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Tuesday, October 11, 2016

Aerospace engineer releases free aircraft design software

aircraft

Doug Hunsaker, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, demonstrates his free, online 3D design software to help students and professionals design safe and efficient small autonomous vehicles.

As interest in small autonomous aerial vehicles and their applications continues to expand, a Utah State University aerospace engineer is offering the public a free software tool that could revolutionise the drone industry.

Doug Hunsaker, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at USU, is offering a free, easy to use 3D online software program that generates aerodynamic information about a user's aircraft design. The program, called MachUp, is available at aero.go.usu.edu. The web-based software operates on any browser and on any platform, including smartphones and tablets. The site also features training tutorials and how-to videos.

"MachUp lets a user design an aircraft, and the software will calculate aerodynamic information about that design," said Hunsaker.

"The program will generate lift, drag, stability and trim data for any design you put into it."

The software uses modern 3D web graphics to render images in a browser, and does the heavy-duty aerodynamic computations on a dedicated server. The software could prove to be a valuable resource for companies developing small autonomous aircraft. Most software tools capable of calculating aerodynamic data are tied up in the major aerospace firms and are not commonly available without steep licensing fees.

"The average Joe does not have access to this kind of software," said Hunsaker.

"And if they did, it would be prohibitively expensive for the average user or small startup company."

In the near future, small autonomous aircraft will play a big role in everyday life. Drones are already creating new opportunities in agriculture, research, cinematography and data delivery. Companies, including Google and Facebook, are exploring the use of drones to provide wireless internet coverage and Amazon is developing drones to deliver packages. As applications expand, a variety of drones will be needed to perform a variety of tasks.

According to Hunsaker, this is the heart of the problem: There is no one-size-fits-all design for drones, meaning different drone models used in different applications will need to be designed from the ground up.

"For years, we've been imagining drones doing everything from delivering packages to monitoring freeway traffic and performing security functions," said Hunsaker.

"But because each mission is different, each of those applications will require a unique drone that will have to be designed for safe and efficient operation. Designing any aircraft, including drones, requires sophisticated software tools and expert-level knowledge in aerodynamics and aerospace engineering.

That is where MachUp comes in. Hunsaker said he developed the software with the goal of putting useful design tools into the hands of engineers at drone startup companies. Now, he wants anyone interested in fixed-wing drone design to try the software to see what it is capable of.

"It's a tool I would have used in my aircraft design courses if it had been around," he added.

"This level of resource just hasn't previously been available to most designers."

Dozens of companies and aerospace engineering schools around the US have used MachUp, including Embry Riddle, Virginia Tech and MIT. The software is also used by Utah State University's Aggie Air agriculture research program.


Source: Aerospace engineer releases free aircraft design software

Monday, October 10, 2016

The Importance of Entrepreneurial Mental Health

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Today we're joined by Cory Miller. Cory is a former newspaper journalist turned full-time entrepreneur. In 2008, he started iThemes, which builds web design software and offers cutting-edge web design training for thousands of customers around the globe.

Cory is a passionate entrepreneur who believes in finding and maintaining work happiness (for himself and others) that aligns with your purpose and plays to your strengths, talents, and ambitions, while challenging you to do great things with your life.

In this 43-minute episode Brian Gardner, Lauren Mancke, and Cory Miller discuss:

  • The founding of iThemes in 2008
  • Comradery and Co-opetition in the WordPress community
  • What lies beneath the surface of entrepreneurship
  • The importance of talking openly about mental health
  • How mental health can affect your business
  • How to find lasting career happiness

  • Source: The Importance of Entrepreneurial Mental Health

    Sunday, October 9, 2016

    12 Magnificent Freeware Tools for Graphic Designers

    Few years back there was not much scope of graphic designing, but with the passage of time, the networks of network (internet) has grown up to optimum level and this increases the scope of graphic designing in the web industry and thus establishing a graphic design company by skilled graphic designers.

    The use of graphics in the web is known as web designing. Web designing is the art of making the content attractive and appealing to the site visitor, so that web masters get the benefit of less bounce rate and conversion with the high traffic.  There are the designers who engage with professional web design companies in order to deliver quality results.

