3D

The ten best 3D models and one exceptional 3DVIA Experience uploaded to 3DVIA.com during the week of Saturday, July 17th through Friday, July 23rd, 2010 are highlighted here. This week we have a smörgåsbord of great 3D models from Mighty Mouse to the inner workings of a cell! Transportation is also big this week with two beautiful cars, a massive truck (yay!), a wooden sailboat and even transportation for your imagination. Check them all out and then take a rest in the great house with room for all of us!
I will be away next week, so the next two weeks’ best models will be honored in one post on Thursday, August 12. See you then!
(The “Easy links to the previous Top 10 lists” has been moved to right after the current week’s models.)
The Top 10:

lingling has done an exquisite model of Bust, which is based on just one of  many busts of extreme facial expressions created by Franz Xaver Messerschmidt in the late 1700s.  Lingling uploaded the model in OBJ format, but I’m guessing that the the modeling was done in Sculptris. [lingling lives in Belgium]

Oscar (mynameisoscarjo) has finished his Koenigsegg Agera and it deserves a return visit to the Top 10. It was also in Top 10 – 075 as a W.I.P., but is now a complete supercar! Oscar uses Blender. [Oscar lives in Sweden]

What a great idea to create a Virtual Cell to illustrate and explore this essential building block of life. MARQUIS used CATIA V5 to create this intricate and gorgeous model. [MARQUIS lives in France]

When you need a bad day made good, it’s time for Mighty Mouse by Michael (toymaker). He is one of my favorites from childhood cartoons! Michael uses Google SketchUp. [and lives in the US]

Casa Avila Definitivo Recorrido (Avila House Tour Final) makes this home concept come to life with a myriad of details. Vhavila has made every room worthy of exploration and consideration of how you would actually live here! Vhavila used Google SketchUp.

This massive Revolver was “manufactured” by Sam (sketchosaurus) using Google SketchUp). It’s based on the Smith & Wesson 500, which is the most powerful revolver in production today! [Sam lives in New Zealand]

Alfred (alfredix) heads in a new direction with his Patriot Tractor , which is the main mover for a MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile battery. Awesome power and modeling! Check out that suspension detail! Alfred models with Pro/E and then translates the final results into STEP format for upload. [Alfred lives in Germany]

Bluemoon is a 1950s American wooden boat modeled by webmasternavales using Google SketchUp. He included the lofting and rigging drawings in his gallery, which I appreciate. Having done lofting on the floor with ducks and splines myself,  I value the meaning and necessity of those drawings to truly fair your forms, naval or otherwise. [ETSI Navales is in Spain]

Nikola (zenox) provided his own renderings (thanks!), so I am easily able to present his beautiful model of the Audi A7 Sportback Concept, which recently went into production. Nikola used Blender. [Nikola lives in Serbia & Montenegro]

Body 0 0 by MrSinistar leaves a lot to the imagination, which I like. There’s enough there to spark your imagination and still plenty of room for interpretation. It was uploaded in OBJ format.

For a complete tour of the Brazilian DS offices take a walk through DSBR. It was meticulously created by hrp3 using 3DVIA Scenes. [hrp3 lives in Brazil]

