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One of our most popular webinars ever, last week's episode on Rhino left us with lots of unanswered questions once time ran out. Here Maia Merav Holtzman, from Design Rhino, and Pascal Golay, from McNeel, pick up exactly from where they left off.
Q: Can you render with a clipping plane so you just render what you see with the clipping plane?
A: Yes, with Rhino's renderer and some others, like Brazil. Flamingo nXt now recognizes clipping planes as well.
Q: Is there a way to quantify the angle when you create a taper (by scaling a sub object) like that?
A: Not with the gumball, ExtrudeCrvTapered for an exact angle.
Q: Can you position the gumball in a specific location on an object - like the end of a curve or corner of an object?
A: RelocateGumball command is the easy way. This is a command you can type at the command line, or put on a button etc. This allows the location as well as the orientation to be set. In addition, you can adjust the gumball by first holding Alt and then changing the gumball control (its center point) location or scale handles, rotation handles or axis handles. With Alt down first, these changes will affect the gumball widget only and not the geometry the gumball is attached to. Object snaps are allowed.
Q: Will we ever get stones to work with in V5 for those of us in the jewelry industry? Gemstones like in Matrix?
A: It’s possible that Matrix hasn’t released a version that’s fully compatible with V5 yet. I imagine that they will soon, but in the interim I’d be happy to send you stones, and there is a downloadable library of them available at here.
Q: Will a V-Ray 2.0 ever be released for Rhino 5? If not I'll be forced to leave Rhino and I do not want to do that.
A: Presumably yes, but Chaos Group will have the definitive answer to that.
Q: Can you scale at all with the gumball? I don't see how?
A: The small squares on the gumball are scale handles. You can click and drag to scale in one axis, hold Shift while doing this to scale 3d and click on a handle and type a scale factor as well (1D only).
Q: Can you add your own environment in the V5 library? Like having our own library within Rhino?
A: Yes, you can create environments from the Environments panel, and save these as files to disk to make them available in any Rhino file. See also the Libraries panel.
Q: Is it possible to scale with the gumball to a specific height or length?
A: No. Only proportion can be entered by typing, not desired size. Use the traditional scaling commands with distance constraints to scale to a dimension.
Q: Patch command seems to have changed a bit in V5.
A: We would need more info to answer this question.
Q: I'm having a weird thing happen that may be related to the clipping plane ... occasionally a shaded model disappears along a moving plane when I am using the mouse ... seemingly moving away and towards me ... that must be some function I am not familiar with. I have to save the model and reopen to get it to stop ... help?
A: Not sure I understand, but please send a model and details to: tech@mcneel.com.
Q: I think when you lift control points it can look harsh, [what if] you want to elevate a point slightly?
A: Use the Gumball and set GumballDragStrength to say, 50%.
Q: What are her settings to get the updates [to a polysurface being edited using sub object selection] to happen. Or how would you disable those updates to the sub objects
A: If the object being edited is a sub object then the rest of the object updates- no history involved.
Q: On the TweenCrvs command is there a way to get it to make multiple curves based on distance between curves rather than a set number of curves?
A: Sorry, no, only the number, evenly distributed between the inputs.
Q: Where can I find a tutorial on making complex surfaces with 5 edge curves (I've seen a car fender tutorial somewhere??)
A: I'll need to hunt around but this might help. If you’re still interested.
Q: When using the display options, e.g. tech or chalkboard, may the resolution be set for higher dpi printing over screen resolution? Thanks
A: Use -ViewCaptureToFile, with a dash in front, like this _-ViewCapturetoFile. You'll see that you can set the resolution as needed.
Q: When using the clipping plain can the plain be made invisible to make a screen capture without seeing the plain?
A: The plane is infinite, so you can move the 'widget' out of the way, or just hide it.
Q: You mentioned easily converting meshes to NURBS - can you explain further.
A: This, as an automatic process, is only practical for relatively simple and planar-ish objects using MeshToNURBS. Otherwise, a full reverse engineering process is needed, using the mesh as a reference for new curves and surfaces. There are plug-ins that can help on the Rhino resources page - look for "reverse engineering".
Q: What are your favorite work flows for jewelry design in Rhino?
A: I always work with a caliper for measuring, and like to have my dimensions sketched out in advance. Generally, I will draw my design by hand and import that or an image that I want to work with using the PictureFrame command. Then I will start to build, using that image as a reference point. I do a lot of surfacing commands: sweeps and revolves and lofts, and a lot of reductive modeling using BooleanDifference. Filleting is part of every single piece I’ve ever created. I am always careful to create a watertight model, checking edges as I go even when I plan only to render the model, because I consider it important to build a piece that is cleanly and carefully made, no matter the final use. For more on this, check out our 3D Jewelry Design Google Hangout.
Q: Which do you prefer to use for jewelry design Rhino or Rhino Gold?
A: I prefer Rhino.
Q: Is Rhino 5 capable of 3D printing or casting machines for jewelry, and if yes how easy can it be set up in Rhino 5. Thanks
A: Rhino can export to 3D printing formats. It does require careful modeling to get good, closed, printable objects.
Q: Can the clipping plane be a curved or complex surface, i.e. not a plane?
Q: Is there a way of changing the background in the Artistic Display mode?
A: You need to make a copy of the mode- the built-in one is hard coded.
Q: The back of a surface does not have a different color when I am in shaded mode.
A: You need to set that up in the display mode controls- it is not on by default. Go to Tools>Options>View>Display Modes, choose whichever display mode you'd like, and look for Backface Settings.
Q: Can clipping plane also cut a cross section if wanted?
A: No, not by itself- SectionTools can help, see here.
Q: Will RhinoGold 4 work with Rhino 5?
A. I have heard that it will.
Q: Can you extract cross sections with the clipping plane?
A: Not directly, but this is possible with a script. Look here for ClippingPlaneCurves. Instructions for installing and running the scripts are at the top of the page. IntersectPlane may also be of interest.