    We recommend the best graphic design freeware tools which you can use for adding the graphic into the website.

    1.    Flockdraw

    taketour

    Image Source:www.flockdraw.com

    It is a Freeware Web based Painting/drawing tool.

    Features:

    It has almost every feature of MS Paint; with drawing you can also have the chat facility with the other people in the chat room.

    Usage:

    It can be extremely useful when you want to show your drawing/creativity to your client, for instant purpose you need to understand some points visually. You can use this web based software and invite your client on the chat room. This web based application can also be used for the entertainment purpose by designers.

    2.    Paint.net

    paintnet-plugins-intro

    Image Source:www.it15.net

    It is a professional tool for drawing, painting and photo editing. You can download it and use it as a desktop application. It has a great and user friendly interface. The one requirement  is that you must have windows upgraded version like SP3 or windows Vista.

    Features:

    An innovative user interface with the support of layers. You can do unlimited undo, can add special effects and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools.

    Usage:

    Paint.net has the active and online community which provides tutorials, online help and various plug-Ins. It can be positively used as a graphic design application for creating most powerful elements for your website.

    3.    Blender

    screenshot-shading-sintel-300x184

    Image Source:www.blender.org

    Blender is the freeware 3D Multimedia content creation suite. It is available for Windows, Mac and Linux.Features:

  • It has the Flexible and fully configurable window layout.
  • Undo support at all levels.
  • Built-in text editor for comments and editing Python scripts
  • Unwrapping methods like angle based unwrapping.
  • You can build animation (skeleton) with fast creation mode.
  • Automatic skinning support.
  • Hence, many advance options are supported by the Blender Application which provides you an easy way for 3D designing.

    Usage:

    It can be best used as a 3D making software, and you can make cool and attractive animations which can be inserted into your website.

    4.    Myna

    If you want to merge some audio with your graphic works, then this application is best for this kind of work.

    Features:

  • You can make your audio tracks remix which can be inserted into your graphic design.
  • Moreover, you can independently modify the audio file like sets its tempo, merge other audio effects, high nodes, low nodes effects.
  • Usage:

    Very interesting and entertaining software to modify your music files. And you can place these unique music files into your website background.

    5.    Boxee

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    Image Source:www.lifehacker.com

    With the help of Boxee Tool you can view your design media under one place. It is a freeware tool. Moreover, they have their own services which you can avail it and view all the media either into your laptop or in your big Screen LCD TV. They have full tutorial available for attaching your laptop with your digital TV.

    Features:

  • It can manage all multimedia items like videos and audios.
  • Sharing feature is also there.
  • Usage:

    You can download it, and customize this software for your website, and can merge all the multimedia items into one platform.

    6.    ImgBurn

    screenshot_torn_2

    Image Source:www.imgburn.com

    ImgBurn is the software application used to burn your web projects into the CD, DVD or even HD/DVD.Features:

  • It has several Features which includes read, write or build mode.
  • Read mode provides the DVD to read for an image file.
  • Create Image file from your computer files.
  • Write the files or image into the Disc.
  • Usage:

    It provides the useful means of transferring data into reliable media sources and excellent choice for graphic designers to use the functionality free.

    7.    Phoenix

    Phoenix allows basic image retouching to advance or complex effects. By viewing its home page you can get the clear picture of what kind of work it can do for you.

    Features:

  • It is a complete web based image editing tool available for designers.
  • It has a toolbar on its left side of the browser window likewise fireworks or Photoshop.
  • It has different panels for editing image.
  • Useful options for layer handing or effects like transparency.
  • Usage:

    Phoenix provides the complete image editing features of a desktop image editor with the simplicity and ease of web based application.

    8.    BeFunky

    unnamed

    Image Source:www.play.google.com

    It's a Smart Photo Enhancement tool and provides means of editing images with a single click.

    Features:

  • BeFunky provides image modification and effects to the daily usage pictures.
  • It easily fixes your daily photo's problem with less effort.
  • There are digital goodies available which can be add-up with your photos like frames, glasses etc…
  • Usage:

    You can modify your images personally for yourself, can modify your face book profile picture, or as a designer you can add different effects online.

