Nov 6, 2017 | By Tess
It will soon become a lot easier for businesses and individuals to add watermarks and serial codes to their 3D prints thanks to a partnership between Utah-based 3D printing software company Authentise and Indian 3D software development company ProtoTech Solutions.
Users can embed serial numbers onto their 3D prints using the Watermarking module
By way of a recent agreement between the two companies, Authentise’s 3Diax automation and 3D printing software platform will now incorporate ProtoTech’s watermarking technology. This means that users will be able to benefit from automatic watermarking for their 3D prints using the new 3Diax Watermarking Module.
ProtoTech’s innovative technology will reportedly be exclusively available through Authentise’s software platform.
The Watermarking Module will provide users with the option to embed serial numbers, barcodes, or other types of identifying symbols into or onto their 3D models. The company says the technology is capable of placing these markers on any part of the 3D print, including on its surface, in the internal support structures, as an attached tag, or under the print’s surface.
To identify the serial numbers of codes inside the print, users can reportedly rely on X-Ray or other scanning technologies to detect the underlying watermark.
While not every maker will need watermarking technology to protect their prints and models, the technology could be useful for businesses and manufacturing facilities that are looking for a way to track, organize, and protect parts that may be 3D printed. Authentise says the new 3Diax Module even has the potential to “reduce the number of counterfeit parts in circulation.”
“We understand geometries and what it takes to change them on the fly,” commented Varun Bhartiya, a partner at ProtoTech Solutions. “The 3Diax infrastructure is the best way for subject matter experts like us to contribute to badly needed workflow automation in the additive manufacturing sector.”
“Using AM’s unique ability to make differentiated designs at no additional cost our modules can be used to eliminate costly secondary processes such as laser-engraving. This is the first step in our partnership with Authentise to make additive manufacturing more efficient and turn it into a production alternative,” he added.
The new watermarking technology can also be used in combination with other 3Diax modules, including its geometric search module, which would allow users to mark even non-identical parts simply by “identifying the similarity of incoming objects to existing templates,” the companies say.
Notably, the new Watermarking module is completely automatic and integrated, meaning that users do not have to manually add the watermark to each 3D model they plan to print. This is meant to make the manufacturing process more streamlined and efficient, as well as providing the potential to scale up production without any watermarking worries.
“The modular structure of the platform and the API access also enables us to integrate this module with others, or directly into corporate IT systems,” added Andre Wegner, CEO of Authentise.
An example of a non-human readable code that can be embedded into a 3D print
In addition to partnering with ProtoTech, Authentise also recently aligned itself with Siemens PLM Software to embed the latter’s Geolus Search shape search technology into the 3Diax API platform. The Utah-based company says it has more exciting partnership announcements on the way as well, so stay tuned.
Posted in 3D Software
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