Q: Will clipping plane work with the intersect command?
A: Not directly but a script can help: see above. Also, you can always snap to an end of the clipping plane to create a planar surface at the exact same height that can be used for Intersect.
Q: Does the clipping plane work with mesh surfaces?
A: Meshes are clipped, yes.
Q: Do we have smooth options with control points? If we move one we can influence on other points.
A: SoftMove is the best we have for this currently.
Q: Is there a way to print with hidden lines (not as bitmap or screen grab). The Make2d option is way too slow for very complex scenes.
A: Use the Technical display mode
Q: Thanks but using the print command and in vector mode doesn't show the object in technical display mode, only as raster mode.
A: Set up a Layout with a detail in technical.
Q: Yes but how do you print not just display it ... Hidden lines can be hidden
A: You can turn off hidden lines in the technical mode. Also see the Pen mode
Q: Thanks I'll experiment using a layout
Q: Can she give the url for her site? Some people may not know.
A: To learn more about Maia's work, visit her website at Design Rhino.
Would you like to learn more about Jewelry Design and 3D printing? Join us for our upcoming Google Hangout on Air!
In the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas? Contact Maia directly to learn more about her classes!
Curious about our upcoming webinars? Check out the list here!
I discovered James Coleman's work on Twitter and invited him to talk about being a student in England and becoming a certified instructor of Maxwell Render. Little did I know James had needed all his determination to study and work while battling a rare disease.
Novedge: Tell us about yourself and
what you do.
James Coleman: I am a student of
product design, currently in my last year at the University of
Brighton. I also teach fellow students at the University and I have my own YouTube channel with tutorials on Maxwell Render.
I studied physics, electronics and
maths (pure & mechanics) at college when I was 17, and chose to study mechanical engineering in university. Then something
happened that would, for better or worse, shape the rest of my
education forever. In 2007 it was discovered that I had a condition
called chronic hypersensitivity that affects 300,000 in the
UK, and the root cause is still unknown, as is a cure. The recovery
period is approximately half the patient's age, in other words, I
still have 5 years of recovery ahead of me, but at least I now have a
diagnosis and I am receiving treatment.
Once I found out about my condition, I
started to use my spare time to make 3D models of spaceships in
SketchUp and decided to change my course to Product Design Bsc.
Novedge: How did you get into
teaching?
James Coleman: Whilst in my
second year, my renders kept garnering attention, and I started
showing groups of students how I made them. Then I
setup some lectures in the afternoon. The first was hugely successful
and I became the official Maxwell Render Mentor at the University of
Brighton Center for Design Technology. When Next Limit announced their
certification program I signed up immediately!
In the summer of 2012, I set up my
Youtube channel and started recording basic tutorials, things like
resolution and focal length, with the occasional overview of certain
setup techniques. I also upload tutorials based on the questions
my students asked me most frequently.
Then one day I was looking for
inspiration for a new tutorial and I saw that VizPeople had released
a free model of a DeLorean DMC12, which has always been one of my
favourite cars. By coincidence, Maground had also recently released a free HDRI
set with environment and backplates on hdri4u.com. I decided to
strike while the iron was hot, and I made a series of tutorials
involving setting up the model and then rendering it in a variety of
different environments.
The DeLorean Series got the attention
of cadjunkie.com, which I was already a fan of. I ended up producing
10 free and 6 premium tutorials for them, Studio Lighting
Techniques In Maxwell Render. The series went on to great acclaim, and like the DeLorean tutorial, continues
to be one of the most popular videos on my channel.
Currently I am working on the tutorial
series’ Maxwell Render Hot Tips and What Not To Render. There’s currently a new video in each playlist every week and
there will be until April.
Novedge: Your university didn't have instructors to teach you how to render using Maxwell Render. How did you learn?
James Coleman: I learned by doing: I spent my time using the program, looking for answers in online forums and watching online tutorials.
Novedge:
What software do you use?
James Coleman: I started out with SketchUp all those
years ago for one very simple reason: it was free. I can’t remember
exactly where I first heard about it, but I do remember using it with
friends and learning from each other. It was also really helpful that
SketchUp didn’t have high system requirements, the
interface and the “sketchy” style made it approachable, and
although it was designed for architecture, we used it for whatever we
liked.
After I became frustrated with the
limited modeling tools in SketchUp, I started searching for a more
advanced alternatives. 3ds Max has a huge
reputation on the web, but is only available on Windows, and I use a
Mac. I heard about Cinema 4D and downloaded the demo. I loved it’s
interface and I understood the basics almost immediately. The
tutorials available online were extensive and it wasn’t difficult
to find an answer to a problem. I decided to keep it and I’ve never
regretted it. I still use it today when making quick drafts, but I
wouldn’t recommend it to anyone starting out in product design, but
plenty of other students on my course use it for animations, and for
times when they need to make a model quickly and easily. 3ds Max is
also popular with Windows users as an alternative to CAD centric
software.
The CAD
software we use at the
university is less a matter of choice and more a matter of logic.
SolidWorks is practically a requirement on CVs at the moment. Rhino is
also available. When I started the course, I found Rhino to be more
similar to Cinema 4D and
hence I preferred it at the time. But now that I’ve used both for
years, I always open SolidWorks before Rhino when I need to make
a prototype, even for models with complex curves.
When I first became interested in
photorealistic rendering, V-Ray was very
appealing to me, but once I actually had V-Ray for Cinema 4D, I realized that I didn’t want to
spend a lot of time adjusting settings, I wanted to spend more time
designing and modeling. A few internet searches later and I found
Maxwell Render. When I
first tried it, it was still version 1, and it won
me over in terms of ease of use and quality. One of the first images
I ever made showed the model casting a shadow on the floor, when the
only lighting in the scene was an HDRI. I’d never seen that before and it was enough to make a lasting
impression. I dabbled between Cinema 4D’s own render engine, V-Ray
and Maxwell Render for a while, but when Maxwell Render 2 was released I didn’t
look back. For me it still delivers fantastic results, whether the
image is complicated or simple, very easily.
