In fast-growing 3D world, a revolution begins in Triangle

Updated Jan. 18, 2010 at 12:58 p.m.

In fast-growing 3D world, a revolution begins in Triangle

On The Web

Geomagic

Site Search

Editor's note: On Jan. 14, Ping Fu of RTP-based and fast-growing Geomagic was one of 50 U.S. CEOs – including Steve Ballmer of Microsoft and Chris Hughes of Facebook – selected by President Obama and White House senior staff to participate in the White House Forum on Modernizing Government. Local Tech Wire asked Ms. Fu, a former Inc magazine entrepreneur of the year, to discuss the patent-winning and pioneering efforts by her firm that led to her invitation to the White House.

By Ping Fu, special to Local Tech Wire

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. - While 3D has taken center stage recently in entertainment and consumer arenas – from the record-breaking Avatar to 3D TV at the Consumer Electronics Show – a more important 3D revolution is taking place in manufacturing and medical facilities around the world. At the forefront is RTP-based Geomagic, whose pioneering 3D software fundamentally changes the way products are designed, inspected and manufactured.

A new way to design

Geomagic Studio software makes it easy and fast to transform 3D scan data – called a point cloud – of physical objects into accurate digital models that can be edited directly in popular computer-aided design (CAD) programs. Where once design started with a blank computer screen, it increasingly starts with a point cloud, the set of 3D points that represents the physical object in the digital realm.

Applications of Geomagic Studio include ensuring the safe return of the NASA space shuttle, digital processes at Timberland that cut waste by 75 percent, and new appliances developed at Shriners Hospitals for Children to treat cleft palate, an application that won the “Rapid Technologies That Will Change the World” award from Desktop Engineering magazine.

In addition to original design, Geomagic technology has the potential to save manufacturers millions in tooling costs. Instead of recreating an expensive mold from scratch, for example, companies can scan an existing one, analyze the wear and tear, design an improved model, and manufacture new molds in days instead of weeks or months.

Inspection in 3D

Another core Geomagic product, Geomagic Qualify, enables fast, accurate, graphical comparisons between digital reference models and as-built parts for first-article inspection, production inspection, and supplier quality management.

With Geomagic Qualify, companies now have the ability to almost instantly scan a product coming off an assembly line and compare it to the idealized CAD model to determine deviations and changes caused by tooling or molds. Car companies can conduct structural and flow analyses based on the actual digital model of an as-built part or assembly, rather than the less-accurate CAD model. Maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) organizations can quickly assess damage to parts and fulfill the dual goals of better repairs and getting planes back in the air faster.

Infinite variety

The beauty of applications spawned from the point cloud is their seemingly infinite variety. A confluence of ideas and new applications are coming out of dialogue among industrial, medical and artistic communities.

At Convergence 2009, the Geomagic user conference, presentations covered everything from refining 119-year-old foundry processes to exposing a fraudulent Picasso sculpture; from the quest to set a world land speed record to innovations in dental implants; from new applications in pediatric orthopedics to major reductions in industrial time-to-market and return-to-market cycles.

Within automotive and aerospace companies, hospitals, consumer product manufacturers, design boutiques, electrical component makers, medical device providers and a host of traditional and newly minted entities popping up throughout the world, a quiet revolution is taking place. And, it all starts with the point cloud.

About the author: Ping Fu is co-founder and CEO of Geomagic as well as an award-winning entreprneuer.

Editor's Blog

The latest blog posts from our WRAL Tech Wire and WRAL editors. Read more articles…

WRAL Tech Wire