Core77

Damon Millar envisions the future
of CAD

By Lisa Smith - July 1, 2010

in Tech | Object Culture

Damon Millar is developing a new way to think about CAD. Instead of using abstract, geometric modeling tools to create a form to be output by highly flexible, axis-based, CNC tools, PhysicalCAD invites the user to manipulate blanks of material with virtual tools like lathes, chisels and drills to create form. This would then generate a set of instructions for how to make it, by hand, with the very same tools. The material blanks are intelligent, embedded with information about intrinsic properties like grain, hardness, and density.

The tool is at an early stage, but don't let the low-fidelity distract you—the possibilities of this concept are endless. See a demo in the video above. How many times have you wished you could just chisel a chunk out of a meticulously built volume, only to be thwarted by clouds of control points?

We wondered why anyone would use CAD at all if they were interested in exploring form with hand tools. Is Physical CAD just a glorified, computerized, but less capable version of what designers do every day, by hand, in their shops? What does it mean to add this additional level of removal, simulating the behavior of tools and raw materials?

From Damon:

A true solid modelling system would model more than the surface, it would model the material inside. But the material inside is only important when things deform, in response to a force. So a true solid modelling system uses force to shape things, not geometric modelling tools. This is handy, because real tools also use force. Suddenly we have a more intuitive and acessible way to use higher-fidelity CAD. In this new world of modelled materials, real material knowledge becomes important for using CAD. Physical CAD enables expert makers to contribute their knowledge by using machinery as CAD modelling tools. Physical CAD enables sympathetic decisions about shape and materials.

We love the questions this project opens up. What happens when digital form making becomes more intuitive? Bringing it closer to hand-working and opening the doors to a different kind of mass production, informed by the set of instructions such a CAD modeling tool would produce. As Damon says, it's a way to "enable sympathetic decisions," inviting CAD users to manipulate form aggressively and immediately, like a video game about making something.

Let us know what you think in the comments.

o

Favorite This
Q
8

Comment

Comments

seth collins

14 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

I talked a lot with Damon about how this would be useful in a real world context. The main thing i liked about it is: while designing a piece, the distortion that occurs due to heat or other forces is not accounted for. in the manufacturing stage, if you weld the piece it has heat distortion. For example if you weld along one side of a square tube it warps to form an arc. In this cad program you can make the welds, see the resulting warp, find out how much you need to pre bend the piece in the opposite direction and then have a finished product that is truly straight.
!Report as spam
thomas

14 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Seriously...really?

Prototyping tools in a CAD-environment? Why not just make the model in real-life with real machines and then scan it afterwards. Feeling the model you are making has tons of advantages towards the virtual systems. It takes some time but during that period you can think about how you can enhance certain aspects. You'll spot problems you can't see on a piece of paper or a computer-monitor. So what are you waiting for? Get dirty!

!Report as spam
B R Himberger

14 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

This seems effectively to be a CAM-skin on voxel-based modeling. You can already do this sort of thing with haptics, but it is limited to a sculpting metaphor.

However, in my experience, the utility of something like this is often limited by the fact that your resulting model can only escape the confines of your program in something like STL. Maybe that is the point, though? This system seems like it doesn't play well with others and really doesn't care.
!Report as spam
Ben O'Connor

14 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

Can definitely see the value of this as part of a total design workflow, particularly when the design has more or less settled and you need to start moving the concept into the real world. i.e. prototyping (but not limited to), very exciting idea !
!Report as spam
Andre Cunha

14 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

april 1st?
!Report as spam
hop

14 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

This is great. It would be really nice to do hands on manufacture CAD like this. I'm designing some cnc machined flashlight bodies and would love this to play around with parts on a quick iterative level.
!Report as spam
Bill Clem

14 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

As we move to instant 3D printers of the final part, lathes, mills and even sand paper will no longer be tools that designers need to understand. So where does the relationship of making things with tools connect with a CAD system reflective of those soon to be obscure processes? Would it really be intuitive when the user base has never become proficient, let alone has maybe never seen the metaphor of use? I think this might be a step back even though current CAD is no way to make parts either.
!Report as spam
Kevin De Smet

14 years ago

Z

Z

Reply

While intriguing, my main concern is speed. There is a reason that CAD and CAM systems are separate, constantly having to pick your tools to work something out is just to tedious when you're still in the design and it is chancing rapidly.

It would have to approximate a sculpting app like ZBrush maybe?
!Report as spam