And something I wish someone had told
me when I started: whenever you see a render that really impresses you,
10-25% of all the work that went into making that image came from
Photoshop, which is why it is also another vital tool in my arsenal
of software. Alien Skin Exposure is a plug-in for Photoshop that I couldn’t work without, it
mimics the effect of certain types of photographic film, but with a
lot more control and subtlety than Instagram.
Novedge:
What is a recent project that you worked on?
James Coleman: The most surprising thing about my
product design course is that we focus on teaching communication,
technology, professionalism, history, etc. It’s a doctrine that
actually I agree with. Not just because it follows Dieter Rams’
principles, but also because we have the rest of our lives to design,
so we might as well use the time now to make sure we know how to do
it right, and then later on we can be eccentric if we like. Very
often in product design, designers can get too caught up in the
aesthetics of a product and forget about ergonomics, engineering, or
any other topic. That’s not what’s taught in Brighton, and that's
what makes it stand out from other, more “arts” based courses.
One project I enjoyed was making a
“Revolutionary” product, with the tag-line of “It doesn’t
look like a “X”, but it does what a “X” does”. I was
inspired by one of my favorite ideas in product design, “the new
application of an existing technology”, and because we were so
pressured to design something that would be completely revolutionary,
I decided to include some technologies that were theoretically
possible but not available yet. I based the project on audio
loudspeakers, because the technology in them hasn’t really changed
for nearly 150 years, they’re still as electrodynamic as they were
when they were first invented. The end result is the Levitating Superconducting Speakers concept.
After starting to use Maxwell Render 2, one of
my projects was to identify a product which exhibited evolutionary
design, and to continue that design onto its next generation. For my
project I chose the Kodak Brownie, despite being out of production
since the 1970’s, its design when it was discontinued was very
similar to when it was originally conceived at the beginning of the
century. Kodak would often make special edition cameras for
major events and I immediately themed the project around the upcoming
London 2012 Olympic Games. The project was small and it only took a
few weeks to complete, but it went on to be featured on Yanko Design,
and after that it was very popular on the web, I still see the
occasional tweet about it! I put the amount of public
interest in the project down to the quality of the renders. I
approached Kodak to see if they would be interested in taking the
project further, and although they weren’t interested at the time,
they invited me to contact them about employment upon my graduation.
Novedge:
What innovations do you see in your field (now or in the future)?
James Coleman: I think predicting the future has never
really involved specific technologies, but instead looking at habits,
lifestyles and routines, and then the technology is left to catch up.
Touch screen technology, for example, was mostly a gimmick that had
little real world value, until you could touch simultaneously in more
than one place at once, and it was applied to a mobile phone. In
hindsight it seems obvious that that’s how it should be used. So
predicting specific technologies that will be developed, find a
niche, and become cheap enough to be in common use, is much more
difficult than imagining overall work flows and customs. My
Levitating Speakers involved several different technologies that are
not commonplace yet, or do not exist at all, including
superdiamagnetic levitation, wireless power transfer, and flexible
screens. It is certain that these technologies will develop over
time, in fact when the project was completed, wireless speakers were
still revolutionary, but now AirPlay is commonplace. The question is,
will there be a benefit to having Levitating Speakers?
3D printing has got a lot of press
lately regarding its potential. I agree that one day we may have 3D
printers in every home, and in one end you would put waste, and then
products, food and other luxuries will come tumbling out of the
other. I think that one day, we will have “Star Trek” style
replicators, powered by electricity which will probably come from
fusion reactors. But not within my lifetime. At the moment, 3D
printing and rapid prototyping often seem limited to making spare
components when objects break. Even then they have to come from 3D
files made by a professional. Consumers will want to be able to print
complete objects, like kettles, laptops or phones. Even though 3D
printers which are capable of making multi-coloured objects, and
printing multiple components connected together have existed for some
time, as someone who has worked with 3D printers for many years, I
think we still have some way to go. But when we are there, they will
change the world in ways which no one has yet imagined, and copyright
and piracy laws will once again be brought into question.
In my particular area of interest
(medical design), there are plenty of issues which are commonplace
and well known. Drug resistant infections, obesity related
complications, and aging population are the three problems
which I expect to encounter in my design career. In much less than a
century, certain bacteria have evolved to become almost immune to
many typical antibiotics. If this trend continues, product design
will have to play a major role in increasing the hygiene of hospital
environments. Anti-microbial materials such as copper are already
seeing a comeback, and although cloth bedsheets interwoven with
silver (again for its anti-microbial properties) is a hugely
expensive concept at present, if it becomes cheaper than treating
patients, it will become a reality.
Despite being prepared for these
trends, I don’t think there is anything that can or will prepare me
for the problem of ageing population. There are practical, medical,
and ethical issues where product design will be called upon to help.
These issues are nothing new, but will be exaggerated in the future.
With higher demand, and larger markets, products specifically for the
elderly will become more commonplace, and inclusive design will have
more influence over everyone. This effect is visible now, for example
with non-step access to buildings being a legal requirement, and this
trend shows no sign of stopping.
Novedge:
What are your plans after graduation?
James Coleman: My ideal job would be a product
designer at a company specializing in the medical industry. My
overall impression of the purpose of product design is to make our
lives more efficient, where is that more important than when well
being, potentially lives, are at stake? Medical staff are often
overworked and underpaid, and then they have to use equipment made by
the lowest bidder. Then this equipment will not be updated unless it
breaks or is recalled (the standard that dictates the design of an IV
drip stand is nearly 50 years old, and has never been updated). And
with humans living longer and getting fatter, the market is just
going to get bigger (some pun intended).
