Creativity and Constraints

This week's guest blog is from Scott Harmon, Z Corp VP of Business Development.

Creativity and Constraints.

These two go together like oil and water, or here in Boston, Yankees and Red Sox. They are the great paradox of design and engineering. Constantly at war with each other. Battling for supremacy. When constraints win out, designs and products are dull and uninspiring. When creativity wins out, designs and the final products are novel and catch the notice of customers, but budgets are wrecked, timelines are blown and no one seems to notice.


Inside this conflict is where innovation lives. Innovation is when companies deliver products that exceed customer expectations, and do it on time and under budget. Failure on either attribute is still failure.

So the question is, how do you wrestle these two beasts to the ground? How do you deliver a design and final product that your customer wants, and do it faster and less expensively than ever before? It shouldn’t come as a big shock that a 3D printer company would say “prototype more,” and we do. But the new frontier of prototyping is less about completing the job faster at less cost, and more about creativity. How do you make sure that the final product that you are delivering is the product your customer wants?

The answer is obvious, but relatively few companies actually do it. How about showing your customer the product long before it’s a product? How about creating with them?

When I was a product manager, I was always frustrated by how we showed new product ideas to consumers. We would brainstorm some ideas and have an artist draw them up on a sheet of paper. The images would have explanations for various features and such. Then we would show it to groups of consumers and discuss it. I’m sure you have all been there. It was maddening. You’d get really helpful feedback like “That’s not possible.” or “Would it come in yellow?” The boss was not happy to see the bill for a focus group with those kinds of results.

These days you can put a physical prototype in front of the focus group for less than the cost of the focus group. You can get a real response from your customers about what works for them and what does not from a prototype with the color and feel of an actual product. If you want to make sure you customers love your products, give them the product long before it is actually a product.

http://www.zcorp.com/en/Solutions/Architecture/spage.aspx    

Create more…innovation: MIT School of Architecture and Planning Completed research on Palladio’s Unfinished Villas

In his blog on July 20th, Z Corp. CEO, John Kawola outlined Z Corp.'s "Create more" vision for continuous innovation.  Our next few blogs, by Julie Reece, highlighted real examples of our how customers are creating more with 3D printing.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is an independent, privately endowed educational institution committed to teaching and research. MIT is world renowned, with eight Nobel Prize winners on its faculty, and comprises five schools and one college encompassing 34 academic departments, divisions, and degree granting programs, as well as numerous interdisciplinary centers, laboratories, and programs whose work cuts across traditional departmental boundaries. The Department of Architecture, within the School of Architecture and Planning is the oldest architecture department in the United States. The department offers degree programs in Architectural Design, Building Technology, Computation, History, Theory and Criticism, and Visual Arts.

Challenge: Accelerating Architectural Model Development
The Department of Architecture at MIT is the oldest and one of the most highly respected architectural programs in the United States. For years, faculty and students employed manual modeling techniques, using a variety of materials ranging from paper and cardboard to foam board and plastic, to create scaled, architectural models. However, manual modeling carries drawbacks that from a practical standpoint limit its actual use in architectural courses and MIT-related research projects, according to Lawrence Sass, assistant professor in MIT’s Department of Architecture.

“Models are important for visualizing, imprinting, and sharing architectural ideas and concepts,” Sass says. “But manual modeling takes too much time; requires manual skills and a level of craftsmanship not directly related to architectural ability; and cannot adequately represent complex buildings or ornate architectural features.”

Sass speaks from personal experience. As a Ph.D. student at MIT in the late 1990s, he undertook as a research project the completion of Palladio’s Italian Villas. Andrea Palladio, who is revered today as the greatest architect who ever lived, revolutionized Western architecture in the 16th century by authoring definitive texts that remain valid today. The principles Palladio set forth are evidenced in the 40 villas he designed for rich, powerful nobles in the Veneto area of Italy, which surrounds the island city of Venice. While Palladio designed floor plans for all 40 villas, only 19 were actually built.

