together in the assembly.

Beautiful models, and gorgeous prints. Thanks again to 3D Systems and 3D Pro Parts to providing this to the winners.

Head over to the T-Splines forum to check out other submissions and to give it a try yourself. This is a great model to practice your T-Splines skills on.

One reason is to get a completely accurate CAD representation of the physical object. Most objects are not exactly symmetrical, have imperfections, etc. Sometimes you want all that information represented in your CAD model. For instance, if you are making a custom after-market part that needs to mate to an existing physical object, you would want an accurate representation of that object.

Another reason is to reproduce in CAD the general shape of the physical object, but not care so much that the CAD file exactly represents the physical object. If this is your objective, you might assume symmetry of the object, or leave out imperfections or minor details. You might take this approach if you are going to manufacture a copy of the physical object and you have a loose tolerance, where the form and shape is more important than exactness.

A final reason is to use the scanned object as the starting point to explore a new form or variation. For example, you might scan a car hood, then use that data to make a new hood with a scoop in it.

In this webinar recorded on November 29, 2011, T-Splines user Sky Greenawalt introduces T-Splines 3.3 beta for Rhino, and shows how its new reverse engineering tools provide high quality, cost-effective solutions for each of these reasons.

Sky’s presentation is pretty expansive, ranging from discussions about shape and accuracy, to the nuts and bolts of how you actually run the commands.

Take a look at the webinar below. Your comments are welcome. You can also read the audience Q&A from the webinar.

T-Splines 3.3 is a free upgrade to anyone who has bought T-Splines v3 for Rhino.

In a free webinar on December 7, T-Splines user Kevin Pasko will show how T-Splines 3.3 for Rhino enhances the footwear modeling process.

T-Splines CAD assets can be easily reused and reshaped for different variations, and the unique push-pull T-Splines modeling approach enhances creativity.

Kevin will show how T-Splines can be used to create editable, digital lasts. He will also demonstrate the creation of the mid-sole and out-sole of an athletic shoe with T-Splines.

T-Splines models are unique in that the each part is watertight, unified surface that can be easily pushed and pulled to get different variations. T-Splines models convert to NURBS or meshes for downstream compatibility.

Though this webinar will be focused on the footwear industry, the design principles Kevin will use are general and applicable to many industries.

Register for the webinar now.

T-Splines 3.3 for Rhino introduces new tools to make it much easier to get a high quality surface from scanned data. Learn more by registering for a free webinar on Tuesday, November 29, 2011.

T-Splines user Sky Greenawalt will demonstrate how he used T-Splines 3.3 to reverse engineer a Cessna nose bowl using T-Splines to within a measured tolerance.

Developed by Gemvision, Matrix runs on the Rhino kernel, so you’ll be able to open files you’ve made in T-Splines for Rhino, in Matrix 7.

Rhino is a leading, general purpose software platform used by designers in many industries. Matrix harnesses Rhino into an easy-to-use interface designed specifically for jewelers, and adds specific jewelry-design tools. The professionalism and the level of quality that comes out of Gemvision is, in my view, the standard of quality in the jewelry software community.

It’s been a few years since we started hearing about Gemvision and Matrix from our users. Later, I started talking with Jeff High, the President and founder of Gemvision about how the products could be integrated. We’ve always viewed our greatest strength at T-Splines as being able to write a general purpose modeling tool, and have focused on core functionality instead of making specific tools for any one industry. We knew that our users could make unique, compelling jewelry designs with T-Splines, our product just wasn’t necessarily built to cater to jewelers.

Well, Jeff saw the vision, and Matrix 7 contains an excellent T-Splines tool set that will give jewelers the power to easily make unique, organic designs. Check out this video showing how T-Splines in Matrix 7 works.

There is one final reason that we are excited about having T-Splines in Matrix 7. Gemvision recently hired Travis Serio, one of the most talented T-Splines users we know, on their development team. Travis won the 2010 T-Splines Design Contest, and shortly thereafter was hired full-time by Gemvision. I joked with him the other day that winning the contest got him that job, and of course he had to point out that he had known the Gemvision team for years. Ok, so there’s that. But Travis is part of a lineup of training sessions Gemvision is putting on to introduce Matrix 7 and T-Splines to the Matrix community, and I’d highly recommend getting to one of those to add T-Splines skills to your digital modeling tool set.

We’ve received our first batch of jewelry prints from the contest from envisionTEC and they look great! I was very impressed with the smoothness and amount of fine detail that was able to be printed on these fine, small pieces.

These are all printed in PhotoSilver, a ceramic filled photopolymer material designed by envisionTEC to produce highly detailed parts with crisp features.

We’re sending them out to the designers this week. Look for yours in the mail!

This year, Daniel Hambleton from Halcrow will be presenting a piece modeled in T-Splines for Rhino from the Brian Jungen bench series, called “The ghosts on top of my head.”

The ghosts on top of my head (2010–11) is a series of public sculptures by renowned Vancouver-based artist Brian Jungen commissioned for Canada Plaza. It is comprised of three white powder-coated steel benches, each assuming the shape of a different antler: elk, moose and caribou. The ghosts on top of my head reference Harry Bertoia’s famous modernist furniture, and are illustrative of Jungen’s characteristically meticulous craftsmanship and profound study of design.
They were modelled entirely with Rhino 4.0 and T-Splines for Rhino.

His gallery thread has turned into the most prolific on our forum, with 161 posts and over 12000 views, and is filled with dozens of jewelry pieces that are distinctively organic.

On Friday, October 28, 2011 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM EDT, Chris will present at a free T-Splines webinar, “How T-Splines changed my approach to making jewelry in CAD.”

There are still spots available — register now for this free webinar. You won’t want to miss this chance to get candid insights from a T-Splines pro about how he uses T-Splines in his design process.

Jewelry by Chris Botha


Jewelry by Chris Botha

“T-Splines will change the PD process. Learn the software now, or your competitors will, making your CAD skills obsolete.”

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