© Business Wire 2008
2008-02-06 15:14:16

www.sensable.com - Konica Minolta Sensing Americas, Inc John McCasland, 201-785-2436 jmccasland@se.konicaminolta.us or SensAble Technologies, Inc. Laura Wallace, 781-939-7437 media@sensable.com or MKM Corporate Communications Mary Kae Marinac, 978-685-3136 mkmarinac@comcast.net Konica Minolta, the makers of the VIVID line of precision 3D laser scanners, and SensAble Technologies, Inc., a leading developer of touch-enabled systems for 3D modeling applications, today announced a new offering that combines SensAble's FreeForm Modeling software with Konica Minolta's VIVID 910 3D digitizer. VIVID's scan data can be seamlessly imported into the SensAble 3D modeling system, where the models can be refined and modified, adding incredible detail where needed. Applications include reverse engineering for product design, or body scans to produce patient-specific orthotic devices. This highly affordable advanced 3D scanning technology is now available for as low as $2700 a month through a special offer from Konica Minolta.

The bundling of these world-class products means that creating and modifying 3D models, often an arduous, manual process, has been automated, allowing high productivity, excellent fidelity and intelligence of the model. FreeForm's intuitive 3D modeling tools allow 3D files to be easily recreated and modified, for example, creating a premium toy from a licensed character model, an orthotic device to correct a spinal deformation or even a museum reproduction to be sold in a gift shop. FreeForm files can be output to a wide range of CAD packages, prototyping, mold-making and milling machines, for design review or manufacturing.

"The combination of the VIVID and FreeForm Modeling allows users to generate manufacturable 3D models in record time," comments James Clark, 3D Business Unit Manager, Konica Minolta Sensing. "Whether someone needs to recreate a part for which there is no tooling, or creating a torso model used to manufacture a body brace, this solution brings all the necessary scanning and design tools together to make the process simple."

Konica Minolta's versatile laser digitizers scan real 3D objects in a matter of seconds, exporting a polygonal mesh describing the shape of the scanned object with typical accuracy of 0.04 - 0.10 millimeters. This data is easily manipulated within the SensAble FreeForm 3D modeling environment.

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