Just so everyone knows, the order that the Top 10 are displayed is based on color, type of model and how I’m feeling, not any particular ranking. I just rearrange them until I like the way it looks. It’s as simple as that!
Easy links to the previous Top 10 lists: 001 – 002 – 003 – 004 – 005 – 006 – 007 – 008 – 009 – 010 – 011 - 012 – 013 – 014 – 015 – 016 – 017 -018 - 019 – 020 – 021 – 022 – 023 – 024 – 025 – 026 – 027 – 028 – 029 – 030 – 031 – 032 – 033 – 034 – 035 – 036 – 037 – 038 – 039 – 040 – 041 – 042 – 043 – 044 – 045 – 046 – 047 – 048 – 049 – 050 – 051 – 052 – 053 – 054 (seven weeks in one) – 055 – 056 – 057 – 058 – 059 – 060 – Best of the Best 2009 – 061 – 062 – 063 - 064 – 065 – 066 – 067 – 068 – 069 – 070 – 071 – 072 – 073 – 074 – 075 – 076 – 077 – 078 – 079 – 080 – 081 – 082
Here’s a brief recap of what I look for when I select the Top 10:
Variety – One of the most important factors. I try to show models created using lots of different software products and showing lots of different ways of using 3D. I include brief comments on why I chose each model.
Creativity, unusual subject matter and humor – These are big factors. We should all be having fun and feel free to model our passions!
Models entered in the 3DVIA Challenge contests will not be considered – They’re already getting plenty of attention and I want to spotlight models we may have missed.
There is no reward given – Other than the satisfaction of being noticed, spotlighted and being brought to the attention of more modelers. In my personal experience, the pleasure of having my work appreciated is the ultimate reward anyway.
From time to time I will make mistakes and not follow my own rules – I will review these mistakes on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes I will change the post and sometimes I won’t. I will be consistently inconsistent. I am human.
Your comments are always welcomed and encouraged! Your responses will help the modelers and the 3DVIA community as a whole. Feel free to bring other models to my attention and let me know why they attracted you. (PLEASE NOTE: In order to make it easier to explore, all photos are linked directly to the model’s page.)
One final note of caution: these are my choices (dswavely) and my choices alone. So, aim the tomatoes appropriately.

<iframe width=”610″
height=”367″ frameborder=”0″ scrolling=”no” marginheight=”0″ marginwidth=”0″
src=”http://www.3dvia.com/scenes/D88C02CEE0F2C4D6?output=embed&width=610&height=343&avatar=1&chat=0&edit=0&title=1&pla
yvt=1″></iframe>

Hardware-Accelerated Global Illumination by Image Space Photon Mapping Morgan McGuire, Williams CollegeDavid Luebke, NVIDIA Corporation "We describe an extension to photon mapping that recasts the most expensive steps of the algorithm -- the initial and final photon bounces -- as image-space operations amenable to GPU acceleration. This enables global illumination for real-time applications as well as accelerating it for offline rendering.Image Space Photon Mapping (ISPM) rasterizes a light-space bounce map of emitted photons surviving initial-bounce Russian roulette sampling on a GPU. It then traces photons conventionally on the CPU. Traditional photon mapping estimates final radiance by gathering photons from a k-d tree. ISPM instead scatters indirect illumination by rasterizing an array of photon volumes. Each volume bounds a filter kernel based on the a priori probability density of each photon path. These two steps exploit the fact that initial path segments from point lights and final ones into a pinhole camera each have a common center of projection. An optional step uses joint bilateral upsampling of irradiance to reduce the fill requirements of rasterizing photon volumes. ISPM preserves the accurate and physically-based nature of photon mapping, supports arbitrary BSDFs, and captures both high- and low-frequency illumination effects such as caustics and diffuse color interreflection..." Computer Graphics is the science of enabling visual communication through computation. It is used in film, video games, medical imaging, engineering, and machine vision.graphics.cs.williams.edu

    Non-circular gear can be considered as a transmogrification of circular gear, because its pitch circle has been shifted from circular to non-circular. The outstanding characteristic of non-circular gear transmission mechanism in dynamics is that it could achieve the non-linear relationship between driving mechanism and follower mechanism, as a result, it can substitute for the usual transmission between cam and link mechanism, which has the following advantages:    1.Stabler,sturdier and firmer than link mechanism;    2.Stabler than cam mechanism;    3.Easier and more facile to realize shift transmission than others mechanism.Read more:  8625plus2.com

Awaiting the 3D Printing & DIY Musical Instrument Crossover?We are starting to see some cool Arduino casings from the likes of I Heart Engineering and potentiometer knobs from Jarno but when will we start to see DIY musical instruments start to creep into the Shapeways shops to create Music from Outer Space?
Continue reading "Musical Hacks & 3D Printing"

With the introduction of Gold Plated Glossy to our already available Gold Plated Matt and Antique Bronze Glossy and Antique Bronze Matt  Shapeways is currently offering 20 Material options for 3D Printing based on 9 base materials.We are always on the lookout for new materials like the Very High Detail Wax and will keep you posted of anything else we are experimenting with.  Likewise, please let us know if you find any new materials or processes you would like for us to include?
var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true};

If you are in LA for SIGGRAPH 2010 come to the The Future of 3D Printing Birds of a Feather event today.Wednesday, 28 July | 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM | San Jose A - Holiday Inn Los Angeles Convention CenterIn this session for attendees interested in 3D printing, leaders in the 3D printing field discuss current and future technologies.The Shapeways team will be represented by Peter Weijmarshausen, winners of the SIGGRAPH tickets come and say hello.var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true};

In just a few days time, from july 27th-29th, SIGGRAPH 2010 will break loose in Los Angeles.

