Neri Oxman from MIT's research group, Mediated Matter with sponsorship from Objet and the help of additional partners including Uformia, is part of a new exhibit at Centre Pompidou in Paris, France called Multiversités Créatives. This exhibit poses the idea that both design and mythology can be used for telling stories and in doing so reveal much about culture and humanity. Uformia is thrilled to be a participating partner in the exhibit and that Symvol was able to help Neri achieve her desired results.

The photo to the left is the 3D printed result of the collaboration between Uformia and Neri. Amazing! Having seen many 3D printed objects, this is the first which does not look like it came off a printer - it actually looks like organic growth!

There were three problems with the design, modeling and fabricating of the helmet:

1. The design was inspired by natural interactions that result in a complex set of patterns that are difficult or impossible to model as continuous or even coherent surfaces with a great deal of simplification.

2. Part of the design and modeling required parametrized interaction with medical data from a human head.

3. The fabrication method needed to combine and tightly integrate two materials, which required either direct fabrication or very complex, high detailed watertight meshes.

Happily, Symvol was able to preform all these tasks. As Uformia Beta Partner's already know Symvol can take medical data converting it into a first class object that can then be manipulated and used as you would any other object in our system. Using Symvol we took the initial disconnected and intersecting surface meshes provided from simulation as input to created offset shells which were then combined with the medical data to inform the final shape of the helmet and provide for watertight volumes. This was all done using the Beta version of Symvol Pro with no special extensions or additional code.

As you can see, this allowed for an incredibly complex multi-material object with small details and heterogeneous material integration.

If you happen to be in Paris between now and 6 August, 2012, stop by and take a look at the future of design and 3D printing! Congratulations to Neri and all on the extraordinary exhibit.

A 'special report' from the Economist on how 3D printing will evolve our future - worth the read. A couple of points to I want to highlight:

1. "A number of remarkable technologies are converging: clever software..." Exactly. First on the list for good reason. Why is clever software (such as Symvol and other products) required? Because the underlying technology of most software available today has been bent and tweaked to make it 'look' great for visualization, not for manufacturing. There are expense solutions available to try and facilitate a smoother handshake between software and 3D printers, but this process is not without flaws, and even at its best, adds time and money to the cost of the manufacturing.

Let's stop bending tools that were never made for 3D printing/manufacturing and instead invent new tools that can TRULY and accurately represent reality in a computer (borrowing some words from Turlif, our local evangelist/CTO). This is such an important piece of the 3D printing future, it deserves to be stressed. And this what we are hard at work doing in Uformia. Our current products begin to hint at the possibilities, and our future products (the first being Symvol Pro, due out later this year) will really demonstrate the power. Case in point, can you design and print an object as simple as a toy marble? How about a venetian vase? There are printers that can print multiple materials for objects such as these, but so far no commercial software can take advantage of this feature......... yet.

2. Localizing manufacturing. This is an exciting notion. At least for some manufacturing, the driving force will no longer be the sheer quantity of cheap labor, but rather the complete opposite! The driving force will be were the skilled labor resides, the designers, engineers, technicians, etc. who can create and operate this new 'factory'.

Quote: "The Boston Consulting Group reckons that in areas such as transport, computers, fabricated metals and machinery, 10-30% of the goods that America now imports from China could be made at home by 2020, boosting American output by $20 billion-55 billion a year."

You can be certain that Uformia will continue to do its part in making sure the tools are available for such a change to take place.

We have just posted a new tutorial on how to use Symvol to make an object with microstructure. Check it out, and let us know what you would like to see next.

Today Rhino sent out a newsletter informing their users about our new product Symvol.  Our thanks to Rhino for helping us get the word out!

Uformia is introducing an exciting new approach and foundation to 3D design and fabrication: Symvol for Rhino. Symvol for Rhino - Community is the first of Uformia's innovative new 3D modeling tools to be released. This product is a simplified yet powerful introduction to this new "true 3D" volume based approach and framework. Objects made with Symvol are always watertight and ideal for 3D printing.
Symvol highlights:   Fast and dynamic form finding (dynamically change any underlying form at anytime) Symbolic modeling (hyper-parametrization) Always watertight Direct surface and volume deformation (by control points) Advanced micro-structures Export of meshes, slices & voxels (image slices) for direct fabrication
Symvol defines objects as infinitely malleable material, not a collection of paper sheets glued together, as is the case in industrial 3D software today (often referred to as 2.5D modeling). When using Symvol, users will be reminded of working with clay or metal. Unlike traditional solid modeling which can display cracks or surface issues, users will always have a valid truly solid object no matter the design demands placed on it. On top of this exciting new development, Symvol's ease of use means professionals are no longer the only people that can use 3D modeling and fabrication software. With this light but sturdy product, the doors have been thrown open to begin to explore the world of volumetric modeling. This translates into a marketplace that is greatly increased in both depth of sophistication and range of users. Uformia believes this will have long term beneficial effects on the dynamism and creativity of the 3D modeling field as a whole. This is just a starting point, with 2012 bringing the release of additional new products and capabilities into the market. Symvol for Rhino is a simplified version of the Uformia's new generation framework for the Rhinoceros® modeling system, with three different versions: 1. Symvol Maker -- the free, fully-functional, non-commercial version is available for download and is suitable for the 3DP/maker community. 2. Symvol Community -- the low-cost version targeted for 3D printing, available for purchase now. 3. Symvol Pro -- the fully-featured, professional version, to be released later this year.