When Sass set out to construct models of Palladio’s unfinished villas, he discovered that the ornate columns, cornices, and moldings were difficult to model by hand, especially within the time allotted for his project. Sass suggested that MIT purchase a rapid prototyping system that could produce the model components needed to complete his research on Palladio’s villas, support future architectural researchers, and enhance the school’s educational experience by accelerating the development of architectural models.

Solution: Z Corp. 3D Printer Produces Fast, Clean Architectural Components
The requirements for a rapid fabrication system devoted solely to the production of components for architectural models are similar to the criteria for machines used to prototype consumer and industrial products. The system had to be fast, so that many students and educators could access it; had to produce complex geometries, to represent ornate architectural features; had to produce clean models, without internal support systems or breakaway parts; and had to operate in a classroom setting, without the need for specialized laboratories and/or operators. These selection criteria narrowed the choice down to a 3D Printer, and MIT did not have to look far to find the system best suited to its needs.

Sass and his department advisors at MIT chose a Z Corporation 3D printer to meet its architectural modeling needs because it was the fastest 3D printer available, produced clean models with no internal support structures, produced models with complex shapes, could be operated in the classroom, and utilized technology first developed at MIT. “As a Ph.D. student, I saw the benefits of using a 3D printer to produce architectural models to complete my Palladio project,” Sass recalls. “As a future member of the faculty, I saw even greater benefits for using the Z Corp. 3D printer to improve the educational experience of students.”

After successfully completing his Ph.D. dissertation with the help of the Z Corp. models of Palladio’s unfinished villas, Sass later joined the faculty of the Department of Architecture and began thinking about ways for students to use the 3D printer in an actual course. Because the 3D printer handled the complex geometries involved with the Palladio’s work well, Sass realized it was more than sufficient for producing more modern architectural concepts. The graduate-level “Advanced Course in Digital Fabrication” that Sass developed in 2002 was the first architectural course of its kind. Its purpose is to teach students about how to apply rapid prototyping techniques to architectural design. During the course, students collaborate within design teams to produce a skyscraper or tower design as both a digital model, using solid modeling software, and an actual physical model, using the Z Corp. 3D printer.

“We want our architectural students to stretch the limits of their creativity, which usually results in complex geometrical shapes that you simply cannot build with your bare hands,” Sass explains.

Results: Cutting-edge Course in Architectural Design, Ties with Top Firms
By installing the Z Corp. 3D printer, MIT’s Department of Architecture not only helped Sass to complete his research by constructing accurate, scaled models of Palladio’s unfinished villas but also to implement a cutting-edge architectural course in digital fabrication that has garnered the notice of leading architectural firms. “The class has been a huge success,” Sass stresses. “The students enjoy the collaboration process, learn a lot, and establish contacts that can help them build professional careers.”

Students in the heavily over-subscribed course had the opportunity to present their tower models to representatives of the Computer Modeling Group at Norman Foster and Partners, a leading architectural firm based in the United Kingdom, during a class trip to London. Another top firm — New York-based Kohn Pederson Fox Associates — is already working to apply some of the concepts developed in the class by incorporating aspects of building prototyping into their professional practice.

“From the time of Michelangelo up through the current day, architects have always used models to represent important buildings. The Z Corp. 3D Printer enables us to create clean models and components quickly and easily and allows us to expose the architects of tomorrow to cutting-edge modeling and fabricating technology,” Sass says.

http://www.zcorp.com/en/Solutions/Architecture/spage.aspx

Check out the viral 3D printing YouTube video!

Create more…communication: Multicolor 3D Printer a ‘Bargain’ for OBM International

In his blog on July 20th, Z Corp. CEO, John Kawola outlined Z Corp.'s "Create more" vision for continuous innovation. Our next few blogs, by Julie Reece, will highlight real examples of our how customers are creating more with 3D printing.

Clients hire OBM International (OBMI) to think in three dimensions. The world-class architectural firm demonstrates its prowess in this skill every day by designing luxury hotels, resorts and mixed-use developments around the world.