    9.    Splashup

    splashup-light-10

    Image Source:www.splashup-light.en.softonic.com

    Love Photoshop but hate the price? Then use Freeware photo editing web application that is Splashup.Features:It is not recommended to install any big application software for designing tiny elements. You can use splashup for speedy work online.

    Features:

  • It is very light in use, so any user can use it online with less to medium connection speed.
  • All featured tools are available for editing or adding effects to the image.
  • Usage:

    Designers and general public can use it easily for image editing.

    10.    Picasa

    wpid-app_icon-1

    Image Source:www.talkandroid.com

    Picasa is the freeware Google product for graphic designers that make your pictures look great.

    Features:

  • Manage your photos; organize your digital photo album with Picasa.
  • Can create slide shows, prints & wallpapers.
  • You can easily do basic fixes of your photos with less effort and time.
  • Tuning options are there for images.
  • Collage feature allow you to combine your best pictures together with a cool background.
  • You can create virtual photo albums.
  • Picasa has the powerful searching capabilities by assigning tags and stars to photos.
  • With the Sharing feature, you can share or sync your photos online easily.
  • Usage:

    Google Picasa can easily be used by the general public and professional designers.

    11.    Dropbox

    dropbox

    Image Source:www.whooshtranscription.com

    Dropbox is the great tool we have to manage  all our data, either multimedia or simple text.

    Features:

  • One of the great features of the dropbox is that it is meant for synchronizing all your data. So wherever you go for travel, you will have all of your files the same.
  • It gives you the file access by assigning you a single magic box, which can be assess into your laptop, pc or mobile phone.
  • Usage:The persons, professionals, designers who travel very frequently can use dropbox. Even you can place your photos, multimedia items into the dropbox.

    12.    Executor

    49852ba6-3f61-4c6e-b9bc-2c3b2b8e7bdf_3_full

    Image Source:www.alternativeto.net

    Executer is a multipurpose launcher program and a customized version of Windows Run Functionality.

    Features:

  • Programs / short-cuts.
  • Documents / files / folders.
  • You can assign number of keywords like shutdown, logoff,  show date, week, show (ip),  start screen saver.
  • Executer has the fastest searching mechanism based on the assignment of keywords, because keywords are searchable by the user and are easily  remembered.
  • Auto Completion is supported for keywords.
  • Send emails.
  • You can do fast calculations.
  • Manage and View running applications.
  • Usage:The Designing is the act of making the content  attractive with the use of different designing tools. Sometimes it's become so hard to locate the element or item related to designing. So this tool can help a graphic designer in this regard to keep track of all data, softwares, applications, and multimedia items. While also providing an easy way to perform tasks efficiently.


    Source: 12 Magnificent Freeware Tools for Graphic Designers

    Friday, October 7, 2016

    A Design Tool for Everyone: USU Aerospace Engineer Creates Free 3-D Aircraft Design Software

    News Release – LOGAN, UTAH, Oct. 6, 2016 – As interest in small autonomous aerial vehicles and their applications continues to expand, a Utah State University aerospace engineer is offering the public a free software tool that could revolutionize the drone industry.

    Doug Hunsaker, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at USU, is offering a free, easy to use 3-D online software program that generates aerodynamic information about a user's aircraft design.

    MachupUSU aerospace engineering faculty Doug Hunsaker created a free aircraft design software.

    The program, called MachUp, is available at aero.go.usu.edu. The web-based software operates on any browser and on any platform including smartphones and tablets. The site also features training tutorials and how-to videos.

    "MachUp lets a user design an aircraft, and the software will calculate aerodynamic information about that design," said Hunsaker. "The program will generate lift, drag, stability and trim data for any design you put into it."

    MachUp uses modern 3-D web graphics to render images in a browser, and does the heavy-duty aerodynamic computations on a dedicated server. The software could prove to be a valuable resource for companies developing small autonomous aircraft. Most software tools capable of calculating aerodynamic data are tied up in the major aerospace firms and are not commonly available without steep licensing fees.

    Doug HunsakerDoug Hunsaker, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering, is offering a free online design tool.

