Engineers at medical manufacturer FHC in Bowdoinham, Maine assumed designing portability into a new device was beyond the firm's resources, and so planned to outsource the task. The company (fh-co.com) produces equipment to treat neurological disorders. Electronics engineer Mark Martin was assigned to find a subcontractor. “But I thought we could do it in-house,” he says. Using the easy-to-learn solid modeler Alibre Design from Alibre Inc., Richardson, Texas, (alibre.com) Martin quickly came up with a concept model and presented ideas at meetings.

The colorful 3D models let co-workers realize the packaging aspect of the product could be kept in-house, thereby cutting development costs. Different views of the conceptual model promoted collaboration and solidified the look and features of the carrying case. Martin then proceeded to develop a construction assembly.

He says the models let him experiment with different shapes more easily than the company's previous 2D and wireframe system. Final 3D designs are exported easily to .stl format (for rapid prototyping), and to a wide variety of 3D CAD file formats used by fabricators for special methods such as rotational molding. Martin adds that the software is intuitive so its commands are easy to remember. He learned the software as he went along.