solidThinking Design Competition 2011

The competition has no category restriction. Design something that solves a problem. Any type of product design can be submitted. 

Here is what is really special about this competition. Each application entered will receive a full license of solidThinking Inspired 8.5 for preparing the entries for the competition. You read that right! Free software from now until November 30, 2011. 

01 - solidThinking user Emanuele Rodella used the latest version in beta to develop this creation.

Deadline for submission is September 30, 2011 (11:59 PM EDT). 

Prizes

The solidThinking Design Competition 2011 is open to all students who qualify (see above and here). Prizes are worth over 20,000.USD. 

To register and learn more go here.

The latest version of solidThinking has over 900 improvements, ranging from small user-interface changes and workflow improvements to significant new features and capabilities in both the core product and the Inspired version with morphogenesis technology.

solidThinking 8.5, we will remind readers, is one of the world’s top class-A NURBS modeling programs. As Alex Mazzardo noted, “solidThinking is a real idea generator that promotes innovation due to its powerful modeling, easy-to-use rendering environment and interoperability with leading engineering applications.”  The product is aimed at product designers, industrial designers, style centers, marketing departments and architects and engineers.

New Capabilities

Version 8.5 is now a faster modeler, with up to 3x performance speed. Loading time with models, especially larger complex models, is halved. Frames per second shading of the model in real-time is 3x faster and select and deselect are quicker as well. There is a new improved Round tool, in most other similar applications known as a fillet tool. With the improved Round tool you get better handling of overflow and overlapping rounded surfaces, plus advanced options for shape control. (see image 01)

01 - solidThinking 8.5 has a new and improved round tool, with advanced options for dealing with overlapping rounded surfaces.

Another new feature is a new Face Extraction tool, for the creation of new faces from existing objects. There are now more snap shortcuts and construction aids, including a revised snap to tangent tool. These all make modeling faster and easier.

A new feature we really liked was the three-level selection methodology. Now in solidThinking 8.5 the first double-click on an object selects objects. A second double-click allows you to access parameters for those objects, and a third double-click allows you to edit vertices or control points.

The user-interface has been simplified for better navigation and scene organization. It is now possible to visualize if the selected objects are part of some groups in the Hierarchy Browser. And there is new and improved selection technology through the use of selection filters with the ability to sort for curves, surfaces, polymesh and pointmesh, et cetera, as well as clarifying selection of dependent and source objects for easier scene organization.

Better Rendering in solidThinking 8.5

One of the largest areas of improvement in solidThinking 8.5 is in the area of rendering. The accuracy of lighting is a major improvement and this includes its progressive, real-time rendering as well. (see images 02-03) In 8.5 there are new real-time photorealistic rendering options integrating raytracing and progressive rendering.

02 - solidThinking 8.5 has a greatly improved real-time rendering functionality, plus improved photorealistic rendering.

New reflection catcher technology adds a reflection below the model in a photorealistic rendering when the model is added to a back plate image. A new improved algorithm improves anti-aliasing in final renders and there is improved support for the calculation of indirect lighting.

03-solidThinking's interactive rendering shows improved handling of light.

You can play with this Flash-based web page to see the difference in rendering quality between version 8 and version 8.5 of solidThinking. Go ahead, we encourage you to explore this interactive graphic. For exploring the difference between version 8 and 8.5 with regard to anti-aliasing go to this page here. The difference is quite dramatic in this particular sample image.

New in version 8.5 are pre-built interior sets and ready-to-render lighting setups. This pre-setup work is very helpful to designers looking to quickly drop their model into an environment and do quick renders for study and evaluation. (see image 04)

04 - new pre-built sets with ready to go lighting help designers quickly test their models in fully rendered environments.

And the render materials library has been enhanced in solidThinking 8.5 with more than 300 new apply-and-render materials with default settings optimized for best rendering results. In an era where there is increased development activity in the area of simplified and instant photorealistic rendering, this new library enhancement is a timely response.

Next page: CAD Connections and Inspired 8.5 >

“Our global team of product specialists, all of whom are experienced industrial designers or architects, paid close attention to the needs of existing and prospective users,” said Robert Little, president of solidThinking. “Their feedback, careful benchmarking of competitive products, and close collaboration with the software development team have resulted in the solidThinking 8.5 releases achieving outstanding levels of improvement.”

solidThinking 8.5 releases introduce more than 900 new features, updates or enhancements. “The fundamental functions behind design are ideation and iteration–the ability to conceptualize ideas at the speed of thought and without constraints,” said Alex Mazzardo, solidThinking’s vice president of marketing and product strategy. “solidThinking 8.5 and solidthinking 8.5 Inspired are our next steps in redefining the way design concepts are created, evaluated and photo-realistically visualized, in real time, and in the early development phase.”

