Archive for August, 2010

Companies everywhere are now demanding using 3D drawings for their products. If you want to take your product design to the next level, now is the time PULSE DESIGNTECH be your partner to help you succeed in your business.

PULSE DESIGNTECH offers CAD services using SolidWorks, Pro Engineer and Autocad software, With these three CAD Software just choose what software you are using in your company ensuring compliance with your industry and company standards.

PULSE DESIGNTECH can do for you:

* Create your product from concept or convert from free hand sketches/ 2d drawings to a 3D model in Solidworks, Pro-E & Autocad format.

* Drawing in AutoCAD format can be converted to, SolidWorks, Pro-E, and AutoCAD solid models any client specified

* 3D modeling to 2D drawing conversion

* 2D Drawing to 3D modeling

* AutoCAD drafting & conversion

* Solid Works 3D drawings

* Design Animation

* Detailing & Drafting

* Product Design & 3D Modeling

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The Philippines is currently one of the “top three CAD Outsourcing countries in Asia alongside China and India.”¹ There are many advantages in having an outsourcing company in the Philippines.⁸ It is filled with highly skilled people who work using developed infrastructures and leading communication technologies to provide high quality CAD drafting and documentation services.¹ CAD professionals in the Philippines are gifted with dedication to their work, politeness, and good verbal and written communication in English, as proven by the country being the third English-speaking nation.^2,7 An increasing number of Filipinos are further improving their communication skills in many more languages to be able to communicate better with people from different countries.³

Filipinos are multi-skilled and hard-working people. The Philippines is composed of different cultures, and thus, Filipinos are exposed to different cultural practices. This trained them to become extremely adaptable to different environments, even to varying multinational work environments.³ The Philippines has also a cultural affinity on how US conduct businesses. This is one the country’s strengths.⁶

More and more companies are realizing the importance of tapping skills of professionals from other countries to work for them because this increases their savings and earnings.^3,8 This is in response to the rising cost of operations. The superior quality of the human resources in the Philippines and the low cost of its labor make it an ideal offshore outsourcing services provider.^2,3 The Philippines is capable of supporting a viable business venture.⁵ It has proven to be competent especially in construction design outsourcing.⁴

During the 1990’s, Asia served as a low cost manufacturing outsourcing center.⁶ In recent years, it has been witnessing an increasing number of foreign direct investments. One of the countries that experience this trend is the Philippines. It took the country some time to improve and become a world class outsourcing nation. Now, it is continually growing and challenging India and China, the two leading outsourcing nations in Asia. Other Asian countries, such as Taiwan and Singapore, are also striving to be excellent and competitive enough to challenge India.^2,6

Outsourcing in the Philippines is improving to provide continuous service; that is, working for long hours and, sometimes, working 24/7. The government plays an important role in the increase of outsourcing services in the country; the government is supporting multidimensional growth and education to produce more skilled professionals. Investors are getting benefits from the skills of Filipinos, and the country is also getting benefits from investors because of jobs that they provide. It is a mutual relationship between the two.²