My family is a big reason I feel this
way. Three generations have in some way or another worked in the
medical industry. I’m not brave enough to be on the front line like
they are, but I wouldn’t mind sitting back at a comfortable
distance and making the equipment that they use everyday a little bit
more efficient.
Most of
all, though, I’m going to recover from the condition that has practically
dictated my life for the past 5 years. It’ll take another 5 years
to be completely rid of it, but I’m looking forward to being able
to walk to places without running the risk of being housebound the
next day. I’m looking forward to working to improve the services
that have served me for so long.
I recently had the pleasure of talking to Chris Anderson over the phone, for Novedge's series of interviews with artists and innovators. I am a big fan of Chris's books and Novedge fits perfectly in his Long Tail business model . For those of you not familiar with Anderson, he is a writer and the founder and chairman of 3DRobotics, a robotic manufacturing company. He was also the editor of Wired from 2001 to 2012.
Novedge: I'm a huge fan of your
books and really enjoyed Makers. My first question for you is: How would you define yourself? You're an
entrepreneur, you're a writer. How do you describe what you do and
who you are professionally?
Chris Anderson: I try to avoid that question (laughter) I do a lot of
things. I try not to come up with any single label. I'm a CEO. I'm
a boss
Novedge: One thing I'm curious about is how
you became passionate about writing about trends and the future. What lead you to it?
Chris Anderson: I have been very lucky to be
around people who were kind of doing the same thing. I was lucky to
grow up with a family who encouraged kids to be thoughtful about
where this is going and where you should go, and to be exposed to a kind of
analytical culture in my family. Then I was lucky to work in places that
encouraged that first at Nature and Science and then at Wired. Wired is a publication very much about ideas and trends, from science to future technology.
Novedge: How did you first come into contact with 3D
printing?
Chris Anderson: I heard about Makerbot and I happened to be in New York shortly after they started.
I asked to get a tour, went to Brooklyn
and walked through the facilities. I ended up buying their 3D printer on the
spot. I bought #380 and that was mind blowing. I put it
together and it didn't really work very well but the next one I got
worked great. And the rest is history.
Novedge: What's the favorite thing that you
printed on your Makerbot?
Chris Anderson: I wrote about it in Makers. We printed a lot of
things but the thing I actually like the most was furniture, you know,
items that I do with my daughters. The things I design myself are
pretty cool but I'm not a very good designer, so the things that we
download from Thingiverse and print out, those are the ones that print so well. So,
yeah, I like the furniture the best.
Novedge: Let's talk about how hard it is
to use the printer and the software. Do you see regular people
learning how to use the software or do you see more people downloading the designs and
printing them at home? How hard do you think it is to use this
technology, if you don't already work in a tech field?
Chris Anderson: It used to be very hard and now
it's getting incredibly easy. So now my children do this. They
don't need me anymore. They use Tinkercad on the web, which is super
easy for kids, but also very powerful. So,
by and large, it's not really any harder for them that using Word
software and printing paper. It seems very natural to them. Again,
three years ago this was super hard but now it's literally like regular printing.
Novedge: Apart from Tinkercad, is there any
other software that you would recommend or that you
love to use?
Chris Anderson: It really depends on how
sophisticated you want to get. The kids use Tinkercad and I actually
prefer it for most of my stuff. When I want to get a little
more complex, I switch to Autodesk 123D and then in the office,
professionally, we use AutoDesk Inventor.
Novedge: There are companies out
there, like Shapeways, where you can get a design or you can order
something already 3D printed. Is there one you like the best? Do you wish they
did something different?
Chris Anderson: We use Shapeways all the time. About every week
we send them something. What we use Shapeways for is the
material that we can't touch at home, like metals. Shapeways's printing service is very easy to use, but it takes quite a long
time, it can take a month for something to arrive. Ideally it's a
little bit less than that. So you have to wait. But when it shows
up, it's absolutely beautiful. We actually don't use designs that are already on Shapeways.
I don't know why but we don't. We tend to use or create our own
designs or download them from Thingiverse and then send them to
Shapeways.
Novedge: What do you like the most about Thingiverse?
Chris Anderson: I just love the variety. My
favorite designer there goes by the name of Pretty Small Things. She's a theatrical set designer on Broadway but
as well as designing sets she puts these designs on Thingiverse and
they're beautiful. So yeah, I just like the variety, I like the
creativity. It's just there's always something new and cool there.
Novedge: I read your book Makers and you talk about being an inventor vs. being an entrepreneur, how
before it was hard to be an inventor and an entrepreneur and now
things have become a little bit easier.
Chris Anderson: The process to go from invention to
market is a two-part step. The first was to go from idea to
prototype, and that used to require skills, machine skills,
manufacturing skills, fabrication skills. And the second was to go from prototype to production and
that required understanding, having access to mass production
capacities and all of that. Both of those have now gotten much, much
easier. Obviously a 3D printer is a great way to go from idea to
prototype and likewise for a laser cutter or any of
these technologies. So you don't need machine skills to go from idea
to prototype. And then to go
from prototype to production is increasingly easy as well because of
so-called cloud manufacturing. Those same files that you design on
screen and send to your 3D printer, you can upload online. Manufacturing companies will take those files
and mass produce products for you any way that you want. It's
sometimes a little more complicated than that, depending on the
product. But fundamentally, regular people have access to both prototyping and manufacturing, which was not the case when my grandfather was inventing
things.
Novedge: Are we all
entrepreneurs? Are we all inventors?
Chris Anderson: No, no, I don't think so. And that's fine.
I think we are all creators in some way, but I don't think
it's necessarily in everyone to become an entrepreneur. I think that
one percent of people could design and innovate and everybody could start playing with their creations.
Let's say most people do nothing but print other people's designs or
distribute them, or customize them.
Let's say most people do nothing creative with it: but one percent do
have their own ideas or do invent something, or innovate. And let's
say one percent of them decide they want to become an entrepreneur.
