Cadalyst - May 2008 - (Page 32)

industrytrends By Jeffrey Rowe Trends in Reverse Engineering Affordability and greater ease of use result in more respect for the reverse-engineering market. ver the years, reverse engineering (RE) has suffered from a lack of respect. While the engineering part of the term has always been regarded positively, the term as a whole has suffered because of the negative connotations associated with the word reverse. In many people’s minds, RE involves the illegal act of copying (in effect, stealing) an original design, whether the design is for software or a physical product. The old perception, however, is changing. As a result, RE’s image is changing, too. Simply put, RE is the process by which you digitally reconstruct a physical part. This is significant, because it’s estimated that as many as 80% of new designs come from existing ones (usually from existing parts and assemFigure 1. A touch probe attached to a coordinate measurement system is used at the front blies). RE is part of a larger scheme end of reverse engineering a cam. increasingly known as digital shape sampling and processing (DSSP). DSSP DSSP data for manufacturing purposes involves two involves several technologies that, put together, bridge the distinct methods of describing and representing 3D forms. physical and digital worlds. RE does this by handling geometry as sets of discrete points Unlike the time when RE was considered the process of (whereas traditional CAD does it with shapes defined by illegally copying a product, legitimate RE applications now continuous curves and surfaces). Combined, RE and CAD include the following: transform physical objects into digital objects (and ultiu creating data for refurbishing or manufacturing parts that mately back to physical objects). In other words, RE extracts have no associated CAD data geometric information from physical objects, and CAD u creating 3D data from a model or sculpture for game and reconstructs objects into a digital form that can be used movie animations for creating physical objects based on the scanned data. u creating, scaling, or reproducing artwork u measuring, documenting, and recreating cultural objects or museum artifacts The Basics u generating data for creating dental or surgical prosthetics RE is a process of examination. The part under consideration or for surgical planning is not modified during the scanning/digitizing stage (that u inspecting and conducting quality control by comparing would make it re-engineering), although it can be modified a fabricated part to its CAD description. in downstream applications, such as CAD. Many potential users wrongly assume that RE technology The data-related portion of the RE process has two parts: is beyond their means. Today, such technology is available as scanning and data manipulation. Scanning, also called digian affordable desktop solution for small- and medium-sized tizing, is the process of gathering geometric point data from businesses. Depending on the scanning technology used, an object. Several different contact and noncontact technolyou will find an entry-level price point of less than $15,000 ogies are used to collect this 3D data. Each technology has that includes all the hardware and software needed for get- advantages and disadvantages, and their applications and ting started in RE. specifications overlap. 32 www.cadalyst.com cadalyst May 2008 O http://www.cadalyst.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Cadalyst - May 2008

Cadalyst - May 2008 Contents Editor's Window Cad Central A Solid Job in AutoCAD Today’s Power — Quad-Core Workstations Performance — Tomorrow’s Possibilities Reverse Engineering an Antique Italian Treasure Trends in Reverse Engineering NextEngine 3D Scanner — Reverse-Engineering Tool Setting CAD Standards Fight for Your Hardware Rights The Jack and Jill of Ergonomics Technology for Civil Infrastructure Cad Cartoon Issue Indexes Shortcuts and Solutions

Cadalyst - May 2008

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