01 - solidThinking Emanuele Rodella used the latest version in beta to develop this creation.

“solidThinking empowers users to explore many different aesthetic variations of a design while maintaining the model’s core function,” said industrial designer and solidThinking user Emanuele Rodella. “For example, the new round tool is truly excellent, and helped me handle some very complex changes; and I often used the environmental visualization mode to review the model’s progress. The faster, more improved modeling in solidThinking 8.5 has developed noticeably higher-quality, smooth and sinuous models, and a more interesting, visually dynamic shape–ultimately allowing me to realize the full potential of my design projects.”

Key New Features – Modeling

• Faster workflow and functional performance
• Simplified user-interface for navigation and scene organization
• New and improved round tool with advanced options for shape control and handling of overflowing/overlapping rounded surfaces
• New Face Extract modeling tool for the creation of new surface objects by extracting faces  of existing objects
• More shortcuts, construction aids, sort and selection filters

Key New Features – Data Collaboration

• New Direct Import for H3D, SAT (ACIS), Catia V4 and V5, Parasolid, Pro/E, SolidWorks and UGS NX–all at no additional costs
• New export capability for Parasolid native format (x_t and x_b)
• Improved import and export for IGES, STEP and STL

Key New Features – Rendering & Presentation

• New realtime photo-realistic rendering option, which integrates with raytracing and progressive rendering to obtain a more photo-realistic representation of lighting and materials
• Enhanced anti-aliasing techniques
• Reflection Catcher
• Enhanced material library with more than 300 new “apply and render” materials
• New “ready to render” lights and interior sets
• Increased selection of background images and environments

Key New Features – Form Generation (Inspired)

• The ability to run morphogenesis form generation on multiple model parts and materials
• Define parts as design or non-design space
• Show design space and morphogenesis results simultaneously for full review of the form generation
• Faster, more intuitive part manipulation through smart snaps
• Simple push and pull capabilities for turning 2D sketches into 3D design spaces
• Measure static weight distribution of parts and assemblies on supports

02 - The new solidThinking 8.5, shown here running on the Mac OS X platform.

Current solidThinking users and members of the creative community are encouraged to further explore the features of the new solidThinking 8.5 and download a free trial version by visiting: www.solidthinking.com.

solidThinking, Inc., is also offering updated tutorials and essential videos, which users can view to get up to speed and running quickly. The videos will be available in 10 languages, including English, Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese and Spanish.

In other solidThinking news, the company’s upcoming release, solidThinking Inspired 8.5, was previewed in the latest issue of DEVELOP3D magazine. The next release promises over 900 enhancements, updates and new features. The software runs on Mac and Windows and is scheduled for a mid-February release. You can read that online article here.

To learn more about solidThinking visit: www.solidthinking.com

MAXON Computer GmbH, Germany, the makers of Cinema 4D and BodyPaint 3D, intends to expand its presence in Singapore and ASEAN countries by establishing a new MAXON ASEAN Competence Centre.

MAXON co-founder and CEO Harald Egel explains: “Five years ago, we established the only ASEAN Authorised Training Centre (ATC) for CINEMA 4D in collaboration with IM Innovations and Temasek Polytechnic. We have examined the ASEAN market closely and have seen it grow steadily. Now is the perfect time to set up a Competence Centre in Singapore, the natural gateway to ASEAN countries.”

MAXON’s move in Singapore further strengthens their ability to serve the creative 3D markets with its award-winning Cinema 4D and BodyPaint 3D software. To learn more about IM Innovations visit here.

solidThinking parent Company Altair acquires ACUSIM Software

Altair Engineering, Inc., a leading global provider of simulation technologies and engineering services has acquired ACUSIM Software, Inc. of Mountain View, California. ACUSIM is a leader of massively scalable, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) solver solutions software. ACUSIM’s AcuSolve is a general purpose CFD solver and is the premier brand worldwide with companies such as Toyota, Chevron, John Deere and Proctor and Gamble.

ACUSIM technologies will be made available through Altair’s HyperWorks simulation platform. To learn more visit them here.