    "The average Joe does not have access to this kind of software," said Hunsaker. "And if they did, it would be prohibitively expensive for the average user or small startup company."

    In the near future, small autonomous aircraft will play a big role in everyday life. Drones are already creating new opportunities in agriculture, research, cinematography and data delivery. Companies including Google and Facebook are exploring the use of drones to provide wireless Internet coverage and, Amazon is developing drones to deliver packages. As applications expand, a variety of drones will be needed to perform a variety of tasks.

    That's the heart of the problem for Hunsaker: There is no one-size-fits-all design for drones, meaning different drone models used in different applications will need to be designed from the ground up.

    "For years, we've been imagining drones doing everything from delivering packages to monitoring freeway traffic and performing security functions," said Hunsaker. "But because each mission is different, each of those applications will require a unique drone that will have to be designed for safe and efficient operation. Designing any aircraft, including drones, requires sophisticated software tools and expert-level knowledge in aerodynamics and aerospace engineering.

    That's where MachUp comes in. Hunsaker said he developed MachUp with the goal of putting useful design tools into the hands of engineers at drone startup companies. Now, he wants anyone interested in fixed-wing drone design to try the software to see what it's capable of.

    Doug HunsakerThe software is available to anyone including aerospace engineering students and drone start-up companies.

    Dozens of companies and aerospace engineering schools around the country have used MachUp including Embry Riddle, Virginia Tech and MIT. The software is also used by Utah State University's Aggie Air agriculture research program.

    Hunsaker is a leading expert in aerodynamics and aircraft design. Before coming to USU, he worked for Scaled Composites, the California company behind the iconic SpaceShipTwo suborbital spaceplane.

    "It's a tool I would have used in my aircraft design courses if it had been around," he added. "This level of resource just hasn't previously been available to most designers."


    Source: A Design Tool for Everyone: USU Aerospace Engineer Creates Free 3-D Aircraft Design Software

    Thursday, October 6, 2016

    Affinity Designer launches version 1.5 with a discount & free web design kit

    Serif's graphic design app Affinity Designer for Mac has released its latest version – and to celebrate the launch they're offering a limited-time discount to new users as well as a free Grade UI kit. 

    Affinity Designer 1.5 is now available in the App Store for a one-off payment of £29.99. If you're working on branding, concept art, print projects, icons, UI, UX or web mock-ups then this software offers a decent alternative to Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop Sketch - it won the Apple Design Award last year.

    New features include optimisation for MacOS Sierra, text styles and symbols, a new colour picker tool, constraints, export improvements, asset management and style improvements.

    Affinity Designer 1.5: New features 

    The new constraints feature allows users to control the position or size of an object relative to its container, making it possible to create reusable elements performing in a pseudo-responsive manner. 

    The symbols feature allows users to have multiple instances of the same object – where editing one object will edit them all simultaneously. 

    Snapping power is a new feature based around creating easy, customisable alignment through grids and snap to pixel, while instant live feedback makes it a doodle to monitor the precision of your design. 

    The asset management panel allows users to drag and drop items into or out of the panel for easy access.

     

    To find out more information on the new features in Affinity Designer 1.5 check out these videos.

     Affinity Designer 1.5: Price & deals

    Along with the launch of Affinity Designer 1.5, Serif is offering new customers a limited-time 20 percent discount on the usual one-off price of £39.99 (US$49.99). It'll now cost you £29.99 to buy the software for the first time, and upgrading to the latest version is free to existing owners. There's also a free trial available.

     

    And they're also throwing in a free Grade UI web design kit worth US$58 to all Affinity Designer owners. The kit is created by Russian designer Sergey Azovskiy, with the aim to make it as versatile as possible for designers and developers to create a site within minutes. 

    Mac users should follow the prompts in-app to download the kit, but it will also be included in the Windows version of Affinity Designer, currently in public beta with a full launch expected soon.

    Serif also offers Mac photo editing software Affinity Photo – a strong rival to Adobe Photoshop. Check out what we thought of it after its release last year.


    Source: Affinity Designer launches version 1.5 with a discount & free web design kit