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!

Thanks to Fabbaloo for the nice entry about Uformia today.

A panorama view of Uformia's home - the Lyngen Alps, Norway.

We at Uformia are terribly saddened by the horrible events of this Friday past and wish to offer our deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims. Our thoughts and hearts go out to those we lost and those who are left behind.

Uformia is a proudly Norwegian company. Even though some of us were not born there, we actively chose to build our future in Norway and this wonderful country and its people have graciously adopted us and made us feel welcome and part of their community.  The openness, trust and welcoming nature of this society are rare commodities and must be treasured and protected, despite those who wish to undermine them and create an atmosphere of anger and mistrust through their own ignorance and fear.  We must all work together to ensure that such attempts to diminish the strength and uniqueness of this country are not allowed any success whatsoever and that we maintain an open, benevolent society.

Together with the people of Norway, we at Uformia will strive to protect and propagate the core values that Norway is so well-known for, values that make it such a special place to live and work in. We will do what we can to help ensure that the outcome from the recent attacks makes us stronger as a country, without changing what it means to be Norwegian.

Our thoughts and support go out to the victims, their loved ones and all Norwegians.

Yet another very interesting article on the problems in the CAD industry. Despite all the promise of tools to help change the way products are designed, what is released instead are improvements to UI, automated capabilities and specialized modules."Core modelling paradigms remain[ed] the same; which has led many to believe that the CAD market has reached a level of maturity or stagnation."

Hold tight everyone, we are hard at work to finally come through on some of these promises.  Stay tuned.

Happy New Year, and welcome to our new website!  2011 looks to be an exciting year for Uformia.  We will begin demonstrating the power of our technology by releasing our first product, Symvol - a plugin for Rhinoceros, later this year, and we expect you will like what you see.

Please check back often, as we will be updating the site frequently, with more information about our upcoming products, speaking engagements, tutorials and how-tos, live demo invitations, etc.

A funny representation of some of the issues of B-rep, that anyone can understand.  Thanks to Denis for the link.

Uformia was selected to be showcased as one of 20 high growth companies at this year's VentureLab Investment Forum taking place in Oslo, Norway on Tuesday October 19th. We are priviledged to be a part of this Forum, and look forward to participating.