That's one out of a thousand.
Would you say that that's a failure?
You know, only one out of every thousand of these people becomes an
entrepreneur. There
are 300 million people in this country - that's when you realize that 0.1 percent
is a very large number. It means you've got thousands or tens of
thousands of new entrepreneurs, new manufacturers, new product
categories, new products themselves that are entering the market that
wouldn't have existed otherwise. And that feels very much like the
Web, which basically gave everybody the power to publish and, you
know, lots of people did nothing more than update their Facebook page
but some people created Facebook. The lesson of the
web is that the most innovative ideas, the most energetic
entrepreneurs, typically come from outside the traditional industry.
This is the first time that has been allowed to extend to
manufacturing as well.
Novedge: I like the comparison that you made
between the internet and 3D printing, this revolution in
manufacturing. What are the
advantages of actually having more people
participate in making products? What are the benefits to society?
Chris Anderson: What we're talking about is
what is called democratization. Personal computers
democratized computing, the internet democratized communications and
now we're democratizing manufacturing. Any time you democratize,
you're basically bringing more diversity, more people, more ideas,
more contexts to development. What you find is that
typically most people are "amateurs", they're not
professionally trained and they don't have credentials, they don't
have work experience, they don't work for companies that are in the
space. And yet, when you look at everything exciting on the web it was
all created by people who were initially amateurs. When you look at
the biggest web companies today, they were all started by
people in colleges, more or less. And they weren't
working for IBM when they created these products. They were working
for themselves, or maybe not working at all. They were students or
they were just users and they had ideas. Now, maybe they were only
one out of a thousand or whatever, just a tiny fraction of people
have those skills, but because democratization increases the
pool of participants so hugely, that small fraction of geniuses
creates a huge new pool of talent that wouldn't otherwise have been
tapped. So it's simply that geniuses are hard to find. Great
ideas are hard to predict, and the best way to do it is to increase
the pool of participation so much that the geniuses will emerge.
Novedge: Would you say that it also
equalizes the playing field a little bit? We are removing barriers to education and access to capital.
Chris Anderson: Yeah, very much. I think
the combination of these tools and these web services and sites like
Kickstarter, which brings access to capital to everybody with a good
idea, are all leveling the playing field and lowering the
barriers to entry. That's exactly what the web and open source software did and it works. Every important trend in technology over the last
three decades has been essentially to lower the barrier to entry to
participate. Some of the barriers were
cost, some of the barriers were permission, some of the barriers were
complexity, some of the barriers were community. As all of those
things fall, people suddenly start doing
stuff. They start acting. They start creating products and
companies. People think that technology is important. Technology is not important. What's important is participation. When technologies work it is
because they make it easier for people to participate. And I don't
have to predict this any more. It's 2013. We are 40 years into the
personal computer era. We are 20 years into the internet era. We
are seeing what's happening and this is just the next chapter in that
story.
Novedge: Companies are starting
to hire differently, they're starting to have a different culture
inside. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Chris Anderson:3DRobotics is an open source community and also a company and
so we are a traditional company in one respect, where we have
employees who have roles and responsibilities and we create products. But we are also a community in the sense that we have an open
platform that allows tens of thousands of people to participate and
volunteer and create. Traditional companies do it all themselves and
we share the function between professionals and amateurs, between
employees and amateurs and engineers, between the closed and the open. So that's
my company, that's the way we're structured. I wouldn't say that all
companies should be structured that way. I'm sure most companies
aren't structured this way but it is certainly one of the lessons
from the open source movement that this sort of cross sourcing in a
process can create the kind of sophisticated product that people
thought could only be created by traditional companies. Turns out
that a well-constructed community can be a powerful innovation
driver. That's something I think all companies need to pay attention
to, but it might not be appropriate for everybody.
Novedge: How different is it now to finance your project? Can you say something about Kickstarter and the impact it is having on the industry?
Chris Anderson: I think Kickstarter is really the
final element that completes the industrial revolution of the maker movement. It lowers the last barrier, which is the access
to capital. It does three miraculous things. The first is that it
moves money forward in time. It moves money from the end of the
process, when people buy a product, to the beginning of the process,
when you actually need to invest in R&D and production tooling. So simply the act of taking presales and getting the
customers to fund the product is terrific because the
customers are ultimately the decider of whether it will be a success. The second thing it does is that it builds a community around the
product so that lots of people pre-order something and they become
invested in the success of the product. They want to promote it, by
social media or otherwise, and they want to participate in its design
and give feedback.The community is a very important marketing
tool, to say nothing of a feedback tool, and using that tool improves
the product before it comes to market. And finally, Kickstarter does market
research. If the product fails on Kickstarter it probably wouldn't
have survived in the market. Move on to something else. In a sense
it "de-risks" a product. That's one of the hardest things to do in
traditional industries and it's what Kickstarter was designed to do.
Anybody can do it. And I think that's the last barrier. A bunch of
other sites are doing the same thing and it's not perfect. We are seeing that some people are realistic about what it takes to
get a product from prototype to production, and some aren't. But by and large it is less
risky than traditional startups. So, I'm really enthusiastic about it.
Novedge: In Makers, you talk about the "happiness economy". You write that basically, once we achieve a certain standard of living, we are not motivated by
more money necessarily, we look for more meaning.
Chris Anderson: I did talk about that. That's not
my specialty. There are many other people who know way more about it
than I do, but when I look at communities where the participation is open like our
own, they are rarely driven by money. They are mostly driven by
passion, by what we call scratching your own itch.