The creations speak eloquently for themselves. When designs are still in the concept stage, however, OBMI conveys the impact of its ideas through 3D printing.

Before turning to 3D printing, the 72-year-old firm, headquartered in Coral Gables, Fla., USA, presented project concepts to clients by creating vivid, two-dimensional photorealistic renderings or computer animations. In its early years, the firm used traditional 2D plans, sketches or the occasional handcrafted model.

Challenge: True Client Understanding
Although these approaches were effective, the third dimension, depth, was sorely missed. Two-dimensional renderings failed to accurately convey a sense of space, mass or scale, nor any clear line between landscaping and building. Wide angle and telescoped perspectives altered shapes. Still images and animated fly-throughs told the observer where he must look rather than giving him the freedom to walk around the model and look where he pleased.

“Two-dimensional renderings can be deceiving,” says Robin Lockhart, Associate and Senior Production Manager for OBMI. “They’re simply not quite ‘there’ for the lay person.”

Handcrafted models, on the other hand, are laborious, time consuming, expensive, and less accurate than 3D printed models. The rare laser cut model could cost OBMI upwards of $100,000 – more than the cost of two or three 3D printers – and take months or more to arrive.

OBMI had monitored the development of 3D printing for several years from afar, but for most of that time the equipment was out of reach due to its high costs.

OBMI’s CEO, Doug Kulig, noticed that 3D printers were reaching a tipping point in their market. Costs were plummeting and printer capabilities were soaring. Assigned to study the 3D printing options, Lockhart performed an extensive investigation of 3D printers from three vendors. “Z Corporation had the best combination of quality, color capability, footprint and office friendliness, ”Lockhart says. “Moreover, we distributed 3D files to prospective vendors, and Z Corporation was the only one that could print us a sample model.”

Z Corporation 3D printers are the fastest 3D printers and the only ones capable of printing in multiple colors – two layers per minute in 24-bit color at 600 x 540 dpi resolution. Other 3D printers billing themselves as color capable are in fact monochrome machines that can print only one color at a time. Another vendor’s expensive offering had intrigued Lockhart until he realized OBMI would have to build a “science lab” to house it. The ZPrinter consumes far less space (42 x 31 x 50 inches), without the odors, noise, and caustic chemicals of other technologies. “We feel great about the choice we made,” Lockhart says today.

Strategy: “3D Printing” Architectural Models
OBMI architects perform their 3D design work in Google SketchUp CAD software. They use the ZPrinter’s multicolor capabilities for landscaping, topography, streets and other surrounding features, and then set off the designed buildings or interior in white, the architect’s traditional choice. This combination provides visually stunning models that are also easy to comprehend by all parties.

In house, OBMI uses 3D printed models for design critique and assessment. Lockhart anticipates the practice will yield increasingly superior designs and service.

Results: Clients Are Impressed, and “They Get It”
“‘Wow!’ That’s the usual response to the models,” reports Lockhart. “Someone inevitably asks, ‘how the heck did you do that?’ Clients are fascinated with the model and impressed with us for presenting it. The mood of the meeting brightens. Their choice in architects is affirmed. Before we’re done, clients usually order more models for marketing their hotels and resorts.”

As fun as it is to impress, the models also inform. “We now have a new way to communicate to clients in a form they can deeply comprehend,” Lockhart says. “The spatial element really comes through. You can’t really know a building from a flat screen any more than you can drive a car by watching a Formula 1 race. And there’s something about walking around a site, even a scale model, that reveals the truth of the proposal. Clients crouch down to see it at eye level. They can touch it. They can peer down a hall. This transparent communication produces informed decisions, eliminates costly redesigns and increases client satisfaction. 3D printing has proved to be the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ of our architectural presentations.”

“Both in house and with clients, 3D printing has brought that missing dimension to our daily practice fairly easily,” Lockhart adds. “We now have the best machine to suit our needs, all the options, at an affordable price. The many and varied benefits of 3D printing make the machine a bargain.”

http://www.zcorp.com/en/Solutions/Architecture/spage.aspx

Check out the viral YouTube 3D printing video!

