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In today’s design and manufacturing world, things are more competitive than ever before. For most companies this means that to stay ahead of the competition, their designs must be perfect, but it also means that the final production quality must be spot on as well to ensure customer satisfaction.

Did you know that 3D scanning has been around since Egyptian times? Okay, maybe not so much in the way we think of 3D scanning today, but they developed the early concepts of reverse engineering by creating 3D plaster-cast replicas. Fast forward to today’s scanners, which use laser and structured light technology that can capture highly accurate scans that range from very small, intricate objects to much larger objects in a fraction of the time! It’s easy to appreciate how far this technology has come over the years and the many different industries that 3D scanning is helping revolutionize. In this article, we’re going to cover some of the ways you can get your 3D scanning data into a 3D CAD environment where you can interact, manipulate and make the most of it.

Throughout previous articles in our series, we’ve discussed how 3D printing is beneficial for different education departments such as architecture, fine arts and chemistry. To continue this series, we want to review how 3D printing, along with 3D scanning, is also bringing benefits to the study of archaeology. These technologies are being used in Archeology or Anthropology departments at many universities and quickly replacing traditional methods of replicating and studying historic artifacts and fossils.

Additive manufacturing is alive and well in the manufacturing disciplines, and as I mentioned in the first blog of this series, it’s also impacting the education sectors. In addition to architecture, additive manufacturing is used in other departments such as the Fine Arts. There are many disciplines that fall under the category of “Fine Arts,” but for the topic at hand we are going to discuss how digital scanning and 3D printing are revolutionizing the traditional means of sculpting and even fashion.

3D printing is becoming the norm in terms of prototyping for the manufacturing industry. The ability to create functional designs and even manufacture parts in a fraction of the time it would take by using traditional methods is astounding. It isn’t just the manufacturing sector that is reaping these rewards.

The education sectors are also seeing the benefits. These benefits spread across many different departments, but in this blog article, we look at how architecture departments in different schools are benefiting from 3D printing.

Ready to maximize your efficiency in the new year? These free resources are great for identifying small improvements for your day to-day task or finding solutions that address an engineering, design or manufacturing challenge. We have compiled a list of helpful options when it comes to learning more or just needing a reference. Whether you only have a few minutes or you are ready for a week long course, we have resources created by industry experts at your fingertips.

The Tucker Carioca 1955 car was an idea that Preston Tucker dreamed of, but never built. Unfortunately, he died before he had the chance to do any engineering and bring his dream to reality. At Rob Ida’s shop, Ida Automotive, Rob and his team are working to pick up where Preston left off to build the very first Tucker Carioca.

Michael Souders from TriMech and Mike Sabocheck from SOLIDWORKS traveled to Rob Ida Concepts to help work on this project. Michael brought a couple of tools to scan items with him: the Artec Eva and Artec Space Spider.

Here at TriMech, we fancy ourselves the jack of all trades or the wearer of many hats of the engineering world. With extensive experience with the different facets of CAD, 3D printing, 3D scanning and training, we know that your business probably doesn't just stick to one lane, either. With that in mind, we are bringing you four on-demand webinars focused around 3D innovation, full of ideas and tools to bring your company to the next level!

Many people’s dream is to travel the world and experience new adventures. But this might not always be the case because of natural disasters, over-tourism or even human-motivated vandalism. To document these at-risk landmarks and relics, 3D technologies, such as laser scanning, drones and photogrammetry are used to capture the detailed images of these places and objects. While heritage preservation has played an important role in encouraging more cultural exploration, there is a whole new use of 3D technology which could cause awareness and appreciation nationwide over the next decade from the comfort of our own homes.

Congratulations, you just finished designing your CAD model! Now, what's the next step? Prototyping! It's the next phase in the design cycle that helps you mitigate and reduce errors and issues. Prototyping allows you to test your model for functionality and design features. It has become more affordable and accessible as this trend continues at a non-linear rate. This phase decreases the time to market and increases productivity. Newer enhancements offer a more functional prototype and ability to rapid manufacture. Let’s review several things that you can leverage today to help make your prototypes in an efficient and affordable way.

In our previous blog post, we walked through the process of gathering usable data by 3D scanning the entire outside of Ryan's car. TriMech's Project Engineering Group helped us convert the scanned data into a usable SOLIDWORKS 3D CAD model of the Thunder Roadster. With this model, we'll be able to make, evaluate, verify and even modify the vehicle for ultimate performance!

In our previous blog post, “Customizing a Thunder Roadster: Introduction”, you might’ve caught Ryan’s car being scanned using the Artec Eva 3D scanner. Artec manufactures structured light scanners, which are the perfect choice for making a textured and accurate 3D model. 3D scanning is being used more in many industries for reverse engineering and product customization due to the precise results and lowered technology costs. By capturing technological details and data from an object, it is possible to then recreate or improve upon it. In part two of this series, we’ll take a look at how Ryan’s Thunder Roadster was scanned.