It’s exactly this opportunity Creaform is putting forward through the 2013 edition of its Put us to the test! contest. With this contest, companies both big and small can submit a 3D engineering project that truly challenges our experts! Among all the entries received, Creaform will select one project, which will be awarded $25,000 to make it happen, on top of our guidance and expertise.

Well, we don’t hate the idea.

The Creaform Team

Our partner Creaform was a sponsor of the boat "Defi Saint-Malo Agglo" skipped by Gilles Lamiré and with Creaform CEO, Charles Mony, part of the crew! 

These guys did a pretty good performance, racing the 2,897 nautical miles/5,365 kilometers from Quebec City (Canada) to Saint-Malo (France) in 11 days, 2 hours, 34 minutes and 4 seconds. They finished the race in the second position of their category!

Congratulations to the team!

There were 2 steps to the project:

2. Creating 3D model files

Using CATIA V5 software, Creaform designers reconstructed the plane’s interior, including the various elements of the plane’s structure, such as floor beams and plates, frames, longerons, mechanisms, and various types of piping and wiring. Work was broken down into parts according to the plane’s sections. Using digital files, solid models of airplane elements were recreated. These solid models can be sectioned, and planes or surfaces can be built directly on top of them. For objects with continuous sections, solid models were generated either as an extruded section following a direction or as a scanned section following a trajectory. For non-continuous parts (e.g., in the case of certain mechanisms), the elements were broken down into basic pieces that could be redefined using simple geometric functions. Surface models were used to render some objects whose shapes were too complex. The surface models were then thickened to obtain solid models. In the case of this reconstruction, the degree of precision required enabled us to reuse reconstructed elements in different places, such as for the pulleys that guide the control cables.

Finally, all reconstruction files were assembled to produce a 3D model of a Boeing B737 interior, used by the aviation service company to design, produce, and assemble the plane’s interior furnishings to meet the needs of its demanding clientele.

Are you aware of similar projects (in the aerospace industry or not) using the same process? 

The Creaform Team

A story by Creaform

That’s the (very philosophical) question that was casually thrown on Creaform's team meeting table back about a year ago, as we were trying to find a way to stretch our legs with a project that would pose a technical challenge to our team and soothe our fast-developing Olympic fever, all in one stroke.
We had just read an article from the CBC News Website presenting the winner of the contest to design the 2010 Olympic Winter Games logo. A bit of Internet research led us to a few pictures of the Inukshuk the article mentioned as the inspiration for the logo. Located on the beach at English Bay, close to Stanley Park, the statue has been standing there since 1986. It was first part of the North-West Territories pavilion during the Expo, and later donated to the city of Vancouver. That’s the historical end of it.

As we looked at the pictures, we suddenly realized it’s a pretty big statue. This would require some logistics planning. We decided Jérôme Baillargeon and Mathieu Magnan, 2 experienced Application Specialists, would pay the statue its scanning visit, and Louis-Philippe Gendron, our freshly-hired 3D Animation Artist, would start working on the storyboard and the 3D environment. For the logistics, we called in Julie Martineau, Marketing Writer.

Scanning the stone landmark

Everybody was immediately enthusiastic. Julie proceeded to unwind the kilometres of red tape to get the various permits and licenses for the 3D scanning in the city of Vancouver. Since 3D scanning has not yet made it into the collective public consciousness (this was before the movie Avatar was released after all!), the city officials were a bit confused at first, and did not quite know what to make of the curious request from the Québec City-area company. Finally, they decided to treat the operation as a movie shooting.

Julie located an electrician (required by the city) who supplied the hook-up to the city power grid. She also got a boom truck; it may not seem obvious at first, but the scanner has to be about 30 cm away from the surface to function properly, and the statue is 6 meters tall. Since neither Jérôme nor Mathieu can reach that high even on tip-toes (!), scanning the upper parts would require extra lift!

So on a chilly December morning, passers-by on English Bay were treated to a most unusual sight: men were first seen dotting the Inukshuk with small, round reflective stickers, and then they started pointing Wall-e shaped instruments at the Inukshuk. The team also set up a laser tracker to discreetly take in the area immediately surrounding the Inukshuk. According to the weather forecast, a storm was expected to roll in that very evening from the roaring Pacific. Jérôme and Mathieu worked fast and were able to complete their scan and clean up the area in less than 12 hours! That was fast!

Giving life to stone

Data in hand (well, in computer, actually), Jérôme and Mathieu slept like logs and got back the following day. We had our raw material.
Next, Louis-Philippe was put to work. While Jérôme worked on post-processing the 3D scan model, the tracker data was put to good use in creating the 3D environment for the short film.

A storyboard was set up, and a scenario written. Scanned models were integrated. Sounds were recorded; Julie wrote and recorded a short narrative in English and in French. Jérôme integrated the soundtrack for the film.

Eventually, creating the environment, laying out the movements, animating the Inukshuk, and putting it all together took over 200 hours by Louis-Philippe and Jérôme, with some help from Daniel Brown, another Applications Specialist. Without question, the most exhilarating part of the work was seeing the 3D environment take shape and spring to life on the computer screen. Louis-Philippe, Jérôme and Daniel did spectacular work, of which we are all very proud!

Why did we do it? It was certainly fun to stretch our legs and be creative. In our field of work, reverse engineering and inspection are the most common applications for our Handyscan 3D technology. We have been moving into the multimedia industry, and going the extra mile just might help show exactly how our scanners can be used by animation specialists.

Not to mention the most important reason for scanning an object.

Because it’s there.

Maxime Davignon, Scanning & Inspection Director
Manager for the Inukshuk Project

When talking with moto bikers, some of them tell they love their vehicle more than their wives! And at the end of the discussion, you imagine how desperate these women can be… (sounds a little bit cliché, doesn’t it? Bikers always take good care of their bike, making its maintenance always on time, polishing it and removing every single dead mosquito on the lights. But above all, they want their motorbike to be unique. And here comes the difficulty for parts manufacturers!

Zeel Design is one of them. The firm works on engineering, consulting and manufacturing of specialized parts and vehicles. They received a request from a customer wanting to enlarge the rear wheel of his Harley-Davidson. The challenge was to redesign some existing key-parts of the bike as accurately as possible but also as fast as possible.

The solution came thanks to Creaform. Creaform has developed the Handyscan 3D line of products. These revolutionizing self-positioning handheld 3D laser scanners provide very high accuracy files that can be exported to most CAD platforms and inspection and animation software. Due to its true portability, versatility and accuracy, the Handyscan 3D line of products makes 3D scanning more simple than ever.

Discover now how, by using the EXAscan, Zeel Design managed to reduce by 70-90% the time spent previously on CAD drawings and reverse engineering process. Results, both in terms of time saving and accuracy are astonishing!

In the end, whether you like it bigger or smaller, Creaform’s scanners can help you to make it in less time!

You surely know the famous US TV-show CSI:Miami (I personnaly prefer the guys from Vegas) with Caines, Erik, Calleigh and all the team...

Our Canadian friends from Creaform (a CAA V5 Partner part of the PLM MarketPlace program by the way) found a new use to their EXAscan which was used in the show by forensics to process footprints!

Visit Creaform website to watch the scene!