FileMaker News

FileMaker looks to be pushing hard on getting FileMaker Pro 11 onto Macs and Windows machines. The company currently has an aggressive and attractive offer. For a limited time only if you buy FileMaker Go you are able to then get FileMaker Pro 11 for half the price.

FileMaker Go is one way creative technical professionals like architects can take their business data with them on the go. Using an iPhone or iPad you can use FileMaker Go to connect to database files hosted on FileMaker Server and access your records. Modifications made within FileMaker Go are automatically made on the host machine, which would be the machine running back at the office running FileMaker Server.

For single-user applications you can also copy your FileMaker Pro files to your iPad or iPhone via iTunes. To learn more visit them here.

Briefly, AEC Software has announced an update to its recently shipped FastTrack Schedule version 10 (now at 10.0.1). Importantly, the new update allows FastTrack Schedule to open Microsoft Project 2010 files and includes over 30 feature enhancements. The update is free for all current version 10 users. For more info.

ArchiCAD Sweeps Build Live Tokyo 2010

Graphisoft’s BIM program ArchiCAD has swept the awards in the Build Live Tokyo 2010 Competition. Team Safari Tour, led by Yasuo Ichii and representing the giant general contractor firm Obayashi Corporation, captured Best Project Award by a corporate team.

Both academic and corporate teams competed in creating a new media art center building. Participants had to ensure that the new center would be an exceptional space for people to gather and experience art, nurture creativity among visitors, and function as an exhibit space and research center.

Four of eight the corporate teams and six out of eleven student teams used ArchiCAD for their competition submission. In total 10 teams using ArchiCAD won awards, making this one of the most successful competitions for ArchiCAD users at Build Live Tokyo ever. For the third year in a row an ArchiCAD team took top prize.

To learn more about BIM and ArchiCAD visit: www.graphisoft.com

solidThinking News

solidThinking Inspired with its morphogenesis technology makes for a highly affective form generation software tool. A preview of the upcoming new solidThinking Inspired release was shown to a large architectural audience during the recent Acadia 2010 Conference in New York, on October 21-24.

01 - solidThinking Inspired, the next release, was demonstrated at Acadia 2010 Conference and was well received.

The software was positively received and was described as “provocative” and “user friendly” by attendees. To learn more about solidThinking click here.

Digital Arts online has a comprehensive review of Bryce 7, a 3d package on the Mac that once had a very large following. The pro version now sells for 99.USD. Bryce 7, released back in the summer of this year, is dedicated to digital landscape 3d creation and features inboard animation capabilities.

The review discusses many of the new features, including Bryce 7’s new Instancing Lab, improved Light Lab, Particle Emitter and more. With Bryce 7 you can now import and export Autodesk FBX format as well as the popular COLLADA data file format. Additionally, you can import your Google SketchUp models or even Spore creatures into Bryce 7. To learn more about Bryce 7 and Bryce 7 Pro visit the Daz 3D site here.

You can also get a free version of Bryce in the Personal Learning Edition of Bryce 7.

To read  the full review go here.

solidThinking to Demonstrate New Upcoming Software

solidThinking will exhibit and show its latest capabilities at the upcoming TCT Live 2010 event from October 19020, 2010, at the IEC Ricoh Arena in Coventy, in the United Kingdom. Organized for concept, design, manufacturing and specification experts, TCT Live will feature the latest in software and technology advancements for designers, prototype specialists, product managers and engineers.

“solidThinking is designed for compatibility with leading design manufacturing and engineering software, making it an ideal tool for users who require collaboration between concept and computer-aided design software,” said Alex Mazzardo, VP of product strategy and marketing. “We are pleased to be presenting at TCT Live 2010.”

Apple’s Seed of Mac OS X 10.6.5 Focuses on 3D

According to Mac Rumors and other sites the sixth build of the operating system focuses on new improvements centered on 3D graphics, among other things. Other improvements include iCal, Mail, QuickTime, Time Machine and USB Devices. It is not clear when Apple will update OS X to the next major release, slated for version 10.7.

The company’s next release for solidThinking and solidThinking Inspired will focus primarily on delivering solutions based on user feedback and designed to create a more intuitive user interface. Additionally, solidThinking Inspired will offer new computational tools and flexible features aimed at enriching the design process and accelerating product design and development.

For more information about solidThinking visit their website here. For more information on the IDSA International Conference visit:

solidThinking continues to expand its global presence in both established and emerging design/styling markets.