SIGGRAPH (Special Interest Group on Graphics and Interactive Techniques, in full) is the world's largest conference on computer graphics and 3d technology, and it's THE place to be if you're interested in 3D. Cities that host SIGGRAPH turn into a madhouse: all hotels are full, movie and game studios throw parties every evening and you have a good chance to run into 3D celebrities.

Even better: you can run into Shapeways! We'll be there for the third year in a row, showing 3D artists how they can transform their work from the virtual into the physical. If you're in the area, we'd be thrilled to meet you! Come on over to say hi and meet the team, check out our sample prints and meet fellow Shapeways users. (We still have free tradeshow tickets left - get them here). You'll find us at booth number 538. You can download a map of the event, and our SIGGRAPH leaflet. Continue reading "Shapeways at SIGGRAPH 2010"

These scientists will be king of the world!by skunkpost.com

I am looking to find Australian Shapeways users so that we can unite to promote Shapeways products locally.  This could be something as simple as a stall at a local market or design event such as Finders Keepers, Design Made Trade or Bowerbird Bazaar?  We may even be able to organise (Australian English spelling) a chance for some of us to meet up so that we can get to know each other and get some feedback in person?Send an email to duann(at)shapeways.com if you are interested?Also if you are interested in starting your own local chapter (secret handshakes optional) let us know and we may be able to help you out with sample products, t-shirts or other assistance to help you promote yourselves and Shapeways.var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true};

Wild 2: If You Were ThereOn Jan. 2, 2004 NASA's Stardust spacecraft made a close flyby of comet Wild 2 (pronounced "Vilt-2"). Among the equipment the spacecraft carried on board was a navigation camera.that Comet Wild 2 is about 3.1 miles in diameter. This artist's concept depicts a view of Wild 2 that shows the faint jets emanating from the comet.Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech via nasa.gov Posted via email from xea's posterous

We’ve seen cool 3D projection on objects before, but this is frighteningly cool. It’s another 3DTV installation from Samsung.
It’s not projection so much, as it is a video which run across hundreds of screens mounted to the side of the Beurs van Berlage exhibition and concert hall in Amsterdam. But it’s mapped perfectly to the facade of the 4 story, 19th century structure. This was put up in May, but if you haven’t seen it yet… here it is.

Via Zee
© 2010, Admin for SolidSmack.com | Link to Post

Before you pucker your lips up into your nasal cavity at the sight of something called Smart Components, take a breath. You’ll want to know about them if you haven’t used them already.
Smart Components automatically put features into parts when you mate them into assemblies. They take a little bit to set up, but the results simplify a lot of repetitive modeling and external references. Then there’s the issue of working with them in Large Assemblies. Nothing tells how to man-handle them…
…but you’re in luck. SolidSmack reader, Patrick Girvin, figured out how to trick SolidWorks into obeying your will when it comes to moving, grooving and organizing your Smart Components. Here’s how to do it…
The problem
Once a Smart Component (features and additional parts added) is mated into place and activated, you cannot move them into sub-assemblies, dissolve them or put them into folders.
The solution
To move Smart Components into sub-assemblies, dissolve them or put them into folders follow this 4-step process.

Insert an empty assembly into your overall assembly that contain the smart components.
Using the “reorganize components” tool, select the parts within the smart components in the feature manager.
Move them into the empty sub-assembly.
Dissolve the sub-assembly.

Voila! The smart component folders are now gone, but the associated features are still there, mates are still working, and if you move your Smart Components around, the associated in-context features update properly.
Thanks again to Patrick Girvin for sending this in!
© 2010, Admin for SolidSmack.com | Link to Post