Create More...Ideas: Oversized Architectural 3D Prints

In last week's blog by Z Corp. CEO, John Kawola, he outlined Z Corp.'s "Create more" vision for continuous innovation.  Our next few blogs will highlight real examples of our how customers are creating more with 3D printing.  Today’s guest blog and customer example comes from David Munson of Munson3D.

There is an inevitable conflict that arises from time to time when creating architectural models. We typically work out a desired scale and model extents to get a final model size. The scale is driven by the level of detail desired. The extents may include contextual buildings beyond the property line needed to tell the story of its design.

When the size of the model is beyond the machine's build chamber, some division of the model is in order. For many models this can be accomplished in Z-Edit Pro. Users of Revit and/or 3ds Max Design may prefer creating 3D printer files in their native programs. For complicated 3D splitting, which may be needed to hide seams in more sophisticated model designs, I believe that Max Design is the way to go.

In Revit, Section Boxes work really well. They break the model into geometrically clean sections quickly and easily. However, they are limited to boxes, so more complicated divisions are not supported. But if one is dividing into simple rectangular pieces, using Revit is much easier than using Max Design where one may need to invoke the dreaded Boolean command.

For a more complicated scenario let me take you through a New York City School project I recently completed. Working from the Max Design model used to create the renderings, we settled on the scale and model extents. Note that we are making a traditionally large architectural model using 3D printing techniques along with some traditional made elements.

Next, the Max Design model is divided into .02” thick slice planes. The model goes through a phase of designing for 3D printing. Even the elements that are not going to be 3D printed should be modeled. Then you can communicate with your client the model design with visual precision before physical production starts and have templates for the hand or laser cutting of foam core, plastic, etc. along with the precise files for 3D printing which will fit together like a sophisticated, custom architectural puzzle. .

For this model I printed about 20 parts. It is more important to slice where you can hide the seams than to fill out a build chamber. The sidewalk in the front is on an incline and has curb cuts, etc. so I decided to 3D print it. I made a notch on the building facade where the sidewalk connects so this was a complex 3D connection. Thanks to the precision of 3D printing, it came out great!

Fitting them all together, even the non-3D printed parts, was made easy by computer modeling all the pieces first. The facades are 0.1” thick with a structural grid behind them to prevent warping.

Even the cars and people were 3D printed!

The texture mapping created for the renderings is actually printed in the final, physical model!

For examples of how AEC customers create more with 3D printing, visit: http://www.zcorp.com/en/Company/Customers/Case-Studies/spage.aspx#AEC
and
http://www.zcorp.com/en/forward/events.aspx?c=15

See the now famous viral 3D printing YouTube video

Create more: Z Corporation's Vision for Continuous Innovation

Today's guest blog is from John Kawola, CEO, Z Corporation.

Some people punch the clock. Others live to make a mark.

If you get out of bed in the morning to push the boundaries of the possible, Z Corporation can help you get there. We exist because you are an inspired designer or engineer who wants to create more. More ideas, more communication and more innovation.

We believe that invention is exhilarating. You discover ideas in your imagination, the natural world or the built world. You transform ideas into digital concepts. Then you push astonishing creations into the physical world where they make a difference.

Sometimes, however, business constraints hold you back. Like limited time and budgets; the complex dynamics of working with colleagues and external partners; and the technical limitations of design tools.

That’s where we come in. We exist not to get around those realities, but to help you use them to your advantage.

We believe that innovation should drive every phase of design, from concept through data capture, sketching, modeling, detail design, analysis, manufacturing and inspection. We make that possible with 3D printing and 3D scanning solutions for high-volume, low-cost use by virtually anyone, so that you can innovate early and often throughout the design process.

And that puts you in a powerful position to synch your goals with those of your organization. You’ll explore more ideas while saving money. You’ll present iterations in a way that encourages group development. You’ll inspire prospective customers. You’ll get the green light to make your designs real. And you’ll see your designs succeed in the marketplace.