“Our vision is to provide clients with a competitive advantage during product development by helping them implement the right tools to create better designs in less time and at a lower cost,” said Daan Hulst, general sales manager, Holland Engineering Consultants. “Our knowledge of the CAD, CAM, CAE and PLM markets, combined with partners like solidThinking, will help designers and engineers develop products in less time and achieve greater assurance of product performance. solidThinking software is a perfect addition to our service offerings through its intuitive and user-centric features, flexibility and high-quality visualization capabilities.”

With solidThinking Inspired, users can run morphogensis form-generation technology to grow efficient shapes in response to environmental forces and pressures. Morphogenesis draws on the principles of biomimicry to allow designers and architects to use form-generation to explore and experiment with design concepts. To learn more about solidThinking visit them online here.

solidThinking, Inc., has announced QuickStart Web Sessions for February. These sessions are one hour and get you going on solidThinking so your design work  can reach its fullest expression.

Scheduled sessions in February are:

• Feb 11, 2010 – 2:00 pm  EST – register
• Feb 16, 2010 – 10:00 am EST – register
• Feb 25, 2010 – 2:00 pm EST – register

In related news DEVELOP 3D the product design blog/e-zine has a good review of solidThinking here.

SketchUp News

The latest version of SketchUpdate Newsletter had a lot of key news in it. SketchUp Pro and free is now available in Brazilian Portuguese, Korean and Traditional Chinese, this is version 7.1

New Build

Starting the year off right Google has a new build of SketchUp (version 7.1) for both free and pro versions. Google says this maintenance release fixes bugs and deals with two security issues that were reported. You can download the latest build/release here.

Google is also reporting there is a very interesting thread on using SketchUp and LayOut or construction drawings in their SketchUcation forums here.

Architosh Forums Talk

This thread shows some innovative 3D work with Vectorworks in interior design, plus currently is ending with a chat about resources for obtaining pre-made Vectorworks friendly models.

Interior design with Vectorworks. This user has done a nice job.

Kind of a lively debate takes place here but it needs some correction. And it was due. We love the passion but like the views based on facts and experiences more. Regardless, CAD and BIM are religion to many and this is not going to go away anytime soon. Revit vs everyone else views are waxed over by user William.

The Future of the Forums

Architosh’s Forums have been in existence for nearly ten years. We had an early start but software companies caught on quickly and put up their own boards to address the day-to-day needs of their users. This slowly put our boards in competition with them for user attention. Their boards naturally being more focused won that battle easily.

Our boards have moved to demonstration, viewpoints and arguments and comparison posts. But we would much rather see those comments posted in our Comments section of our news and feature posts daily. In our best stories there is a healthy mix of reaction.

The future of our boards is not entirely clear to us. We have some options technically with where we can integrate the boards into our main site and into our Users for the main site. Currently we are fast approaching 1000 members who have joined Architosh proper. This group compliments are 1000+ ToshLetter group and supplements our Forum members.

With social media sites like LinkedIn and Facebook gaining the lion’s share of talk and debate, we see a future where we are able to dual-post information between Architosh proper and those sites. Sign into Architosh with Facebook credentials for example and your post comments on Architosh will show up on your Facebook Wall.

If you have any thoughts about some of this we’d love to hear them. We’d love to hear your views if you are a regular Architosh Forums Member. You can write to us at: info@architosh.com

Punch Software’s Shark FX version 7 is available from Cadsoft Solutions Limited, in the UK, for pre-order now. The promotional pricing ends 31 January 2010 for existing users of all Punch CAD software and qualifying competitive software.

The new Shark FX v7 features a host of great new features including HDRI, Global Illumination (GI), and non-Photorealistic Sketch Rendering. There are over 100 new features in Shark FX v7. To learn more visit: http://www.cadsoftsolutions.co.uk/

Luxology Announces Chinese version of modo 401

modo 401 developer Luxology has recently announced a Chinese version of their award-winning 3D software package modo 401. This new version is immediately available from Pikatoons Inc, the exclusive distributor for Luxology software in China.

A localized version of modo 401 for the Chinese market was in demand, as the fastest growing large economy in the world continues to expand. “The Chinese market is steadily growing and this new localized software will allow us to deliver first-class tools and technology to customers in a broad array of disciplines,” said Ye Wei Zhong, president of Pikatoons, Inc.

