SensAble’s FreeForm 3D Modeling Helps Design U.S. Coins

By DE Editors

At SIGGRAPH 2008, SensAble Technologies, Inc. (Woburn, MA), a provider of touch-enabled modeling solutions and haptic devices, announced that the United States Mint has used the FreeForm 3D modeling system to design some of its most recent coins, collectibles as well as currently circulating releases.

United States Mint designers used FreeForm to incorporate classical artistry and textural refinement into their engravings, while benefiting from digital efficiencies to meet the Mint’s aggressive commemorative program schedule.

The FreeForm system is tailored for creating curved, organic and non-geometric shapes. Users of FreeForm hold a stylus-like PHANTOM haptic device, instead of a mouse, to sculpt by touch –“feeling” the coin’s surface as they are designing onscreen – just as they would if they were working with wax or clay. The system allows designers to be efficient without sacrificing artistic integrity, using features that enable them to transfer their classical training readily to skills needed for work on a computer design system. They can also eliminate quality lost in duplicating wax or clay models; use common digital design steps such as undo, cut, copy, and paste; import 3D scans of source data; transfer 2D or 3D designs into relief; save and review multiple versions; add extensive detail and textures with computer precision; and import/export files as STL data, allowing designs to be saved and forwarded to CNC machines for engraving.

SensAble’s FreeForm is also based on voxels (3D pixels), not mathematical/spline geometry — another reason FreeForm is suited for intricate designs like the Louisa Adams $10 gold coin.

For details, contact SensAble Technologies.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.