Posts from August, 2009

ice-cold whoop-@$$

This was a quick little project to play with some of the new features in Modo 401, including replicator items (the glycerine droplets), clearcoats, multiple environments, and the rest of it. That’s right, this is 100% Photoshop-free 3D. Download the full [1920 x 1200] image here. Let me know if you’re interested in seeing a tutorial.

Behance Network

Yet another design portfolio site has popped up, and it actually has a really nice set of features in addition to its slick design sensability and high-profile roster.

Continuity 102: Analysis

So now that you know what continuity is, you’ll want to know how to analyze the continuity of your curves and surfaces in your CAD system. Each system has its own specialized tools, but there are a few common ones that are available in basically every CAD package: porcupine (aka “Curvature Combs”), Zebra, and color gradation. In this brief video, we’ll take a look at these three analysis types, and explain what they mean and how to read them.

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Continuity 101

I’d wager that 95% of CAD users don’t know what “Curvature” continuity really is in the mathematical sense, much less how it makes sense in the broader context of surfacing. Here we’ll look at the basic principles of “continuity”, and use these principles as the basis for a longer-term study on class a surfacing continuity. This video presentation isn’t just for geeks, it’s for real people who just want to understand what “G0″, “G1″, “G2″, “G3″, and “G4″ really mean in practical terms.

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Conics 101

Some of you might not know what I’m talking about when I ramble on about “conics” in CAD. In this short video, I’ll explain what conics are, and the basic mathematical and practical ideas that underpin their use in CAD. Sound like a party? Oh yeah, baby. It’s geek-out time.

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V5 Sweep

The “sweep” tool in Catia V5 can be daunting: it’s driven by a huge dialog box with literally dozens upon dozens of alternate configurations. Fortunately, it’s not actually as complicated as it looks, and it is quite possibly the most powerful parametric surfacing tool available in any CAD package.

Here I’ll be going through all of the various types of swept surfaces that can be created using Catia’s “Sweep” command in V5 R18. I’ll be trying to cover almost the entire tool in detail, so there are quite a few videos here. I recommend starting at the beginning, and watch each video in sequence.

Use them, love them! I had to make over a dozen videos to document the entire tool!

Enjoy!

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