Paychecks ? That's great but it turns out people are doing amazing things as
volunteers, driven by passion. And what you give them is a platform and opportunity to act
on that. To take the passion and turn it into something that's
shared, something that's a tribute to something bigger than
themselves and inspire other people to follow their path. My
previous book Free was all about that, about the non monetary
economy. Meaning is another word, passion is another word. Connection. These
are all forces that
drive us to do things and when you think about it, most of our
interactions with people are not done for money. Most of what we do is driven by non-monetary forces and to be
able to turn those powerful social forces into an economic force
just by harnessing passion, that's the opportunity here. So I think that
the more control we have over our lives, the happier we are. That's
kind of the big lessons. Fundamentally what people want is a sense
of knowledge and meaning and certainty and all the things that come
with it. To the extent that we can extend that to the products all around us, the sense that we can be more involved in
their creation and use, the happier we are. Take food for example: wanting to have a connection to something as important as the food
you eat makes you less of a passive consumer and more of an
active participant . When you look at the people who are going to
Farmer's Markets and buying local, there's a reason why what they want to
know about the origins of these products. They want to have a connection to
the community. They want to feel that there's more than just a product
they're consuming, that there's a movement they're supporting or a
story that they believe in or a value that they share. And that relationship with our goods is something that you are seeing across
the board. It's just one of those things that emerges out of
developed economies and I think that we now have the potential to take
that beyond food and textiles to more sophisticated
manufacturing goods around.
Novedge: Do you think the same will happen in manufacturing?
Chris Anderson: Yeah, I'm speaking to you in my
office in Berkeley, which is next to a furniture design company, called Swerve. We're here in
California but California is not a low cost labour market. And yet,
they're making furniture. How do they keep on making furniture? The reason
that people buy it, and pay more for this furniture, is that they
feel that it's a superior design. And the reason they feel it is a
superior design is that they see the designers. They talk to the creatives. They
understand the process and they value the culture that this design
came from, because it's their culture. It's shared.
Novedge: I have one last question. What advice would you give our readers about moving forward with the
democratization of manufacturing?
Chris Anderson: It's hard for me to give advice to your readers because they already know a lot of this stuff. My
breakthrough was not so much doing it myself but doing it with
my children. When we brought a 3D printer home and started showing
the children how it worked and using the tools, their own creativity
emerged and that really encouraged me: if children
could do it, anybody could do it. A lot of your readers probably have
3D printers at work. I would encourage them to consider a 3D printer
at home. If they have children, a child
growing up in a house with a 3D printer is a child that can imagine something and then can make it for real. And that's a powerful lesson.
Some of them are going to become the adults who are the designers of
tomorrow. It's an inspiration that my generation grew up with a home
computer and we created, you know that generation created our web.
This generation may grow up with a 3D printer and this generation can
create the new industrial revolution
To learn more about Chris Anderson, visits DIY Drones and keep in touch with him on Twitter.
Makers by Chris Anderson is Novedge's Book of the Month.
I discovered Tips for Architecture School, while looking for great blogs to follow on Tumblr. Mark Perrett has built a great resource for anyone currently studying architecture or planning to do so. His blog is also a useful reminder of what it means to start on this path and how much things have changed. Here's what he shared with us.
Novedge: Tell us about yourself and your blog Tips for Architecture School. How did it start and why?
Mark Perrett: I started Tips for Architecture School out of pure necessity. My love for teaching pushed me to become a graduate teaching assistant at my university and my first day with the class was not what I expected. I knew I would be helping people with their designs, and teaching them new methods of drawing and construction they had never seen before, but I did not expect there to be so many questions about even the most basic things like what kind of glue to buy and what pencils to use. I began writing every question the students asked in my sketchbook and when I gave the class an answer, I would fill it in next to the question. After the first two weeks, my sketchbook was almost full with words, phrases, quotes, and questions answered from all my students. I showed it to a friend of mine and he, almost as a joke, said “You should save some paper and write a blog.” So I did. :)
Novedge: What inspires you?
Mark Perrett: I’m 26 now, but I died at age 5. When I was younger, I was thrown off of a horse and trampled. I was rushed to the E.R. and became clinically dead for a few seconds before the doctors got to work. After a year, I completely recovered.
The older I get, the more I can’t help but think that I got a second chance to take advantage of life, and so inspiration comes in abundance. Over time, I have tried to develop a filter for greatness. I look at the world around me and sift through to find the good in everything. If I had to choose one person in particular who inspires me the most it would be my mother. She was, and still is, a great role model for me. Growing up, we lived a modest life, and didn’t really have much, but she taught me how to be positive, innovative, intuitive, and imaginative under any circumstances. This encouraged a fascination with learning and how things work in life in general.
When I got older, I marched in marching band and also toured all over the country for four seasons with a Drum and Bugle Corps. Still to this day most of my mentors, values, and work ethic come from all of my years with music. It is funny when my musician friends read my architecture school blog because they can point out the principles I learned from music as they read each post. Especially as I come close to graduating with my Master’s degree and entering the “Real World”, the need for inspiration and encouragement is growing by the day. Whenever I am feeling inadequate, or that the work I am doing is not sending me in the right direction, I have a few key players in my box of inspiration. And for the record, everybody should have a box of inspiration.
Novedge: What have you learned by writing your blog and answering questions from students?
Mark Perrett: This blog has taught me not only a lot about others, but a lot about myself. In fact, Iwrite every post as if I am addressing myself from the past, which keeps me honest. It is almost like I am going back in time and sharing all of the secrets to life I have learned through experience, but instead of talking to myself, I am talking to the prospective students within my field. That is what teaching is, in a way, a real-time form of time travel. I am in the present, passing on my knowledge from the past, to help people in the future.
Originally this blog was meant to be a place for my intro students to go and read the tips I was writing for them, but the blog started becoming more popular within the Tumblr community and people from around the world began to follow. The questions started pouring in from Singapore, Serbia, Australia, France, Iran, England, The Philippines, and much more. It was surprising to see that I could answer a question from one student and it was beneficial for thousands of other students around the world. It's not just architecture students either. The information can be applied across many platforms of design and life in general. In fact, I believe that application is the most important attribute to all education. Being able to take what you have learned from one genre and apply it to everything else you do in life is a key trait in maxing out your current knowledge to its full potential.