To learn more about modo in China visit: www.luxology.com

solidThinking News

solidThinking’s latest newsletter had some interesting tips including one on rendering a room with its fast Final Gather rendering algorithms. Other tips can be found on its solidThinkingBlog site here.

solidThinking has garnered some top press reaction from many of the leading industry publications for its new solidThinking Inspired 8.0 product with its new morphogenesis technology. This has included an article in the New York Times and Wired Magazine.

And a solidThinking user has won the MYDA Millenium Yacht Design Award contest with its Prototipi Design. This is a really cool design that we encourage readers to check out!

This agreement is the latest international VAR partnership signed by solidThinking to increase the software’s adoption throughout the global industrial design/styling market.

SiliconStudio Korea provides the latest technology and software developments to the digital design, 3D visualization, computer graphics and virtual reality industries in South Korea to meet their concept-development needs.

“SiliconStudio Korea is a well-known design technology resource and consultant in its market,” said Jim Hassberger, vice president of business development and customer relations for solidThinking. “Our agreement with SiliconStudio Korea expands our market presence in South Korea and further positions solidThinking for continued growth throughout Asia and other international markets.

solidThinking, Inc. has recently made big news in the computer design software market with its latest innovative solidThinking Inspired product with ground-breaking morphogenesis technology. To learn more visit them here: www.solidthinking.com

solidThinking, Inc., will be demonstrating its latest software at the ACADIA09 conference in Chicago. The conference, themed “reForm()” will be hosted at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago, October 22-25, 2009.

At the solidThinking booth located in the Stock Exchange Room, conference attendees will be able to view live demonstrations of the company’s new technology morphogenesis, which draws on the principles of biomimicry to allow designers and architects to experiment with form generation while exploring and developing their designs.

solidThinking’s NURBS-based 3D conceptual design software aims to encourage innovation for industrial designers and architects through a number of advanced features. To learn more go here: www.solidthinking.com

ArchiCAD 13 Available in Spanish Language Edition

Graphisoft has now released ArchiCAD 13 Spanish language version. The company has been releasing localized versions–now at 15–since the introduction of the ArchiCAD 13 with Delta Server technology. On November 5, 2009, more than 10 cities from both Spain and Latin America will be sharing a project through the Internet. Both clients and invited guests will have first hand experience of the revolutionary BIM Server with Delta Technology and the new Teamwork II. A new era of collaboration has arrived where firms can compete without barries and unprecedented efficiency. 

In more Graphisoft news, the company will be at Build Boston this November and Viktor Varkonyi, CEO of Graphisoft, will kick this year’s Build Boston BIM Symposium with a discussion on BIM collaboration. As we progress in BIM technology the role of the Architect as collaborator becomes stronger than ever. This event is hosted by the Boston Society of Architects (BSA) BIM Round Table. This event takes place on November 18, 2009, at Build Boston (Seaport World Trade Center) from 8:30am – 10:00am. The price is 95.USD and you can register here.

Additionally, ICS (Integrated CADD Services) will be hosting two events on ArchiCAD 13 in Boston and in New Haven, Connecticut. The title of the event is: ArchiCAD 13 – A Revolution in BIM Collaboration. The Boston event takes place October 29 and you can learn details and register here. The New Haven event takes place November 5, 2009 and you can learn details and register here. 

MAXON releases updated and localized documentation for C4D R11.5 and BodyPaint R4.5

MAXON has released new documentation of their core product, CINEMA 4D R11.5 and BodyPaint R4.5. This documentation is available immediately. The comprehensive context-sensitive help system, consisting of over 3200 pages filled with information, has now been translated to Korean, making MAXON products even more accessible to a large and expanding Korean user base. 

Updated versions of the documentation for the latest release are now also available in Japanese, Russian, Italian, Spanish and French. The updates are free of charge for registered users and available on MAXON’s website.

There are several key items announced in this news so read that full report here. 

The CAD Perspective

Despite the fact that in today’s Mac market there are more world-class, industry-leading CAD and 3D applications already running natively on the Mac OS X operating system than ever before doesn’t stop the quests by users and the demand on software makers to provide their Windows-only solutions to the growing Mac market. 

Autodesk’s recent announcements–since Macworld in January–portend to an evolving picture where “virtualization” is a stepping stone for software makers to deliver an interim solution to Mac users wishing to run Windows-only CAD and engineering applications.