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¹“CAD Drafting Outsourcing Services.” Orbit CAD. 3 Aug 2010. 25 Aug 2010 <http://www.orbitcad.com/>.
²Renu Chopra. “The Story of Offshore Outsourcing in the Philippines.” Online posting. 19 July 2010. The Outsource Blog. 26 Aug 2010 <http://www.theoutsourceblog.com/2010/07/the-story-of-offshore-outsourcing-in-the-philippines/>.
³Pabellon, Jessica. “How the Philippines’ Rising IT Sector Can Service Japan: The Philippines Boast Some of the Finest IT Workers in the World, Argues Jessica Pabellon.” The Free Library. 1 Sep 2003. 26 Aug 2010 <http://www.thefreelibrary.com/How+the+Philippines%27+rising+IT+sector+can+service+Japan:+the…-a0108722607>.
⁴“What Country Would You Recommend to Outsource an IT Project To?” Online posting. 25 Feb 2010. ObeliskIndia. 26 Aug 2010 <http://obeliskindia.blogspot.com/2010/02/what-country-would-you-recommend-to.html>.
⁵admin. “Captives vs Third Party Vendors AEC Industry – Making an Intelligent Choice.” Outsourcing Point. 28 Aug 2007. 26 Aug 2010 <http://www.outsourcingpoint.com/75/captives-vs-third-party-vendors-aec-industry-making-an-intelligent-choice/>.
⁶Rao, Sath. “Outsourcing: Shifting Competitiveness of Countries in the Globalization Game.” Frost & Sullivan. 3 Mar 2004. 26 Aug 2010 <http://www.frost.com/prod/servlet/market-insight-top.pag?docid=10759973>.
7“Choosing Your Outsourcing Partner.” E-articles. July 2010. 26 Aug 2010 <http://e-articles.info/e/a/title/Choosing-Your-Outsourcing-Partner/>.
⁸admin. “Philippines BPO KPO Registration Incorporation.” Online posting. 30 Mar 2009. BC Philippines Lawyers. 26 Aug 2010 <http://www.bcphilippineslawyers.com/philippines-bpo-kpo-registration-incorporation/500/>.

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3D modeling is the “process of developing a mathematical representation of any three-dimensional surface of object… via specialized software.”¹ The process of 3D modeling and the cost of 3D modeling software are not easy to cope up with.² Dedicated programs or application components are used in creating 3D models, and sometimes scene descriptions languages are involved. At other times, modeling is merely a part of a creation process.¹ And the “most powerful tool” is our imagination.⁵ 3D models are seen everywhere: in movies, in product designs, in advertisements, etc, but this does not mean that they are easily created.² Creating 3D models is not as easy as creating 2D ones.⁵ 3D models are “objects that are constructed on three planes.”² They are composed of points connected by geometric entities. Examples of geometric entities are triangles, lines, curved surfaces, etc. There are two ways to create models: automatic and manual (which is similar to sculpting). They are made by hand, algorithmically, or scanned.¹

3D computer graphics are “programs used to create 3D computer-generated imagery.” Some of these programs are specifically developed for certain objects only, such as chemical compounds or internal organs, and for certain processes only, such as skeletal animation.^1,3 Users of 3D computer graphics interact with each other in forums to share their ideas. They share some tips and tricks on how to use graphics software. For example, three or more designers can collaborate on a project. A sub-forum is a “great place to share your experiences and do your Q&A with other users.” Groups are “starting points for discussions and collaborations.”⁵

Tessellation is the “process of transforming representations of objects, such as the middle point coordinate of a sphere and a point on its circumference into a polygon representation of a sphere.” This is used in breaking down primitives (spheres, cones, etc) to meshes (interconnected triangles). Lighting is an “important aspect of scene setup” and a “significant contributing factor to the resulting aesthetic and visual quality of the finished work.”¹

The following are the three basic phases of the process of creating 3D graphics:²

1. 3D modeling
2. 3D animation
3. 3D rendering

Majority of solid models belongs to one of the following categories:¹

• Solid
• Shell/Boundary

Solid models are realistic models that are hard to build. They have uses in non-visual simulations and in visual applications. Examples of non-visual simulations are medical and engineering simulations. Examples of visual applications are ray tracing and constructive solid geometry. Compared to solid models, shell/boundary models are easier to deal with. The exteriors of these objects define their boundaries. For instance, the focus of a shell/boundary model is its surface and its boundaries but not its volume.¹

The following are digital approximations that are required to be used for nonfinite surfaces:¹

• Polygonal meshes
• Point-based representations
• Level sets

Polygonal meshes are the “most common representation.” However, point-based representations are now gaining popularity. Level sets are a “useful representation for deforming surfaces which undergo many topological changes.” An example of these surfaces is fluids.¹

The following are popular ways to represent models:¹

• Polygonal modeling
• NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline) modeling
• Splines and patches modeling
• Primitives modeling
• Sculpt modeling

The flexibility and ease of rendering have caused users to create a lot of models using polygonal modeling. NURBS modeling and splines and patches modeling are similar with each other in terms of their dependence to curved lines in defining visible surfaces. But if it is based on flexibility and ease of use, splines and patches modeling falls between the first two: polygonal modeling and NURBS modeling. Primitives modeling is more suitable to use in technical applications that does not have much organic shapes. It provides the following benefits: quick and easy construction, mathematically defined and absolutely precise forms, and simpler definition language. Geometric primitives serve as the building block of its models. Examples of these primitives are balls, cylinders, cones, etc.¹

There are two types of sculpt modeling:¹

• Displacement
• Volumetric

Both of them allow a very artistic exploration of the model. However, the former is more popular than the latter.¹

Some modeling techniques are the following:¹

• Constructive solid geometry
• Implicit surfaces
• Subdivision surfaces

3D modeling has advantages over 2D methods. These are the following:¹

• Flexibility
• Ease of rendering
• Accurate photorealism

Flexibility is the “ability to change angles or animate images with quicker rendering of the changes.” Ease of rendering results from an automatic calculation and rendering, and mental visualization and estimation. Accurate photorealism is marked by minimized human errors in applying visual effects. However, sometimes it is difficult to achieve certain photorealistic effect. This is one disadvantage of 3D modeling.¹

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¹“3D modeling.” Wikipedia. 2010. Wikimedia Foundation. 16 Aug 2010 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_modeling>.
²Kay. “25 (Free) 3D Modeling Applications You Should Not Miss.” Online posting. 14 Aug 2010. Hongkiat.com. 16 Aug 2010 <http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/25-free-3d-modelling-applications-you-should-not-miss/>.
³“3D computer graphics software.” Wikipedia. 2010. Wikimedia Foundation. 16 Aug 2010 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_computer_graphics_software>.
⁴“Free Noncommercial 3D ‘Three-Dimensional’ Model Library.” Artist 3D. 13 July 2010. 23 Aug 2010 <http://artist-3d.com/>.
⁵Saikat Basu. “Easily Learn 3D Modeling with 3DVIA Shape.” Online posting. 15 June 2010. MakeUseOf. 23 Aug 2010 <http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/3d-modeling-skills-easy-3dvia-shape/>.

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Product Design Is Important

Innovation is a “vital ingredient of business success.”² This is why, in most companies, product design is very important. Product design is the “efficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products.” It is different from industrial design because the latter usually deals with craft design and mass production of goods. Product design is used in areas that are concerned with furniture, electronics, lighting, tools, toys, and general everyday objects.¹ A broad approach is involved in the design and making of new products.³ Product design is not for those products that already exist. Rather, it is for those that are still under the process of development or those that are still in the form of ideas. Product design helps developers to determine potential products that can be successfully used in businesses.⁴ Knowledge in the process of manufacturing a product in necessary.⁶ This is important especially now that there is a lot of pressure to innovate. Product development times have been reduced by CAD, rapid prototyping, tooling, and other similar technologies.²

You must consider questions such as “What type of innovation, in general, is best suited to the company?” There are a lot of considerations. Will it help if you introduce reduced-price products by cutting costs of production? Or should you introduce enhanced-value products by improving styling or using new materials? Do you need to introduce extensions to an existing product line?² Products change as time passes. An example is the bicycle. Throughout the years, the bicycle underwent a lot of modifications and enhancements as people develop new innovative designs for it. Another example is the mobile phone, whose appearance and functions continually change through time.⁵ Innovation is sometimes very risky. New proposed products might not become successful in business and thus may result to some loss for a company. On the other hand, if a new proposed product becomes successful, then this means a lot of gains for a company.²

Product Development Methodology

The following is a methodology that product designers follow:¹

1. Initial stage
• Idea generation
• Need-based generation
2. Mid stage
• Design solutions
• Production
3. Final stage: Marketing

We derive ideas from our imagination, from observation, or from research. We also innovate when the need to do it arises, such as when we are searching for a solution to a problem, when we need to keep up to a popular trend, or when we need a product to perform a specific task. Product designers respond to user needs. After the production of a design solution, which involves fabrication and manufacturing of the design, the product will be ready for marketing, which is selling the product. Marketing is either client-based or user-based. The difference lies in who sells the product to customers. In a client-based marketing, a designer sells a design to a client who manufactures it and then sells the manufactured product to a customer. On a user-based marketing, a designer develops a design, manufactures it, and then sells it to a customer.¹

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¹“Product design.” Wikipedia. 2010. Wikimedia Foundation. 6 Aug 2010 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Product_design>.
²Baxter, Mike. Product Design: Practical Methods for the Systematic Development of New Products. Cheltenham, UK: Nelson Thornes, 2002.
³Ryan, V. “Product Design.” Technology Student. 1 Dec 2009. 6 Aug 2010 <http://www.technologystudent.com/prddes1/prddex1.html>.
⁴Ryan, V. “What Is Product Design? (1).” Technology Student. 5 Feb 2009. 6 Aug 2010 <http://www.technologystudent.com/prddes1/prody1.html>.
⁵Ryan, V. “What Is Product Design? (2).” Technology Student. 5 Feb 2009. 6 Aug 2010 <http://www.technologystudent.com/prddes1/prody2.html>.
⁶Ryan, V. “What Is Product Design? (3).” Technology Student. 5 Feb 2009. 6 Aug 2010 <http://www.technologystudent.com/prddes1/prody3.html>.

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• Beckley, Jacqueline H., et al., eds. Accelerating New Food Product Design and Development. 1st ed. Ames, Iowa: Blackwell, 2007.
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• Monplaisir, Leslie, and Nanua Singh, eds. Collaborative Engineering for Product Design and Development. Stevenson Ranch: American Scientific Publishers, c2002.
• Li, W.D., et al., eds. Collaborative Product Design and Manufacturing Methodologies and Applications. London: Springer, c2007.
• Kontogeorgis, Georgios M., and Rafiqul Gani., eds. Computer Aided Property Estimation for Process and Product Design. Oxford: Elsevier, 2004.
• Moskowitz, Howard R., Sebastiano Porretta, and Matthias Silcher. Concept Research in Food Product Design and Development. 1st ed. Ames, Iowa: Blackwell, 2005.
• Lidwell, William, and Gerry Manacsa. Deconstructing Product Design: Exploring the Form, Function, Usability, Sustainability, and Commercial Success of 100 Amazing Products. Beverly: Rockport Publishers, c2009.
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• Lochlann Jain, Sarah S. Injury: The Politics of Product Design and Safety Law in the United States. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2006.
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What is Technical Drawing?

Many references provide a lot of definitions for technical drawing. A technical drawing or drafting is the “academic discipline of creating standardized technical drawings by architects, interior designers, drafters, design engineers, and related professionals.” It is an “integral communication of technical or engineering drawings and is the industrial arts sub-discipline that underlies all involved technical endeavors.¹” It is a “means of clearly and concisely communicating all of the information necessary to transform an idea or a concept into reality.²” It is a “drawing plan, rendered to scale, used to communicate direction and specifics to a group of people creating something.³” It is a “formal and precise way of communicating information about the shape, size, features and precision of physical objects,” a “universal language of engineering used in the design process for solving problems, quickly and accurately visualizing objects, and conducting analysis,” and “a graphical representation of objects and structures.” It is also the “expression of bodies by lines.⁴” It is a “skill, a vocation.⁵” A good technical drawing is “one that properly and conveniently communicates all of the information needed to transform a design into a product that meets or exceeds customer expectations.²”

Technical drawings have many uses in many kinds of applications specially where there is a need for designs and conversion processes, such as those found in manufacturing, engineering, architecture, and construction. Because technical drawings have many uses, there is a need to regulate practices that are involved in creating these drawings. Drafters use standards of practice, of which the most widely used are practices of the US Department of Defense (DOD), the US Military (MIL), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).² Drafters use many geometric figures and symbols to specify the scope and details of a product because it is very important that technical drawings be accurate.³ Drafters create technical drawings using freehand, mechanical, or computer methods.⁴ Processes that are involved in drafting are sometimes time-consuming.¹ One thing that determines the ultimate quality of a product is the quality of its technical drawing. We know if a technical drawing is a good one when developers for a design should no longer need to consult designers or drafters of the drawing because all information that these developers need are already included in the drawing.² In essence, technical drawing is about linear projection.⁵

A Quick Summary of the History of Technical Drawing

Technical drawings are things that are not new. Even during the times of early Greek civilization, technical drawings existed. These drawings were scratched on the floor to guide workers while they were building. As time went on, people learned to use mechanical devices on drafting tables to draft. Nowadays, drafters or designers use computers to aid them in their design works.³ Computers lessened the effort needed by designers to accomplish their tasks. Before the widespread use of drafting software, drafters were required to have an extensive knowledge on the principles of descriptive geometry and to use tools such as t-square, compass, and drafting table. Now, descriptive geometry is no longer used very often because computers do much of the computations. With the use of computers and knowledge in linear algebra, data, such as coordinates of points and their projection on planes, are computed more easily, and designers can now bypass some rules or principles on how to draw correctly.⁵

Methods of Technical Drawing

The three methods in technical drawing are the following:¹

• Sketching
• Manual or by instrument
• Computer-aided design (CAD)

A sketch is a “quickly executed freehand drawing that is not intended as a finished work.” It is a “quick way to record an idea for later use.” Sketches serve as abstractions or summaries of complex patterns or design solutions. Because their purpose is to summarize, sketching results to an enhanced design process. In a way, these sketches aid in the design collaboration.¹

In manual drawing, it is very important to have an accurate drafting table and to give much attention to the positioning of drafting tools. Drafters use a wide array of mechanical instruments and tools, such as compasses and French curves. Drafters of manual drawings are skilled in geometry, trigonometry, and spatial comprehension. They have mastered the mechanics of drawing lines, arcs, and circles, and they are expected to be precise and accurate in giving technical details. One procedure in manual drafting involves using a drafting table with a paper over it, and sliding a T-square across the side of the table over the surface of the paper. Drafters run pencils or technical pens along the edge of the T-square to create parallel lines. Sometimes, the T-square is used to hold other smaller drawing tools, such as squares and triangles. With the use of these smaller drawing tools, drafters could draw lines from different angles. When tasks become repetitive already, drafters use templates, and these templates were made for some specific tasks. Templates are commercially available, but sometimes, drafters prefer to create their own.¹

Manual drawings must be redrawn from scratch when there is a need to modify them. This difficulty was removed by the use of CAD systems. A CAD system is either 2D or 3D. A 2D CAD system is “merely an electronic drawing board.” 2D CAD systems are capable of producing drawings of large projects such as plans for a building or an aircraft, but they do not have the capability to allow designers to test whether components and parts will fit together. These kinds of projects require designers to use 3D CAD software for the modeling, assembling, and checking of components before the actual release of technical drawings to manufacturers.¹

CAD systems, such as AutoCAD, SolidWorks, and Pro/ENGINEER, automate and accelerate the mechanics of drafting tasks. These systems support symbols for common components that are found in many disciplines, such as electrical, electronic, pneumatic, and fluidic. CAD designers follow standards such as those provided by BS and ISO, but, sometimes, it is up to designers to create drawings.¹

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¹“Technical drawing.” Wikipedia. 2010. Wikimedia Foundation. 29 July <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_drawing>.
²Goetsch, David L., et al. Technical Drawing. 5th ed. Clifton Park, NY: Thomson Delmar Learning, c2005.
³“Definition of Technical Drawing.” YourDictionary. 20 July 2010. 3 Aug 2010. <http://www.yourdictionary.com/dictionary-articles/Definition-of-Technical-Drawing.html>.
⁴G. Gülsev Uyar Aldas. “JFM210 Technical Drawing and Computer Application Lecture Notes (First Part).” Scribd. 26 Nov 2008. 3 Aug 2010 <http://www.scribd.com/doc/8455804/Technical-Drawing>.
⁵Lee, Xah. “What Is Technical Drawing, Descriptive Geometry, Projective Geometry, Linear Algebra.” XahLee.org. 2 Aug 2010. 3 Aug 2010 <http://xahlee.org/3d/tech_drawing.html>.

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