Novedge: What software do you use? What software do you recommend to architecture students?
Mark Perrett: Software is undoubtedly one of the most integral parts of an architect’s education. Through school I have learned and used the following programs: AutoCAD, Adobe Photoshop, Rhino, Grasshopper, Revit, Adobe Illustrator, Google SketchUp, V-Ray for SketchUP and Adobe Dreamweaver.There are many more programs out there like Kerythea and Adobe Lightroom that I seeused a lot, but If I had to pick three programs to prepare you for architecture school they would be AutoCAD, Photoshop, and SketchUP. Here is why:
AutoCAD is one of the most widely used in the industry, but it is so much more than just a software for making clean plans and sections. I use AutoCAD with our laser cutters and CNC Router to build accurate 3D models and prototypes. Another great feature is the 3D modeling capabilities to create high quality 3D graphics. If you are getting into the field of architecture, you will need to be able to use this program.
Adobe Photoshop is a great equalizer. You don’t have to be a wizard of rendering software to produce beautiful graphics. A proficient amount of skill in Photoshop can help you produce stunning graphic representations of your work even if you are not a pro at too many other programs.
SketchUP is the “McDonald’s of software” in the design profession. Everyone uses it, it works great, but it is not as “healthy” for you as some other 3D modeling software because of its brutal simplicity. Other 3D modeling software can do much more, but this is a great place to start. I have heard plenty of snide remarks from professors about this program, but I love it. I can either quickly sketch out an idea or spend hours detailing my entire model, but the program as a whole allows me to make quick, easy digital models for my projects which can later be exported to many other programs for further development. Plus, I can mass a model out in SketchUP and import it into Rhino if I want to use complex forms, parametric modeling, or print on a 3D printer.
Novedge: What innovations do you see in your field, now or in the future?
Mark Perrett: Of course we will always be improving on things like renewable resources and energy efficiency, but I think the innovations for the future of architecture will focus more on architectural amenities. And I’m not talking about bathroom tile. I imagine that, as technology becomes more advanced, so will the way we inhabit space and interact with architecture. Interactive architecture is a growing interest in this field. Architecture has such a broad spectrum it really shapes the way we eat, sleep, work, play, and live life in general. Here is a video that always gets me thinking when looking into the future of architectural design: A Day Made of Glass... Made possible by Corning.
A section of my thesis also deals with interactive architecture in the public realm. A group of four students (including myself) from the University of South Florida School of Architecture + Design has developed an urban design collaborative called The Urban Conga. We activate public spaces by installing interactive installations in downtown/urban settings, creating arenas for exploration, and promoting free choice learning. Learn more about The Urban Conga here.
You can see Mark's personal work on his website and you can read his Tips for Architecture School on his blog. You can purchase his book Architecture Terms | A Guide for Students on How to Speak like a Designer here.
Did you enjoy last week's webinar on RealFlow? We ran out of time to answer all your questions, so the team behind RealFlow answered all the remaining questions by email.
Q: Will there be a
plugin for Luxology modo 601? Or will it be Alembic interchange?
A:
We will be using Alembic as the interchange data format between Modo
and RealFlow from now on.
Q: Will RF2013
Learning Edition support the use of external plugins?
A:
The limitations for the 2013 Learning Edition will be pretty much the
same as with the existing Learning Edition license for RealFlow 2012,
which already allows the use of external plug-ins. Please contact us
if you are having any issues with your current LE license and the
external plug-ins.
Q: What about GPU?
A: The
Hybrido 2 base solver, hy-flip, will have the ability to make use of
the GPU, as long as it is openCL 1.1 compatible. To find out more
about what are we doing on the GPU, here is a link to the
presentation that Angel Tena gave at the nVidia booth last Siggraph.
Q: Is it possible to
develop a plugin for RF?
A:
If the question is whether anyone can develop 3rd party plugins, the
answer is yes. There is a C++ SDK that allows for that.
Q: Will the 3rd party plugins (e.g the ones from WET WORK) work for 2013? The Plugins
are expensive compared to their size..:)
A: The makers of any third party plugins will simply have to recompile
those in order to be able to load them in the RF2013 version. We do
not set the prices for these plugins.
Q: I have a one year
student license for RealFlow 2012 (from the cgsociety workshop), can
I upgrade the license to use 2013 instead?
A:
Yes, we’ll have an upgrade available for $170. All RealFlow
Learning Edition licenses bought within 2 months of the release of
v2013 will be upgraded to v2013 for free. By
the way, your RealFlow Learning Edition license is permanent – we
removed the time restrictions!
Q: Can we beta test
the new RealFlow 2013?
A:
We haven't hit beta yet. We’ll be getting there in the next few
weeks (Jan 2013). At the moment, there are no plans to have a public
beta period, but do feel free to get in touch to make your case and
we will see what can be done
Q: How do you tile
RealWave with Hybrido - in Maya or inside RealFlow itself?
A:
What RealWave and Hybrido share are the Statistical Spectrum waves,
and the ability to export tileable displacement maps. One can use
RealWave to get a faster look&feel, and then copy the parameters
to the Hybrido displacement. In Maya, you will simply need to make
sure that the area you want to cover is made of tiles, and use the
displacement texture from Hybrido to displace the Hybrido mesh, as
well as the surrounding areas.
Q: How does Realflow
2013 Hybrido compare to the standard of Naiad sims?
A:
That will be for users of both products to decide. We believe that
our hy-flip, the implementation of the flip solver for Hybrido 2 base
simulations, is really good.
Q: Is the simulation flow
multithreaded? If so, and Python also comes with 2013 I can
definitely see the benefit of using the flow instead of Python. If
Python does also come with 2013, has there been any work done to
improve Python's speed and various bugs?