The partnership between Parallels and Autodesk is a big blow to VMware; however there are several key Autodesk rivals which VMware could establish a working relationship in the same capacity. SolidWorks Corporation is one such major Autodesk rival, and SolidWorks is one such company that has users who would like to switch over to the Mac. 

There are interesting connections between user-bases on the Mac using native solutions and user bases on Windows-only platforms. One such connection is the partnership between solidThinking and SolidWorks. Many manufacturers have product designers using solidThinking on Macs and product engineering based around SolidWorks running out of necessity on Windows. There are overlaps with such organizations where a user on a Mac would like to be able to access files in both solidThinking and SolidWorks. 

VMware could search out such connections between major CAD and 3D design platforms and form partnerships much as Autodesk did with Parallels. By doing so it would fight off the perception that Parallels is a superior product for handling CAD applications.

solidThinking at Industrial Design Society of America Conference

One of the most important product and industrial design events in the world, the IDSA Conference will be host to solidThinking’s new products, including its new morphogenesis technology in its solidThinking Inspired 8.0 product. 

morphogenesis™, which draws its principles from nature and biomimicry, allows designers and architects to experiment with form generation while exploring and developing their designs. It is a key new technology that gives solidThinking a unique advantage in the product design software market. 

“solidThinking seeks to empower the design community with tools that will maximize creativity and design intuition,” said Alex Mazzardo, vice president of product strategy and marketing for solidThinking. “The annual IDSA conference provides the ideal international setting for thought leaders to bring to market fresh ideas and design concepts, and we’re particularly gratified to share the new and extensive capabilities of our recently launched software with the community.”

The new design and styling tools will be displayed at booths 1 and 2. solidThinking Inc. president Robert Little and Vice President of Product Development James Dagg will present the conference breakout session, titled, “Human Thinking and Computational Inspiration, New Challenges and Opportunities for Product Design” on Saturday, September 26, from 11:30am to 12:30pm in room Poinciana 2. The presentation’s corresponding white paper can be requested at:

www.solidthinking.com/morphogenesis and is also printed in the 2009 Conference Proceedings for show attendees. 

To learn more about solidThinking 8.0 and morphogenesis read some of the related reports here on Architosh (see below) and click here for a recent Product In-Depth feature article.

The new solidThinking version 8 base product has several important big new features and substantial improvements. At the heart of it, solidThinking’s class-A NURBS modeling capabilities are already tops but they too gain some important new functions. The new 3D manipulators were demoed for us and our impression was this was a key new improvement that existing solidThinking users were going to really like. You can work with the 3D manipulators on one, two or three axes and you can also give the exact size of the bounding box in all three axes. We especially liked the user interface components of these manipulators for translation and rotation. (see image 01 below)

01 - New 3D Manipulators make the modeling process easier and faster.

“The new 3D manipulators will make modeling faster for our customers,” said Alex Mazzardo, “which aligns with our product philosophy of helping designers investigate formal options quicker so they can advance their designs through design iteration.” And the enhancements to point, curve and surface representation during modeling creation is much improved.

An example of solidThinking 8.0’s power came through in a demo showing us how a curve that is the basis of a rotated element (like a bottle or vase) can be modified or edited vertex by vertex–or by any combination of segments of vertices–and get real-time rendered updates. (see 02-03 below). And you have point-editing with complete freedom even if you are keeping the Construction Tree.

02 - solidThinking allows vertex-by-vertex modeling editing while retaining the full functionality of the product

The combination of explicit modeling freedom combined with solidThinking’s unique Construction Tree history is one of the program’s strongest selling points. “You can still go back to the profile of an object and modify its parameters even though you have edited direct points,” said Mazzardo. In solidThinking you have both history-based parametrics and explicit modeling combined.

03 - A group of vertices can be edited and manipulated at once...in this case we are seeing a twist manipulation effect transform the bottle design.

Rendering is also a key new area for the improvements in version 8.0. There are new interactive visualization options, including wireframe on a shaded model and you have new options for applying environmental maps. This gives the designer additional levels of feedback. One of the new things you can do is render a window with partial completeness so you can get a sense of the quality of the design and/or render. We were impressed with the ease in which you can setup render quality levels for partial renders.

For example, you may choose to render a partial section of say a motorcycle and focus on the chrome areas at a higher level because of their reflections and refractions; on the otherhand you can quickly change those settings for another partial area for something less important. “The important thing is to give the designer the option to spend the time where it is needed,” said Mazzardo, “that way he can focus more on design.”

