Here’s an interesting bit of information I discovered on the 3D CAD NEWS blog (Link): Alibre’s very recently announced support for Google Earth (not even sure where I read about it but think I stumbled across it on DigitalMediaWorld – Link – where I didn’t bother reading past the first sentence) also happens to provide a path for other CAD applications.

I was one of the original sign-ups for Alibre back when it was first launching, but I’d not had much need for it (since I run Pro/E and Maya). Now I’m interested in giving this a try because as most of you know (based on a number of posts, including this one regarding Whirlpool – reLink), file portability is a big deal to me.

Last night I surfed through Chris Kelley’s blog (Link) and learned that UGS, the PLM/CAD company for whom he works and a company I sometimes mention in my posts, had decided to rez into Second Life and was opening a virtual outpost. It’s not the first CAD vendor to do so; Autodesk entered some months back. However, Autodesk doesn’t appear to be pursuing PLM (product lifecycle management) applications which, for me, are closely related to something like Second Life. So I logged into SL to see what UGS was doing and wound up chatting with both Chris and another UGS representative.
Continue reading →

Between Core77 linking to one of my “design thinking” rants (reLink) and some of the “virtual Coke” traffic to my post late last week (reLink), this one came from out of left field: a bunch of traffic coming from vCrib (Link), a “virtual” home automation effort about which I blogged some time back (reLink) and which has a couple of links to this blog.

Watching this vid, one thing comes to mind: Robocop’s standard line “… there’s going to be… trouble.”

Next up: a gun mounted on a Lego robot that patrols the perimeter.

I’ve been watching “Darwin”, one of the RepRap projects, develop since its inception; and though I’ve not mentioned it (at least I don’t think I have), it’s the one I found especially intriguing.

The above video is an excellent and fun timelapse showing the construction of a “Darwin” RepRap device. For more about this one, head over to the wiki page that has the details (Link).

I like the fact that this 3D printer, the project of Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories (Link), isn’t going down the precision path of RepRap or fab@home as that takes it a bit closer to the larger-scale termite-building ideas I had (reLink).

I look forward to seeing a video of this thing in action; probably in May after they (hopefully) show it off at the Maker Faire.

Now I’m wondering what’s been going on with Behrokh Khoshnevis’ effort. Time to surf around for an update.

via Core77

{Image Copyright © 2007 Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories}