Elon Musk Demonstrates His Iron Man-Inspired 3D Modeling Setup

 Computer Interfaces  

SpaceX founder Elon Musk, has just posted the promised video demonstrating the Iron Man-inspired 3D modeling computer interface he has been hinting at for the past few days.

Elon Musk, has just posted the promised video demonstrating the Iron Man-inspired 3D modeling computer interface he has been hinting at for the past few days.

The team at SpaceX is exploring methods for engineers to accelerate their workflow by designing more directly in 3D, and admidetly they are referring directly to methods used by the character Tony Stark in the Iron Man films.

By integrating breakthroughs in sensor and visualization technologies they can now view and modify designs more naturally and efficiently than just by using purely 2D tools.

Designing a rocket part w hand gestures & then 3D printing it in a metal superalloy ... http://t.co/h3KoyAb0Lt
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) September 5, 2013

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"We are just beginning, but eventually hope to build the fastest route between the idea of a rocket and the reality of the factory floor."
Combining the gesture-sensing Leap Motion controller with an array of different display technologies (like the Oculus Rift VR handset, a 3D Projector, or a translucent glass display that looks like it was pulled right out of Starks’ lab) and a modified version of the Siemens NX design suite, SpaceX’s engineers are able to zoom around and inspect their models without ever touching a mouse.

While the video shows Elon and his engineers doing things like scaling, rotating, and even cutting away at meshes, it never demonstrates anyone building something from scratch.  Musk comments that this is just the begining of using tools like this for design and manufacturing.  Obviously, the setup in the video was not used to create the rocket parts from concept at this stage, however what the team has pulled together does point a potential direction for development in the future.

In the video, SpaceX’s team is also able to send their models straight to a metal 3D printer that uses either titanium or Inconel to fabricate parts and prototypes.


SOURCE  SpaceX

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