Redpoint Studios

Redpoint Studios Test Drives Autodesk Fusion 360

SSchall — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 20:39:27 +0000

Autodesk contacted Redpoint Studios a few months ago to evaluate their new CAD application, Fusion 360. We gave feedback on what features and capabilities we felt were important to us, a design firm that requires tight collaboration between industrial design and engineering. Also important to us is software that meets our complex surfacing demands. Of course we were more than happy to share our experiences as designers, and talk about these new advances in Autodesk’s new software. Autodesk graciously invited us to Autodesk University to learn more about the new program and meet their development team.

Fusion 360 is Autodesk’s first full featured, cloud based, design software. Instead of paying a high price up front for the software, it will be available on a term basis, making it easier for the small business or individuals to afford. Since it’s cloud based, users won’t need high powered machines for all the heavy lifting of rendering, analysis and calculation, which reduces IT budgets. It also facilitates collaboration, since users can access the data from anywhere, make notes, start discussions, and make changes. Previous versions of your project are also stored and easily accessible.

Autodesk shot a video interview with us which we hope to share with you soon, but in the meantime here are some key features of the brand new Fusion 360.

1. It’s able to run on both PC and Mac.

2. It offloads heavy lifting to the cloud.

3. It can open and edit all common file types for 3D CAD.

4. Data is stored on the cloud, so you can access it from anywhere and collaborate on designs with team members who are located anywhere.

5. It keeps versions of the data so you can always go back to an older version of the project.

6. It has tools to facilitate collaboration. People can make notes and changes that other users can see in real time.

7. It integrates design review tools. You can mark-up and comment on a design and those comments are stored as a record of the design decisions that were made as the design progresses.

8. It provides an integrated Industrial Design and engineering tool, so you can do both in the same program.

9. It has an incredible “freeform” environment based on what is called t-splines. This allows you to push and pull faces to sculpt the form of your part.

Be sure to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for more info about Fusion 360, and how we use it here at Redpoint.

Photo credit: Autodesk Fusion 360 Facebook page

Product Design Matters

SSchall — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 14:46:37 +0000

Product design is the process of creating a new product to be sold by a business to its customers. The end goal is for these products to sell. Product developers have to understand the consumer, their market as well as the technology of the product they are working on. Simply put, the companies that have the right product, gain the success that comes with it.

A consumer forms an opinion on a product in seconds. If someone makes a trip to the hardware store in search of a power drill, there is a very good chance they don’t know the exact model they are going to buy before they walk in the door. They find the power drill section, and they get to comparing. First they find a few different drills within their price range. Then they might take a look at the capabilities that are listed to make sure each one does what they need it to do. But the final decision is made by the consumer using they’re own senses. They want to know how it feels in their hand, and if it comfortable and easy to use. Most of all, they want to make sure it isn’t cheaply made.

You can’t just put a plastic encasement over something that is poorly made and expect to fool the consumer. Consumers understand that when they buy the cheapest product, they are taking a risk. The risk that it won’t last as long as they need it to, or that there is no warranty, and that that money they’re spending, however small, could be wasted if that product just doesn’t work.

Selling a product successfully starts with great product design and development, and great product developers have a pulse on the consumer market. Great product developers study their competition. Great product developers continue to test and improve a product with the goal of perfection.

Mighty Marker Mount – Strength for Property Markers

SSchall — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 20:13:43 +0000

Picture January in New Hampshire. Early Monday morning the snow starts coming down in blankets. By the time 8am hits you’ve shoveled or snow-blowed a path behind your car so that you can get to the road no problem, but once you’re there you still have to forge through the 8 inches of snow that’s fallen so far. It seems as though the snow plow has forgotten about your cul-de-sac and you’ll need to travel down the road with your fingers crossed, hoping you don’t get stuck in a ditch. Just when it seems all is lost your see the bright blinking light at the end of the road. The plow is coming. It crosses your driveway and, as expected, piles a foot high snow bank at the end of it. But what you didn’t expect was one of your property markers to end up buried in that snow bank, having been torn out of the ground like it was nothing. You look to your lawn and notice that all 4 of your property markers are either bent, ripped out of the ground or missing completely. You can only imagine the state of your lawn underneath the snow and the amount of time and money you’ll have to put into repairing it once the snow has melted. Even worse, there’s no chance of driving the stakes back into position since the ground will completely frozen until March or April.

Property Marker Systems had noticed this long standing, love hate relationship between the average home owner and the snow plow, and were looking to capitalize on it with a solution. They approached Redpoint Studios in March of 2012 with some rough sketches and product ideas, in need of our expertise to get the Mighty Marker Mount developed.

A 3D rendering of the Mighty Marker Mount

The biggest challenge during development of the Mighty Marker Mount was to design a single part that could reliably hold all sizes of property markers. The part needed to be very inexpensive to manufacture, but complex enough to work properly. This required careful consideration of Design For Manufacture (DFM) from the start to ensure that the product could be built within the budget. We had to focus on simple and elegant solutions as opposed to complex multi-part assemblies. Due to the tight development budget and timelines, we could only make a few physical prototypes. We used the CAD software to validate the “virtual prototype” with analysis and simulations to ensure that the prototypes we would build worked well.

The end product is injection molded from HDPE (high-density polyethylene), which can withstand impacts even in freezing temperatures. It can be easily driven into the ground and it is designed to stay there through any impact, even the snow plow. Property markers found at any home store can fit into the Mighty Marker Mount and be placed replaced with ease. This product has the potential to become a must-have when winterizing your home and we are proud to be a part of it.

