Dec.10, 2013
Leap Motion is a motion-sensing technology that tracks your hand gestures to perform various functions on your computer screen, such as, playing games, designing objects. The creators of Leap Motion has recently launched a brand new and free creation software tool called Freeform that allows users to create digital sculptures and 3D printable objects by manipulating pre-loaded objects or ones they've uploaded themselves, just like playing with Play-Doh virtually.
Through the app, users can shape digital figures on their computers by moving their hands and fingers above the Leap Motion Controller, and create models of all sorts of shapes. They can adjust the brushes, choose the material and tools to work with, change the shape, make all kinds of tweaks, and even rotate the model for lathe or pottery wheel effects. When finished, the object can be saved as as a .phy, .obj or .stl file and printed on any 3D printer.
"The holy grail for this sort of this thing is that an 8-year-old could walk up, put their hands out, and then play with this. But someone who is older and has been using this for a while can really build something sophisticated with this," said company CEO Michael Buckwald. "I think we've struck that balance."
That means everyone can learn to express themselves and create beautiful 3D models in a matter of minutes or hours instead of months. In General Freeform can satisfy the mass audience and even radically alter the landscape of 3D creativity.
Free Form is compatible for both Windows and Mac devices with a minimum operating system of Vista or Mac OS X 10.7. It's free to download on 'Airspace', Leap Motion's app marketplace.
Meanwhile the company is also in the process of finalizing its latest tracking design software that will improve its motion-tracking capabilities and understand better motions like a "pinch". The new tracking software is expected to be available in January 2014.
Posted in 3D Software
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