Apr 23 - Alibre to Create Interactive 3D Models for Popular Mechanics

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Alibre to Create Interactive 3D Models for Popular Mechanics

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RICHARDSON, Texas, April 23, 2007 - Alibre, Inc. today announced that the company is working with Popular Mechanics to make precise, interactive 3D models of the magazine’s regularly published DIY projects available on its Web site. The new 3D models, along with 2D construction plans and instructions, are available for download at http://www.popularmechanics.com/3Dworkshop.

Popular Mechanics reaches more than 9 million readers monthly, many of whom are enthusiastic inventors, woodworkers and serious hobbyists likely to be excited about the promise of 3D construction plans. The magazine has offered standard 2D prints and fabrication instructions for years, but now, via Alibre’s 3D capabilities, readers will also be able to spin the models around, zoom in on details, and animate the assembly to see all the component parts dynamically in real time with photorealistic textures.

“We expect 3D designs to be extremely popular with our readers,” said James Meigs, Editor-in-Chief of Popular Mechanics. “By providing the ability to dynamically interact with a highly realistic and precise virtual 3D model of the finished project, we are making it much easier to quickly visualize and interpret the finished project before cutting a single piece of wood. Also, it will allow our readers to better understand complex projects since they can view it from any direction and at any level of magnification they choose. And besides that, it’s totally cool!”

Alibre is focused on breaking down barriers to 3D and produces the fastest growing 3D parametric CAD system, Alibre Design. The company’s vision is to make state-of-the-art 3D CAD accessible to anyone who wants it, as opposed to just the CAD experts served by the traditional CAD vendors with products that are much more expensive and complex.

“Our Free Alibre Design Xpress has a large growing base in the DIY community and we’ve found these folks to be some of the most enthusiastic and creative users of 3D we’ve come across,” said Greg Milliken, CEO of Alibre. “The partnership with Popular Mechanics was natural for us as it built on the demand we are already seeing from the do-it-yourself-er market, but it also has enabled us to dramatically accelerate our vision to bring 3D to the mainstream by making it available to literally millions of readers in the popular Adobe PDF format.”

One of the first 3D instruction sets available for download is for a set of “nesting” tables from the May 2007 issue of Popular Mechanics. Other projects include an elegant Adirondack lawn chair, a movable kitchen island, and a pergola for the backyard. Moreover, all models published in PDF format are also fully parametric 3D models in Alibre Design, meaning that they can be easily changed to a different size or shape. For example, to create a kitchen island slightly wider than that shown in the plans, a user can simply change the width parameter and the model will automatically update.

The combined 3D and 2D projects are available in the popular Adobe PDF format and can be viewed and manipulated with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader. In addition, a new feature of the Adobe PDF format makes it possible to add mark-ups and comments, perform measurements, and section or slice the 3D model.

About Alibre

Alibre, Inc. develops and markets Alibre Design™, the fastest growing parametric 3D solid modeling software for mechanical design and manufacturing. One-fifth the cost of comparable software, Alibre Design delivers quick ROI, ease-of-use, rich functionality and unique real-time support, and is enabling small and medium-sized businesses and workgroups to put 3D CAD on every engineer's desk, similar to utilities like Word or Excel. Alibre also delivers Alibre Design Xpress, the industry's only true 3D parametric modeler available free of charge. Alibre Design is available in thirteen languages and distributed worldwide. Founded in 1997, Alibre, Inc. is privately funded and based in Richardson, Texas. For more information and for a free trial of Alibre Design, please visit www.alibre.com.

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