SurfSET Fitness Ripsurfer X on Shark Tank

SSchall — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 19:16:11 +0000

In February 2012, Redpoint Studios was approached by SurfSET Fitness with a project. SurfSET had come to the conclusion that lots of people want a “surfer’s body” although they don’t have access to a beach. With that came an idea for a fitness product that allows the user to work out on a surfboard without going near the water. They had built some prototypes and were already holding classes with the product, and their surfer body workout was catching on. Now they needed someone to design The Ripsurfer X so it could be marketed and mass produced.

That’s where Redpoint Studios came in. It was an ideal situation to work in because there was already user feedback of the product and specific problems to solve during development.

Redpoint went to work right away generating concept sketches. The design was created using Autodesk Alias, an automotive surfacing CAD tool and Autodesk Inventor, a 3D parametric CAD system. A prototype was machined out of structural foam to test the overall aesthetics, usability and ergonomics. The biggest challenge during development was keeping the costs down. Replacing the fastener hardware with snap fits was a great decision, as the assembly time went from roughly a half hour to just minutes. The unit was also designed to nest within itself for more economical shipping.

SurfSET Fitness will be bringing the new and improved Ripsurfer X onto ABC’s Shark Tank on Friday, September 21st at 8pm. Be sure to watch and let us know what you think @redpointstudios.

Visit Redpoint Studios at Design and Manufacturing New England, Booth #205, April 25-26, 2012, Boston MA

apatel — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 22:02:15 +0000

Check us out at the Design and Manufacturing New England trade show! We will be there, in the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, at booth #205 on April 25th and 26th.

Come meet our principals Scott Leonard and Matt Harris, take a look at a few of our product samples, and learn about how Redpoint uses the latest technology to efficiently produce manufacturable products, ranging from snowboard bindings to medical devices.

We will be teaming up with M2 Technologies at the show to exhibit how it’s done!

New Hampshire From the Eyes of a California Native

apatel — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 20:21:03 +0000

When getting my hair cut, I usually engage in slightly awkward small talk with the stylist to avoid the even more awkward 20 minute silence. Invariably, the conversation shifts to where I’m from (which I now wonder whether this is a result of me talking about myself a little too much):

“Originally from L.A., did my undergrad in the bay area, up near San Francisco. Did grad school in Michigan, and got a job out here”

Every time, this answer generates some form of the following: Wow. You left LA to come out here? I answer with the truth, which is career, relationship, and family based. I joined the Redpoint Studios team to start out my engineering career on the mechanical side of product development and industrial design. The location was also key in that it is a short drive to my girlfriend, and a short flight to my sister, who both also moved out to the “least” coast as my friends back on the “best” coast like to call it. My California friends will ask me how New Hampshire is, with the tone of “are you surviving?”.

For the most part, both sides making these comments have never been to the other state, which puts me in the somewhat unique position of offering a view of New Hampshire from someone who grew up almost as far across the country as you could possibly go from here. After these first few months, I have a few observations to offer. To keep from hurting the millions of readers, I’ll alternate between positive and negative views.

I haven’t met a mean person yet, which is further backed by Manchester being ranked as the #2 happiest city in the nation (behind an understandable Honolulu)
Los Angeles is notorious for having bad drivers. They seem angelic (pun intended), however, compared to those in the New England area
The colors of autumn. They speak for themselves
Sadly, Mexican food. Growing up in Southern California, we had our pick of great Mexican food whenever we wanted. For some reason, this is impossible to find here, as well as in the rest of the east coast
Boston! The architecture, the bars, the college vibe within historical city, the public transportation
Proximity and number of mountains for snowboarding (I literally live 5 minutes from one)
Beautiful drives between New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Windy roads, rolling hills
The number of weather induced potholes
Without snow in SoCal, winter trips to mountains to stay in log cabins and ski/snowboard were exciting, as if I were transported into a completely different world. With snow everywhere in Manchester (I guess not this year, but you get the idea), the magic is diminished
Apparently, the summers are supposed to be beautiful. This will be my first summer, so I’m looking forward to it with high expectations
The Live Free or Die motto. From what I’ve learned, it is the idea that you are allowed to do what you want to (within the law), and I am allowed to do what I want to. Regardless of religion, sexual preference, ideals, etc., as long as the state economy is improving and laws that effect everyone equally are just, to each their own.

So far, so good. I’m looking forward to getting involved in the community and learning to love this state.

“These May Be The Droids Farmers Are Looking For”

Matthew Harris — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:57:56 +0000

One of our clients Harvest Automation gets props from Wired magazine. Check out the article here.

Redpoint Driven Product on YouTube

Matthew Harris — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 14:21:50 +0000

“The Green-Lites™ series from O.C. White is the most energy efficient, highest output and longest lasting line of inspection lighting systems in the world. These exceptionally designed products offer important features and benefits available only from O.C. White.” – OC White

O.C. White released a product video that highlights its technology and our designs. More good stuff to come!!! http://youtu.be/a-VAzkHHVXw

Redpoint on YouTube

Matthew Harris — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 17:27:18 +0000

A while ago we started a Redpoint YouTube Channel to post videos. We’ll continue to update the channel with the latest demo reels as well as info on some of the tools and methods we use. The last video posted was showing one of our visualization tools that we utilize… Autodesk Showcase. Enjoy.

The new Redpoint site

Matthew Harris — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 16:49:12 +0000

I’m proud to announce the launch of our new site! Our goal with the site is to improve communication with our current and future customers by making the site more concise as well as give more examples on the types of projects we’re working on.

Another goal was to allow our personality to shine through. We’ve added a Redpoint Blogs area to the site where Scott and our employees can update us with what’s going on it their worlds as well as a links to our new Flickr Group where we’ll be posting our latest adventures. Remember to check back often to see what’s going on in Redpoint land!