C-9 Introduction to 3-D Design, Printing, and Rapid Prototyping for Futurists

Working mostly out of sight until relatively recently in small workshops, nondescript office parks, garages, and basements around the world, revolutionaries have been tinkering with technologies that will soon radically change virtually every aspect of the world as we know it.

These technologies can transform physical atoms into digital bits, instantly transfer them around the world, and then turn digital bits back into physical atoms. These radical technologies are generally known as rapid prototyping, 3-D printing, and laser scanning.

Laser scanners can now covert almost any real-world object into a compact digital file. Freely available and easy-to-use CAD software packages such as SketchUp can be used to creatively modify (mash-up) the parameters of the scanned 3-D design to create a greatly improved design. These new software packages enable anyone to draw using a familiar pencil and paper paradigm in a software context. The resulting designs can then be uploaded to the Internet and shared with millions of people around the world. The modified design can be downloaded and then “printed” in exact detail using virtually any material desired, ranging from TeflonTM to titanium.

In order to adapt and prosper in this new world dominated and driven by these rapidly evolving, paradigm-shifting technologies, all professionals, regardless of discipline, will have to bring themselves up to speed so that they can avoid being blindsided by the profound consequences that these new systems will have on society.

Highlights: Participant will leave this course with a knowledge of:

• The historical and technological background to rapid prototyping/3-D printing and laser scanning.
• The language and notation of 3-D design.
• Different types of laser scanners and how they can be used.
• Different types of rapid prototyping/3-D printing machines and how they work.
• An introduction to the SketchUp 3-D drawing platform.
• Creating surfaces from polygons.
• Drawing in 3-D using the pencil tool.
• Display options and styles, and mastery of the rotate tool.
• An explanation of solids and the proper use of solids.
• How to upload completed designs to the internet so others can see, evaluate, and purchase them.

  Dr. Paul D. Tinari, director, Pacific Institute for Advanced Study; certified AutoCAD Drafting Technician and AutoCAD Instructor with more than 20 years’ experience in the creation of 3-D designs; founder, ZAP3D Web site. He has more than twenty years of experience as a futurist, systems and creativity expert, and futures consultant to professional clients around the globe, Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada

  Friday, July 19, 2013
  9:00 am - 5:00 pm
  Member $249