*** We at Uformia are looking forward to working closely with 3D modelers across the globe to expand our user base and spread the joy of true volumetric modeling. If you would like more information or have any inquires please email us: support [at] uformia.com or chat with us via our support forum. We look forward to hearing from you. Happy modeling!

Thanks to Fabbaloo for the nice entry about Uformia today.

A few months ago our CTO, Turlif, spoke at the Renato Archer Research Center (CTI) in São Paulo, Brazil at a workshop aimed at showing the state-of-the-art and the complete cycle of the human organs bio-fabrication process utilizing three-dimensional printing. Besides the challenges and the enabling technologies on each bio-fabrication step, the narrow dependency of this area with information technology was also discussed. Check out his talk, part 1 and part 2, as well as some of the other speakers there, such as Evan Malone (co-creator of the Fab@Home and founder of NextFab) and Vladimir Mironov (one of the leading researchers in the areas of cardiovascular development, vascular biology, tissue engineering, and phenomics).

Fly me to the moon...well, at least over the Wiltshire Downs.

"Engineers at the University of Southampton have developed an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) whose entire structure has been printed, including wings, integral control surfaces and access hatches."

The plane, which the researchers call a SULSA (Southampton University Laser Sintered Aircraft) has actually proven flight capable, flying over the Wiltshire Downs, moving from the theoretical into the real. Researchers took only a few weeks to design and fabricate a flight-worthy UAV using snap-fit components on a EOS EOSINT P730 nylon laser sintering machine.

"The electric-powered UAV has a wingspan of about 6.5 ft, has a top speed of nearly 100 miles per hour, and runs almost silent when in cruise mode. The team even equipped it with a miniature autopilot."

Professor Jim Scanlan ( Southampton Computational Engineering and Design Research group) credits laser sintering with providing the flexibility to explore more complex design elements that would be prohibitively expensive using conventional manufacturing. 

It is interesting stuff but I couldn't help but find myself thinking of battlefield fabricated predator drones buzzing (albeit stealthily) overhead.

Read about it HERE.

Spencer Kelly at BBC CLICK provides a short introductory walk through of 3D Fabrication and touches on some of the mainstream applications for it while getting his head printed in miniature.

This is a great idea and the designs look good, but maybe someone needs to build a sister site that designs open source pillows.

"The goal for this project is not just to complete the software and release the source code, but also to build an online community of people creating, sharing and editing designs."

Going on the premise that, while digital manufacturing processes have great potential in terms of innovative manufacture, there is not much in terms of accessible software that allows for useful, customizable products you can take and personalize. So, SketchChair have made it possible for users to design and upload chair designs to an open library. Sort of a chair Repository.
"SketchChair will be a free, open-source software tool that allows anyone to easily design and build their own digitally fabricated furniture"

Once they are uploaded they become freely available and open to customization and design evolution by anyone who wants to do so. Go there, grab a design and tweak, refine, change, sell or give away. "In this way we hope that SketchChair will be like an open-source Ikea store, filled with customisable products! ". I might not of used the IKEA reference as that just makes me think of all that tatty furniture and cheap candles I was surrounded by in the student ghetto I lived in during undergrad. However, I like the idea of sharing and encouraging design even if it reminds some of disposable softwood furniture with beer bottle rings all over them and a residual smell of wood glue.

It is clear this sort of thinking doesn't stop people designing and I like the chairs. I wouldn't mind the "Tote Lounger" myself.

Anyway, the issue isn't the chairs themselves, it is seeing the practical follow through to the belief that creating a constantly evolving forum for practical design that isn't stifled by copyright issues that is exciting. Nice. Get in there and design and share something, then see someone take it and shape it how they want. If you aren’t into chairs do it with something else. Sharing makes you feel good.

Information like this wants to be free and should be...even if there is a danger it could give you waffle-ass.

Check it out at:
HTTP://WWW.SKETCHCHAIR.CC/

or at Kickstarter:
HTTP://WWW.KICKSTARTER.COM/PROJECTS/DIATOM/SKETCHCHAIR-FURNITURE-DESIGNED-BY-YOU