SolidThinking
Encyclopedia
solidThinking is a 3D modeling and rendering software, developed by solidThinking Inc. It is a CAID
(Computer Aided Industrial Design) software, i.e. software developed to meet the specific needs of industrial designers and style centers who need a flexible software to blend aesthetics and ergonomics with functionality in the form of cars, watches, bottles, jewels, mobile phones, product packaging, all of the designed objects that surround us.
solidThinking is mainly used for industrial design
by manufacturing industries and professional designers and architects but it also finds a user base in computer graphics.
Modeling is based on NURBS curves and surfaces and, thanks to the program's Construction History or Construction Tree, any modeled shape immediately updates while objects, points, or parameters are modified. All the steps involved in construction are saved inside the file and is accessible at any time allowing the designer to experiment and invent new shapes. solidThinking also features polygonal modeling with subdivision surfaces.
solidThinking integrated rendering and animation system allows the user to render and animate the 3D models with photo-realism in real-time. Other third-party rendering engines, like PhotoRealistic RenderMan
and Maxwell Render, are supported.
solidThinking Inspired is the product version that adds new computational capabilities to the solidThinking design tools suite. A form-generation technology called morphogenesis allows designers to define parameters around their models by inputting the known dominant supports, forces and other constraints that the final designs are expected to experience in their environment, as well as the material to be used for their models. Morphogenesis can then be exercised to grow efficient shapes or bone-like structures in response to the defined environment.
, today Vice President of Software R&D at Pixar. The design software was originally developed for NEXTSTEP
, the operating system developed by NeXT
, and it was soon awarded as the best new application in the "CAD and 3D" category at NeXTWORLD EXPO held in San Francisco in June 1993.
The porting of solidThinking to the Windows platform started in 1997 and was completed in 1998 with the release of solidThinking 3.0 for Windows. One year later solidThinking for Mac OS X was also released. Today all releases of solidThinking are simultaneously developed for both Windows
and Mac OS X
.
In July 2008, solidThinking 7.6 was announced following the acquisition of the company's assets by Michigan-based Altair Engineering
, Inc., a global provider of technology for the analysis, management and visualization of business and engineering information.
solidThinking version 8.0 and solidThinking Inspired 8.0, introducing the morphogenesis form-generation technology, were released in September 2009.
CAID
Caid may refer to:* Caid , a type of governorship found in North Africa and Moorish Spain* Caid , a form of football popular in Ireland until the mid-19th century...
(Computer Aided Industrial Design) software, i.e. software developed to meet the specific needs of industrial designers and style centers who need a flexible software to blend aesthetics and ergonomics with functionality in the form of cars, watches, bottles, jewels, mobile phones, product packaging, all of the designed objects that surround us.
solidThinking is mainly used for industrial design
Industrial design
Industrial design is the use of a combination of applied art and applied science to improve the aesthetics, ergonomics, and usability of a product, but it may also be used to improve the product's marketability and production...
by manufacturing industries and professional designers and architects but it also finds a user base in computer graphics.
Modeling is based on NURBS curves and surfaces and, thanks to the program's Construction History or Construction Tree, any modeled shape immediately updates while objects, points, or parameters are modified. All the steps involved in construction are saved inside the file and is accessible at any time allowing the designer to experiment and invent new shapes. solidThinking also features polygonal modeling with subdivision surfaces.
solidThinking integrated rendering and animation system allows the user to render and animate the 3D models with photo-realism in real-time. Other third-party rendering engines, like PhotoRealistic RenderMan
PhotoRealistic RenderMan
PhotoRealistic RenderMan, or PRMan for short, is a proprietary photorealistic RenderMan-compliant renderer.It primarily uses the Reyes algorithm but is also fully capable of doing ray tracing and global illumination....
and Maxwell Render, are supported.
solidThinking Inspired is the product version that adds new computational capabilities to the solidThinking design tools suite. A form-generation technology called morphogenesis allows designers to define parameters around their models by inputting the known dominant supports, forces and other constraints that the final designs are expected to experience in their environment, as well as the material to be used for their models. Morphogenesis can then be exercised to grow efficient shapes or bone-like structures in response to the defined environment.
History
Brothers Alex Mazzardo and Mario Mazzardo started the solidThinking project in 1991 with Guido QuaroniGuido Quaroni
Guido Quaroni is an Italian voice actor and Supervising Technical Director at Pixar Animation Studios. He was one of the developers of solidThinking, a NURBS based 3D modeling and rendering software....
, today Vice President of Software R&D at Pixar. The design software was originally developed for NEXTSTEP
NEXTSTEP
NeXTSTEP was the object-oriented, multitasking operating system developed by NeXT Computer to run on its range of proprietary workstation computers, such as the NeXTcube...
, the operating system developed by NeXT
NeXT
Next, Inc. was an American computer company headquartered in Redwood City, California, that developed and manufactured a series of computer workstations intended for the higher education and business markets...
, and it was soon awarded as the best new application in the "CAD and 3D" category at NeXTWORLD EXPO held in San Francisco in June 1993.
The porting of solidThinking to the Windows platform started in 1997 and was completed in 1998 with the release of solidThinking 3.0 for Windows. One year later solidThinking for Mac OS X was also released. Today all releases of solidThinking are simultaneously developed for both Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
and Mac OS X
Mac OS X
Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
.
In July 2008, solidThinking 7.6 was announced following the acquisition of the company's assets by Michigan-based Altair Engineering
Altair Engineering
Altair Engineering is a product design and development, engineering software and cloud computing software company. Altair was founded by Jim Scapa, George Christ, and Mark Kistner in 1985. Over its history, it has had various locations near Detroit, Michigan, USA...
, Inc., a global provider of technology for the analysis, management and visualization of business and engineering information.
solidThinking version 8.0 and solidThinking Inspired 8.0, introducing the morphogenesis form-generation technology, were released in September 2009.