The downturn in actual orders has given me time to play around with the Pro/E some more. This is an input shaft for the transmission on some big piece of construction equipment, all decked out in a bright pink for your pleasure-err, viewing pleasure, that is. Pro/E has a 'marble' color/texture, which also looked cool on the model.
I can still draw a little! Below is the model in wireframe with hidden lines:
Drawing all of the ellipses and splines for the shaft is a hell of a lot easier than it was back in the day of manual drafting. I remember learning how to lay out ellipses manually and being ecstatic when I got a template to make the things. Drafting's come some way from 25 years ago, but a .5 mm mechanical pencil is a more elegant instrument, for a more civilized age.
We can do so much with computers these days.
I suspect most of you are aware of the computerized remasterings of the first three Star Wars films and of the original Star Trek series. It's kind of cool to see the ships 'move' realistically, and show a fleet of ships where the story has a fleet of ships in it. I personally don't mind the enhanced effects, and I'd guess the original makers don't either. They'd have done the same things if they had the capability and budget to do so.
But maybe it's time to go the other way-do 'low-tech' versions of our favorite shows, such as Star Trek and Space:1999. Smithers, fetch me my stereopticon and crank up the Victrola!
And since we're talking space and technology, let's remember that day 40 years ago when Armstrong, Aldrin, and Collins flew Apollo 11 to the Moon. Well done, gentlemen!
yankeedog out.
I still have my slide Rule. I just can't remember how to use it.
ReplyDeleteThat's a substantive shaft you got there YD.
ReplyDeleteSorry I got nuthin.
The 'new' Star Wars stuff grated on me, but that was because it looked hackneyed, tacked-on and try-hard. The original was fine without the extraneous garnishing. And in that I include the three God-awful 'prequels' that Lucasfilm excreted over the past 10 yrs or so.
Al-I think my brother still has his slide rule. I went to school at the very beginning of the calculator era. I've seen one but not used it.
ReplyDeleteDoc-The Star Wars movies did suffer somewhat from the 'enhancements', and I thought the backstory laid out in the novelization of Star Wars (a weak, ineffectual Emperor controlled by various interests, and Darth Vader not necessarily being a relative of Luke Skywalker) would have been worth exploring. The original Star Trek series CGI enhancements were done well, though.