Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
AMF maintains the surface mesh structure of the STL format but has
added capabilities to relect advances in design software and 3D printers. For
example, the AMF ile format can handle different colors, different types of
materials, the creation of lattices, and other detailed internal structures that
are one of the huge beneits of additive manufacturing. Curved triangles can
be used to describe curved surfaces more accurately and more compactly than
the planar triangles used by STL.
The AMF standard was oficially approved by the standards body in May
2010, but the ultimate test of any standard is its adoption. At the time of writ-
ing of this topic, it has yet to be adopted by 3D printing vendors. It may take
years. We're stuck in a chicken-and-egg paradox: CAD vendors and 3D printing
companies are waiting to see whether anyone will gamble on the new format
and abandon the old but tired warhorse STL.
The next generation of design software:
digital capture
If the irst mainstream generation of design software rode in on the tidal wave
of desktop computing and traditional manufacturing, the new generation of
design software will ride in on the tidal wave of digital capture, or “reality
capture.” The marketable future of design software is to make reality capture
something everyone can work with. Amongst software companies, the race
is on to capture the consumer markets. Autodesk, the same company that
in the 1980s launched MicroCAD, the word processor for drawings, hopes
to again be at the crest of the next big wave of change. Autodesk's answer
has been to create 123D, a suite of no-cost design tools aimed at children
and consumers.
Other CAD companies (SolidWorks, PTC, Rhino, and SketchUp are but a
few) are building modules for consumer designers. Yet like any business that
has captured its place in a mature ield, software design companies are faced
with a choice that is dificult to bridge. On one hand, the company must adapt
its organizational resources to capture this new market opportunity. On the
other hand, the company must continue to maintain its core productivity
engine that still serves 99 percent of traditional manufacturing (and brings
in the company's revenue).
