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New Platinum and Titanium FaroArm CMMs now ship with a free evaluation copy of the Rhino 3.0 CAD package. The fully functional evaluation version of the software, which supports polygon meshes and point clouds, will enable Platinum, Titanium, Gold, Silver and Bronze FaroArm users to create, edit, analyze and translate NURBS curves, surfaces and solids in Windows. Rhino also provides uninhibited free-form 3D modeling tools.
According to the company, advantages of the Rhino interface include the ability to calibrate a FaroArm from inside the software, and the fact that it is a stand-alone CAD package for reverse engineering. All curve and surface modeling tools work directly with the FaroArms. Whenever the software asks for a point, users can enter it with the mouse, by typing coordinates or by picking it with the arm.
Advantages of the interface are said to include the ability to reverse engineer mechanical and complex, free-form parts such as auto bodies, airplanes, boat hulls and ergonomic consumer products; easy tools and documentation for leapfrogging to digitize large parts; tools for accurately comparing digitized points to surfaces; and a fully shaded working mode including zebra analysis, curvature analysis, draft angle analysis, shaded, ghosted and rendered displays. These tools are used to ensure parts are smooth, accurate, and manufacturable.
Other benefits of the interface, says the company, are accurate NURBS modeling features that allow users to manufacture directly from Rhino models and the fact that it is compatible with other design, drafting, CAM, engineering, analysis, rendering, animation and illustration software. The software is said to support most CAD-file formats; be easy to learn and use so that users can focus on design and visualization without being distracted by the software; be fast, even on an ordinary laptop computer. No special hardware is needed.
The software is available in multiple languages; offers OpenGL hardware acceleration; has blocks and work sessions said to make it easier to work with large models and assemblies; and integrates with numerous third-party products.
The evaluation version is fully functional, but will stop saving after 25 saves. It will continue to be able to operate FaroArm utilities
If you want to streamline production and be competitive in the industry, you will need far more than a standard three-axis CNC mill or two-axis CNC lathe and a few measuring tools.
Ever since inventing the touch-trigger probe in 1972, Sir David McMurtry and his company Renishaw have been focused on achieving process control over its own manufacturing operations. That journey has had sweeping consequences for manufacturing at large.
