3D printer

3D printers and rapid prototyping

What is the difference between
an RP machine and a 3D printer?

The flippant answer is, “about $50,000.”
3D printers are really just lower-cost, somewhat less-capable, rapid prototyping machines. These days they sell at prices in the $10,000 to $25,000 range rather than the $60,000 (and up – way up) associated with their big brothers. With recent price cuts, it’s possible to buy a Solido LOM-based machine for less than $10,000, or a Dimension, FDM-based uPrint system for less than $15,000. Buyers who are willing and able to build a kit can be in business today for just a few hundred dollars. 3D printers have some additional, generally-agreed-upon defining characteristics:

Z-Corp printers

Rapid Prototypes / CAD

Leading product designers and entire teams of engineers use Z Corporation 3D printers on a daily basis to produce a high volume of realistic prototypes quickly, easily, and inexpensively for a wide range of specialized applications, including:

* Concept Models
* Finite Element Analysis
* Presentation Models
* Functional Testing
* Packaging Development

Rapid prototyping

Rapid prototyping – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rapid prototyping is the automatic construction of physical objects using additive manufacturing technology. The first techniques for rapid prototyping became available in the late 1980s and were used to produce models and prototype parts. Today, they are used for a much wider range of applications and are even used to manufacture production-quality parts in relatively small numbers. Some sculptors use the technology to produce complex shapes for fine arts exhibitions.

Stereolithography Machines

Rapid Prototyping Machines, Stereolithography Machines – ProtoCAM

ProtoCAM uses two SLA-7000 stereolithography machines to help customers to reduce costs and lead-times. The SLA-7000 builds up to 3 times faster than the previous model (it replaced the SLA-5000.) This increase in speed significantly reduces the time and cost for large scale SLA models and helps you to build more options of smaller designs in a fraction of the time. The SLA-7000 also has the largest build envelope of all of ProtoCAM’s stereolithography machines: 20″ x 20″ x 23″

Images of workshops

Pictures from a visit to the workshops at RMIT here.

Prototyping interaction design

I started look at ScreenFlow as a possible prototyping software – and then found that it actually does the job for iphones.

Creating a screencast with a Mac: will you use iShowU HD, Screenium, ScreenFlow, or Snapz Pro?

Perhaps you want to create a software training on your Mac, or you just want to show people something that can be done with an application. For that, you’ll need to have a screencast recording program, and on the Mac there are at least five of these that are usable to professionals: ScreenFlow, Screenium, iShowU, iShowU HD Pro, and Snapz Pro with QuickTime recording option. We tested all five of them on performance and quality.

You can record a screencast in two ways. You either record the entire screen or a small portion of it. If you choose the second method it’s best to let the area follow your mouse wherever it goes. Actually, there’s a third way to record which is to record a fixed area of your screen, but that’s only efficient when you know in advance you’ll be working within that small area all the time.