Next page we delve into morphogenesis and Architecture >

“Through our latest release, we offer new ways for industrial designers to enrich and accelerate design inspiration,” said Alex Mazzardo, solidThinking, Inc.’s vice president of product strategy and marketing. “In addition to inviting users to free their minds from technological constraints, solidThinking aims to maximize value and provide cost-saving 3D design solutions.”

Many of the world’s leading brands and companies use solidThinking to design and develop their products, including companies like: Bulgari, Cartier, Diesel, Fujitsu, Merck, Nikon, Toshiba, Volkswagen and Volvo. 

01 - solidThinking version 8. A sample of the incredible realistic rendering quality of a product design-developed entirely within solidThinking.

solidThinking version 8.0

“We have seen a number of companies significantly increase and even double the speed of their product development lifecycles using solidThinking,” added Mario Mazzardo, vice president of product strategy and management. “We are eager to help the global industrial design community realize similar benefits and more, thanks to several new productivity boosting features in version 8.0.”  

Key new features include:

• A completely restyled and more streamlined UI (user-interface) enabling a better workflow
• New 3D manipulators for translation, scaling and rotation of objects
• Enhancements to point, curve and surface representation
• New Interactive Visualization options, including wireframe on shaded model and environmental maps
• Real-time rendering during review and visualization phases of design
• Progressive Rendering for immediate feedback on the final image
• Re-rendering of selected subregions of an existing image
• A new materials library functionality — users can now also setup multiple materials libraries
• Optimized Final Gather for increased rendering speeds and lighting accuracy
• Ambient Occlusion for greater depth, performance and realism in the photorealistic rendering phase
• New complex reflectance shaders for generating lifelike visual elements, including the ability to integrate and create glossy and blurred reflections, frosted glass, car paints, plastic and metallic effects
• High Dynamic Range Imaging (HDRI) capabilities and the ability to create spherical images that can be visualized in the background of perspective views while modeling
• Many smaller features and improvements…

solidThinking 8.0 embodies all of the features that current users love, including its first-glass NURBS-based surface and solids modeling and best-in-class Construction Tree technology. 

Longtime solidThinking customer, Italian design firm, Pininfarina Extra, is extremely impressed with the new solidThinking 8. 

“Every time I start solidThinking, I access a 3D world that makes product design a dynamic and flexible process disclosing new horizons,” said Piero Pifferi, designer CAS and rendering for Pininfarina Extra. “The results are gratifying for both the designer and the customer.”

solidThinking 8.0 Inspired Debuts with morphogenesis technology

solidThinking 8.0 Inspired is a brand new product, an enhanced version of solidThinking that comes with brand new software technology. Inspired adds new morphogenesis technology which is a unique computational-based capability to design and form generation, very useful to product designers and architects.

Principles of Biomimicry

Drawing on the principles of biomimicry, the premier release of solidThinking 8.0 Inspired mimics the processes and physical laws in nature to help designers and architects generate forms and structures in response to environmental conditions, and leverage the results to stimulate their designs. 

01 - morphogenesis technology in solidThinking 8.0 Inspired - Technology mimics how nature reactions to environmental forces.

“Designers and architects have looked to nature for inspiration for some time, but until now they have been limited to visual studies,” said James Dagg, vice president of software development for solidThinking, Inc. “Because the processes and physical laws that influence natural forms are so complex, designers have had to rely on intuition when selecting and adapting biological forms as their sources of inspiration. With the debut of morphogenesis form generation in solidThinking 8.0 Inspired, designers are provided with an environment to replicate biological growth processes in nature where structure develops and takes shape in response to environmental stimuli.”

Using solidThinking 8.0 Inspired, designers can create design space models or import them from other systems. After defining environments around the models, designers can run the software’s morphogenesis feature to grow efficient shapes in response to these environments and form controls. Results can be used as loosely or literally as users wish while formalizing their designs. The morphogenesis feature ultimately acts as a complementary idea generator and inspiration for form.

02 - Coliseum design based on morphogenesis technology.

“The time is right for a 3D modeling software to take the conceptual design space to the next level,” said Alex Mazzardo, vice president of product strategy and marketing for solidThinking, Inc. “solidThinking software has always served as a vehicle for designers to generate, explore and interpret form in their own creative language. solidThinking 8.0 Inspired now brings nature and natural growth processes, the most fundamental sources of design inspiration, to the fingertips of industrial designers and architects – something that has never been done before – allowing users to springboard their ideas in directions they may have never previously considered.”