A: Regarding
multithreading and nodes in the simulation graphs, any node that
performs RealFlow internal operations that are multithreaded is
multithreaded by definition. Most of the nodes that perform array
operations are multithreaded internally, and you will also be able to
create multithreaded heterogeneous compounds using the Kernel node
inside them.
Python
itself is not getting any updates on this RealFlow version. Although
Python will certainly still have its place inside RF, we believe that
simulation and batch graphs will allow for greater flexibility with
less effort.
Q: Please show step
by step how to render a realistic Hybrido water material.
A:
This will be pretty straightforward once you start using Maxwell
Render inside RealFlow 2013. With Maxwell, the artist really does
have the control.
Q: Any plans for a
python base job manager/ submitter?
A:
We currently have a Python implementation that we can share. Please
send us an email if you are interested.
Q: Will Hybrido 2
have viscosity that can be changed over time?
A:
Hybrido 2 won't have a viscosity model in this release. It will be
implemented in a later release.
Q: Will you have a
mental ray renderer inside RealFlow 2013?
A:
No. We strongly believe that Maxwell Render is the way to go for
fluid/particle rendering, and that is why we are implementing this
Maxwell Render integration for previews inside RealFlow 2013.
And that's it! Leave your comment below and thank you for joining us for this latest installment of our Webinar Series.
If you have questions about purchasing a RealFlow license, please contact Bob Thayer at Novedge.
To
contact the Next Limit Technologies/RealFlow team, you can use the customer
gateway - or for non-customers, you can find a contact form here.
Yesterday we had the pleasure of taking a tour of the Autodesk Gallery in San Francisco, with Jeff Farr, Autodesk Senior Partner Manager.
So much of what we use and interact with has been designed with CAD software and often with an Autodesk software. We saw samples of designs from different applications, from architecture, to film and entertainment, from product design to 3D printing technology.
If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area, take some time to visit the Autodesk Gallery. There's a guided tour every day at 12:30 pm, to hear more about each project.
With the recent product line
reorganization, there are now more than five hundred different
Autodesk
products available for the educational market - from individual
titles to full suites. If you are a student or a teacher, it can feel
confusing and overwhelming to choose the best option for your school
or program's needs. At least that's how I felt when I first looked
into it!
At Novedge,
I personally answer the phone and guide people through the process of
choosing and ordering the Autodesk Educational programs they need.
The best part of my job is being able to simplify the whole process,
in some cases saving schools money and time. Because of this, I
developed the following tips to make the whole process much easier.
If you are looking to buy an Autodesk
educational license for your school or university, there are a couple
of things you want to be aware of:
Licenses for secondary schools are
priced differently than licenses for colleges and universities.
Not all educational programs
qualify for an educational license.
When you place
your order, first be sure your institution is qualified to purchase
from the Autodesk Education line. Then make sure you have selected
the correct type of license for your institution – either secondary
education or post-secondary. You will then choose the first seat of
the program you need. Additional seats will be added to your cart as
a separate line item. You can choose an additional seat for less
than 10 total seats, or an additional seat for a minimum of 10, 25,
and 125 total seats. As with everything in life, the more you buy,
the lower the cost of each individual item.
Sounds confusing?
This is why being able to speak with a knowledgeable person is so
important. By contacting someone who knows the ins and outs of
Autodesk
for Education, not only are you ensuring that you purchase the
correct program, but you can also potentially save money by
understanding exactly what you need and what you can say no to.
There are even some suites only available to the educational market
that could contain everything you need, and save you even more time
and money than you originally thought possible.
If you are a teacher who purchased a
standalone license in the past, you
might now find yourself unable to qualify for the same license.
Again, an Autodesk representative can
quickly confirm which licensing options are available to you.
Finally, if you are a studentlooking for an educational license just for yourself, be aware
that Autodesk
will check your eligibility twice. Any
student who orders an educational license will have to first provide
the seller with their documentation, and
then will be asked againto verify their status online once they receive their order.
Do your homework before the software is ordered
and shipped, to avoid cancellation or returning
(and a headache!).
Now you know why
I am a big fan of websites that list plenty of options and
give you access to a real live person on the phone - someone who is
an expert, can ask the right questions, and can help you explore your
different options so that you can save money and feel confident about
your purchase.
Molly Doane –
Autodesk Sales Specialist at Novedge
Novedge has been selling Autodesk products for many years. During the last couple of years we have been promoting the educational section of our catalog by adding several new products from the most popular brands such as Solidworks, McNeel, Maxon, Nemetschek, SpaceClaiming, Alibre, etc.
Novedge have signed up with Autodesk to sell their educational products
Recently at Novedge we have signed up with Autodesk to sell an important group of their educational products, thus expanding even further our already rich catalog. Now I can proudly say that we are the best place online to buy 3D software for professionals as well as for students. Our offering now includes:
For each of those products Autodesk has two version, one with a perpetual non-expiring license and one with a time limitation (from 13 months for 3ds Max to 5 years for AutoCAD LT). If you are a student or a teacher and you are looking for an affordable edition of the most important 3D graphics tools, Novedge is the place to look.
We are happy to announce that we are now able to offer government and educational prices for Nemetschek VectorWorks. This allows US federal and local government agencies and departments to purchase VectorWorks at a 15% discount over list price. It also offers educational institutions access to deep discounts for the lab version of VectorWorks. VectorWorks is one of the leading 2D and 3D design software systems, especially for architecture, landscaping and interior design. VectorWorks supports both the Windows and Macintosh platforms with seamless data exchange between the two. It also offers robust data exchange with other CAD systems through various standard formats like DXF and DWG. We believe this is a great opportunity for government entities to have access to Nemetschek VectorWorks at a very affordable price for their design and facilities management needs. It also offers the opportunity to schools and universities to setup training facilities for future designers and architects with VectorWorks at a very attractive price.
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