Like you, we live to stretch the boundaries of what is possible. We work with the most productive designers and engineers to create solutions that streamline manufacturing, and we lead the way in emerging applications in architecture, education, entertainment, healthcare, art, historic preservation and geographic information systems. No other vendor enables so many applications.

Within each industry, we’re bringing the value of our solutions to the entire organization. We enable management teams to drive investments; marketing teams to generate demand; sales teams to secure orders; and teachers to develop the innovators of tomorrow.

More ideas.

More communication.

More innovation.

Z Corporation. Create more.

Read our complete Vision Paper.

Revit Technology Conference - Redux

The Revit Technology Conference (RTC) held its inaugural event in North America at the Hyatt Huntington Beach, California on June 23 - 25, 2011.

Z Corporation was represented by one of its authorized channel partners in Southern California, 3D Rapid Prototyping, Inc. (3DRP). 3DRP, a sponsor for RTC, brought their ZPrinter 450 demo system and interacted with the Revit users throughout the 3-day event.

“Bill Craig and his team from 3D Rapid Prototyping were terrific!” said Phil Read, the lead organizer for RTC North America. “3DRP took the time to explain 3D printing technology to the Revit users, whether or not there was a sales opportunity – their collective knowledge of the ZPrinter technology for AEC applications was impressive.”

At the show, 3DRP printed some Revit models from files that random attendees had given them.

The image below shows a ZPrint of a home designed in Revit:

The elephant and cow below were designed in Revit to show that it is possible to do complex shapes. The designer was Marcello Sgambelluri of John Martin Assoc.

Many thanks to our friends at 3DRP for sponsoring the RTC event and educating the Revit users about ZPrinting.

http://www.zcorp.com/en/Solutions/Architecture/spage.aspx

The Fun, Innovative 3D Printing Company

Today’s guest blog is by Julie Reece, Z Corp’s Director of Marketing Communications.

I generally prefer to purchase products from companies whose employees really, I mean REALLY, love what they do. They’re passionate about their designs. The lines between their work day and home lives are blurred because what they do for work is also their hobby. They’re fun, creative and brilliant. Because of these attributes, they produce better designs. You know the types of companies I’m talking about…Google, Apple, Foster+Partners, Converse, Cisco, and yes, Z Corporation.

This summer, each Z Corp department is taking turns hosting a themed lunch of their own choosing for the rest of the company. Last Thursday it was our executive team’s turn. They hosted a Casino event in our first floor café and outside on our lawn under the watchful eye of our company mascot, a pink flamingo named Zeke.

Maybe it was partly because our home team heroes, the Boston Bruins ice hockey team, had just won the coveted Stanley Cup, or maybe it was because it was a gorgeous summer day, or perhaps it was the offer of great prizes from several of our customers that the air was electric. My colleagues yelled with glee as their buckets of fake money filled.

I was the designated photographer for the event, and was able to step back and get a different perspective than my colleagues. Through my lens, I saw a Z Corp vice president in a tuxedo jacket, Bermuda shorts and flip flops.

I saw our CEO, John Kawola, manning the roulette table and good naturedly chiding players for taking too long to place their bets.

I saw employees from all departments and all levels playing together, talking, laughing and building team and company spirit.

But, I think the thing that struck me most was when I finally noticed that the poker chips we were using were actually 3D printed in-house at Z Corp on a ZPrinter. Take a look at the photos below. How cool is that?! There were hundreds of them being thrown in buckets and on tables.

Oh, and the Bruins? Well, we didn’t forget about them either. One of our application engineers who lives, eats, and breathes the Boston Bruins quickly created this 3D print that morning, in time to display it during our Casino celebration.

This is the type of creative, passionate, innovative company I like to do business with, and I’m happy to say, lucky enough to work for.

New 3D Printing in AEC Mini-Webcast Series:
Part I:  The Client Meeting
Part II:  Building Team Collaboration

http://www.zcorp.com/