solidThinking NewsCategory Archives

solidThinking 8.5 and solidThinking 8.5 Inspired Released!

solidThinking 8.5 and solidThinking 8.5 Inspired have been released today!

We believe that these new releases are truly better, faster and easier as a result of more than 900 new features, enhancements and updates.

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 and have used their feedback to help achieve significant levels of improvement in the solidThinking 8.5 releases

Whether you are an industrial designer, an architect or a concept engineer, visit our website at  www.solidthinking.com to discover what’s new in solidThinking 8.5 and how it can help you design better products, visualize them with great photorealism and in real-time, and explore possible breakthrough design scenarios facilitating innovation.



solidthinking
February 14, 2011
solidThinking News
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solidThinking 8.5 on DEVELOP3D

DEVELOP3D previewed the upcoming solidThinking Inspired 8.5 Release.

Read the on-line article or download the PDF extract from the December 2010/January 2011 issue.

Josh Mings, the author of the article, wrote:

“We like to explore. Whether we’re designers or engineers, we like to spill the “ifs” across the table (or screen) in anticipation of that single moment when the design has been realised. solidThinking makes this possible in ways that compliment design and engineering.

It makes the design process more dependable and the engineering process more fluid. In this way, it’s shaking up the paradigms that have been sinking in for so many years.

solidThinking is a product to watch and one that other 3D software companies should keep an eye on. It’s slamming more than a few slick tools into conceptual design.

In a very real sense it’s allowing you to form and explore faces, features, joints and ribs as quickly as you think them.

That just isn’t common in the products that are out there today. Even with the organic exploration of structures, solidThinking maintains a history of features while not locking you down to their dependencies.”

Stay tuned for more news in a few days!

solidthinking
January 24, 2011
Press, solidThinking News
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Floating Shapes

One of the latest projects developed by designers Paolo De Lucchi and Emanuele Rodella is certainly an interesting one, from both the design and the modeling point of view.

Modeling a complex object can be challenging but modeling something that, in some way, has no concrete shape – like a cloud – is even more challenging.

In order to develop a shape like one of the new Nèfos lighting systems (pictures below), it was essential to be able to modify the design while trying to achieve the desired result, a shape that could realistically resemble a soft and floating cloud.

Thanks to solidThinking’s Construction History, and how it handles parameter and control points editing, the result was great.


“The challenge was to create the model in a way that could allow us to handle any further variation that would have been required for aesthetical reasons,” said Emanuele Rodella. “We wanted to achieve the same shape control you have with a sculpture, especially for evaluating the whole shape while adjusting each single concave or convex area. I found a method to create a grid shaped structure that gave me the total control over the result, and each piece was dynamically connected to each other through solidThinking’s ConstructionTree. The modeling quality was noticeable, resulting in a smooth and sinuous model. solidThinking helped us a lot to realize this project.”

Nèfos is manufactured by Myyour and will be developed in four sizes and variants.

In the pictures below, designers Emanuele Rodella (on the left) and Paolo De Lucchi with some of his preliminary hand sketches.

 

solidthinking
December 3, 2010
News from the ID World, product design, solidThinking News, User Stories
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Getting the Right Design, Getting the Design Right

 

The latest issue of Altair Engineering’s Concept to Reality published “Getting the Right Design, Getting the Design Right,” an article describing four ways that we can enhance the entire product development cycle by 1) finding pathways to winning designs earlier in the process, 2) improving collaboration between industrial design and engineering, 3) considering efficient forms starting from the early concept phase, and 4) effectively visualizing and validating design concepts.

Click here to freely download the article. Concept to Reality is published bi-annually for Altair Engineering, Inc. by Penton Custom Media and focuses on cutting-edge design development, innovative product strategy, and global process automation issues.

“Getting the Right Design, Getting the Design Right” was also presented at Altair’s annual European HyperWorks Technology Conference Series in Versailles held October 27-29, 2010. The event attracted more than 500 attendees from 275 companies.

solidthinking
November 30, 2010
Altair, Events, Press, solidThinking News
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solidThinking at the Inno Design Tech Expo in Hong Kong December 2-4, 2010

solidThinking will exhibit at the HKTDC Inno Design Tech Expo in Hong Kong. The HKTDC Inno Design Tech Expo (IDT Expo) is a one-stop platform where visitors from different industries can explore the latest commercial design, brand strategies, applied technology, and related consultancy services. This exhibition is part of the Business of Design Week (BODW) an annual event which brings the best of the global design world to Hong Kong.

Come and meet us at Booth 1AF11/13 in the Trade Hall, Innovation and Applied Technology Pavillion.