By getting nature to work for them using the technology within solidThinking 8.0 Inspired, designers and architects will be able to discover forms that are aesthetically interesting, unique and often unexpected while being well-adapted to their intended structural function. Forms created in solidThinking 8.0 Inspired are also typically very efficient due to an economized use of material and are less likely to be radically changed by engineers later in the product development process.

“solidThinking 8.0 Inspired is a testament to our objective to develop and market flexible, user-centric design/styling tools to aid in the industrial design process,” said Robert Little, president of solidThinking, Inc. “We are very excited to unveil a new dynamic that will surprise and intrigue designers and further stimulate their creativity. This is the beginning of much more to come.”

To further explore solidThinking 8.0 Inspired with morphogenesis technology visit the following links:

www.solidthinking.com

http://www.facebook.com/solidThinking

http://www.twitter.com/solidThinking

http://www.youtube.com/solidThinking

The Interview

Anthony Frausto-Robledo (AFR): Emilio, can you tell me a little about what led you into industrial design as a career? Did you grow up always wanting to design objects and things, or did you have other ideas about what you might do when you grew up?

Emilio Cassani (EC): I always wanted to design objects and things since I was a kid. My first desire (when I used to play Lego) was to become an “engineer” for Lego products. Then I entered mechanical engineering when I went to university, but I soon realized that it wasn’t my real desire. By chance I then saw the advertisement of Scuola Politecnica di Design in Milan underground trains. I visited the school and I realized that industrial design, which I had never heard of before, was my real interest.

AFR: Going to school in Milan would have put you in the center of action in the design world, what influences did Milan play on you as a young designer in college?

EC: Milano is the center of the world when you speak about design. I started meeting people from all over the world since my first day at the design school and I liked it a lot: attending to lessons with students from very different cultures was a continuously stimulating experience.

AFR: You began collaborating with Isao Hosoe Design in Milan very early after graduating from college, what did you take away from that collaboration and how has that contributed to your success being on your own?

EC: I first entered Isao Hosoe Design in Milano on an internship during summer vacations before the last school year. I then continued frequenting Isao’s studio during the last school year so I started my full time collaboration the day after my final exam and it lasted for seven years. I then made a few projects as an external consultant for IHD. Again the most important aspect was the international pattern that led me to work with people from all over the world enriching my experience. That collaboration was fundamental to create my whole ability of designing.

AFR: You have won several design awards for your industrial design. How important are design awards for obtaining new work in the field of industrial design? 

EC: I am afraid I must say very little. Company owners and managers are very practical people that judge on their own the quality of the project you show to them.

01 - The BRIO is one of Cassani's most noted industrial designed products. Milan-educated, Emilio Cassani works across a range of industrial design segments but enjoys industrial machinery the most.

AFR: You involve yourself in many parts of industrial design, such as packaging, lighting, appliances, furniture and industry. Do you have a favorite activity? And have you ever been interested in car and transportation design, for example?

EC: My favorite activity is industrial machine design as often it is a completely virgin territory for design and the designer has the chance to really improve the quality of the products in all design aspects: ergonomics, usability, communication and so on. I faced car design only in a school project, unfortunately, but I found some of my unripe ideas implemented by other designers the next years. At Isao Hosoe Design I was part of teams to design twisting seats for Japan Rail West and a concept of car interiors for Fiat.

AFR: Your work on the BRIO, QIK and FBP are really quite fascinating. How would you describe your challenges and successes with those projects? Those systems seem very complicated compared to designing a table or light, how does that complexity change the design process or your way of thinking and working?

Nature has always been a source of inspiration, and particularly biological forms. While biological forms tend to be aesthetically interesting, they also tend to be efficient and highly functional because they are the product of environmental pressures. 

Today, new technologies enable architects and product designers to simulate some of the processes and physical laws in nature with software algorithms, thus helping to generate forms in response to environmental stimuli. 

solidThinking Workshop at CAAD Futures 2009

solidThinking will be hosting a free half-day workshop that will describe and demonstrate practical and visual examples of exciting new methods for architects and product designers to generate and explore biological forms that are aesthetically pleasing, often unexpected, and at the same time well adapted to their intended purpose. Each participant should bring their own laptop. 

Attendees at this workshop will be granted a 3-month license to solidThinking.