Location: Hong Kong Convention& Exhibiton Centre1 Expo Drive, Wanchai, Hong Kong, China

When: December 2-4, 2010

For more information, send an e-mail to: info@solidthinking.com

solidthinking
November 26, 2010
Events, News from the ID World, product design, solidThinking News
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solidThinking at TEDxDetroit

On Wednesday, Sept. 29, several representatives from solidThinking, Inc. and colleagues from parent company Altair Engineering, Inc. attended the TEDxDetroit conference at the Detroit Institute of Arts to listen, learn and collaborate with leaders from across metro Detroit.  The general theme of the conference, “ideas worth sharing”, was reflected in the range of speakers, artists and musicians who spoke throughout the day as well as in the nearly 900 attendees,

Jim Scapa, president and CEO of Altair, spoke about “Lessons Learned in Creating and Sustaining a Culture of Innovation”. During his presentation, Jim shared with attendees his personal experiences launching and growing an innovative business in metro Detroit.  Jim also outlined his coined ‘high IIQ’ – Innovation Intelligence Quotient.  The high IIQ is accomplished through strong culture, diversity and broad communications.

solidThinking and Altair also participated in the event’s TEDxLabs section, where creative companies shared with attendees their latest innovations. In addition to several design images and videos of renderings, the Altair and solidThinking booth featured several architectural prototypes, including a roof and chair that were created using solidThinking Inspired’s morphogenesis technology and a BUSolutions prototype, another Altair innovation that we recently featured in the solidThinking blog.

solidThinking was excited to connect with TEDxDetroit’s attending business representatives, luminaries and thought leaders and looks forward to coming TED events. For more information on Altair, please follow their Twitter handle at www.twitter.com/Altair_US or check out their website at www.altair.com.

solidthinking
October 18, 2010
Altair, Education, Events, solidThinking News
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solidThinking used for Iron Man 2


Ron Mendell is one of the most talented concept artist serving the motion picture industry.

Click here to read how he used solidThinking to develop designs for Iron Man 2, as described in the book “The Art of Iron Man 2″ (cover above).

Other images and models that Ron Mendell created for Iron Man 2 are available at this link.

Thanks to Ron Mendell and Marvel for allowing us to publish these artworks.

© 2010 MVLFFLLC.  TM & © 2010 Marvel Entertainment.  All Rights Reserved.
solidthinking
September 27, 2010
solidThinking News, User Stories
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TCT Live 2010 in Coventry, UK – October 19-20, 2010

Taking place annually, TCT Live draws together everyone involved in the concept, design, manufacturing and specification functions. Designers, prototype specialists, technical directors, product managers, design directors, chief engineers, consultants and other manufacturing professionals attend TCT searching for the latest technologies. solidThinking will be exhibiting at TCT LIve 2010 for the first time.

Attendees visiting solidThinking’s Booth G8 will be able to preview the capabilities of the upcoming solidThinking software release.

During the event, Jim Hassberger, solidThinking’s Vice President of  Business Development and Customer Relations, will  be presenting the white paper titled: “Human Thinking and Computational Inspiration, New Challenges and Opportunities for Product Design”  during the White Paper Session in Theatre 5 on Wednesday October 20th at 2:15 p.m.

Location:
Jaguar Exhibition Halls
IEC Ricoh Arena
Phoenix Way
Foleshill
Coventry, CV6 6GE, UK

When:
October 19-20, 2010

solidthinking
September 22, 2010
Events, News from the ID World, solidThinking News
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solidThinking at the ACADIA 2010 Conference, Oct 21-24, New York


solidThinking will be exhibiting at the Acadia 2010 conference in New York, October 21st to 24th.

Acadia 2010 will explore the ways designers, architects, engineers and scientists collect, analyze and assemble information through computational systems that redefine the notions of design performance and optimization, evolutionary and responsive models.

We will offer previews of the new solidThinking release that will be available this fall, including the latest advancements of the morphogenesis form-generation technology.

Location:
The Cooper Union,
25 Cooper Square,
New York, NY 10003

When:
October 21-24, 2010

solidthinking
September 22, 2010
Architecture, Events, solidThinking News
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U.S. Air Force “Rescue Tool” Wins Bronze IDEA (International Design Excellence Award) at the IDSA National Conference

Design and engineering team members from solidThinking and AltairProductDesign are excited to share that their joint submission of a human-powered “rescue tool” designed for use by the U.S. Air Force, has been recognized by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and Fast Company magazine as one of the 2010 most inventive and creative product and product concept designs.

Announced at the recent IDSA National Conference in Portland, Oregon, held from Aug 3-7, the rescue tool (or U.S. Air Force Extrication Tool) was selected as a winner from the highest number of entrants in the competition’s 30-year history.   The tool is designed to allow U.S. Air Force search and rescue teams to extricate trapped personnel from damaged or disabled ground vehicles and aircraft without the use of auxiliary power sources.  Following extensive user research, the tool is designed to be 30 percent lighter and 15 percent shorter than the tool currently deployed for rescue missions and is meant to be operable by a single rescuer.

When combined, these features not only make rescuers more efficient, but also give them the ability to get to mission locations more quickly and easy because the tool is lighter, smaller and easier to handle.

For additional information, visit the IDSA website at: http://www.idsa.org/content/content1/usaf-extrication-tool

solidthinking
September 17, 2010
Altair, Design Awards, product design, solidThinking News
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