The New “Rage” in Maker Tools and Techniques 

With thanks to Tested members Jarvis Cross, @ADHDMedia, The INKspired Life and @leemarsh3569, for their support! Join this channel to support Tested and get access to perks, like asking Adam questions: ru-vid.com/show-UCiDJtJKMICpb9B1qf7qjEOAjoin

I am a mechanical engineering student, and we already use VR and CAD together, specifically using SolidWorks to input your CAD models into real-life scenarios. You can 'feel' what your product is like in the real world, walking around it and can assemble and disassemble your build in VR. This paired with rapid prototyping is something that allows for endless possibilities when it comes to projects and prototyping. Deffo worth checking it out!!

I got my Quest 2 a couple of years back. My father who is a draftsman and uses CAD to design heavy industrial machinery got to see in person and most importantly to scale designs he had previously done in industry. He was amazed that he could walk around these large pieces of machinery. I think you are right in that VR and mixed reality will have a huge impact on the design space.

As a former mechanical technician... I see the AR/VR technology as a perfect way to perform maintenance by providing animated locations, assembly and disassembly instructions. Seeing something in the real world and having the AR overlay or enhance the view with this information would be a HUGE improvement and enhancement.

Gloves! The next step is haptic gloves - I can't wait to just pinch, point, grab, twist etc and throw shapes out like a first person video game!

Thank you for answering my question about your “favorite thinking place”. Love what you all do here @tested. My favorite “thinking and doing” RU-vid channel. 😀🙏👍

I am SO GLAD you are bringing this up. Shedding light on the value of this tech that people just aren't seeing. Most can't get past thinking VR and AR are goofy, creepy, or only for gaming. There are 3D art apps in VR already and are really cool. It's just the beginning. We just need people to show interest. I'm extremely excited for the future of VR/AR for makers everywhere!!!!

Thanks Adam! Great update. I appreciate you.

I always counted off AR and VR until this argument on how it will affect CAD. You changed my mind.

Since you talked about books and getting back into reading, this is the video to say thank you for “Every Tool is a Hammer”. Between recently reading it, as well the brilliant Caitlin Doughty books, I have got my love of reading actual books back again. I never realised how much I was missing out, so yes, a big thank you 😊

Wow. I'm actually jealous! I live in Cornwall, England, where there's no HEMA clubs, but looking at the map on the HEMA Alliance website, you're spoilt for choice! There's almost more clubs 'near' you than in the whole of England! I counted 19 to just the other side of Sacramento. There's 23 clubs on the UK's HEMA directory!

One of the reasons spear was so popular historically is that the basic training is VERY simple, and then you have a fighting unit in a day or two. It's basically "hold it like this" and "keep the tip pointed at your foe" and you're good. You can make a spear unit and they can hold their position very easily without much more training.

I was in CAD for 6 years designing knee implants. I would have loved if voice recognition and AR could give access to every feature that was buried behind a context menu. Saying “add fillet” or “extrude a round whole” to start a feature is so much faster and user friendly than a hot key. If you added in file interoperability between commercial and open source programs, you would open up design to the masses

I've been really impressed by the availability of files for 3d printing tabletop miniatures and terrain, there are vast libraries of free sculpts out there that allow for you to grab and print whatever you need for a game without having to pay a huge premium for a pack of minis from a shop that's been shipped around the planet three times. I have huge respect for anyone who makes 3d print files and releases them for free, just to help other people out with their work and creations.

YES to riding a Onewheel at night! I rented a onewheel on "friend with a..." while visiting Chicago in 2022, and I was the only one peeking above the crowd in a sea of pedestrians. I did a fly-by on a group of Segway scooters on tour (in the most polite way!) near the bean, and it was surreal. It was like I discovered a cheat code for experiencing the city.

As soon as Adam said “CAD” I knew exactly what he was going to say and my mind was blown by the insight and possibilities! 🤯 VR/AR is a necessary tool to unlock the full potential of CAD and 3D printing. 😎

About 5 years ago when I was a machinist I touched a vr and had the same exact realization of this coming up. I am beyond excited to see this dialed in

VR CAD is a dream of mine as well. I've used the process in some limited capacities, but more in designing spaces. I quickly modeled up an office I was moving into along with my desk, etc. I loaded it into VR to see if the space would be enough. I knew it would FIT, but not how it would "feel". As far as actual CAD, I've not really found a good app in VR for doing detailed work. The Sketch apps just aren't quite there yet, but I'm REALLY hoping there will be one soon. I'm sufficiently good with Fusion360, but VR CAD would be a gamechanger...

Dude I've been saying this forever about VR CAD, hearing you bring up the idea of it on your own feels incredibly validating haha! I'm really hoping that apple pushing for VR as a consumer productivity tool gets us either some new CAD tools for VR or proper support for VR in existing CAD programs.

I’m excited when the 3D goggles can translate over to home building! Virtually be able walk through a 3D model of a house on the cleared land make adjustments, make corrections, could even do building inspections with it!

Guessing I'm probably not the only one just staring at the ex-ILM shelving racks behind him for the whole duration of the video.

weird, I've got a Raymond Chandler book right next to YOUR book, Every Tool's a Hammer. Your book is coming up right after I finish reading Chandler's Stories & Early Novels

"that happens in that chair" compartmentalization is vital and a real productivity/focus gamechanger

Hi Adam, I work in an automotive design studio and use Gravity Sketch. It is great for sculpting and not so much orthogonal parts. It’s hard to go back to pancake world after working in VR…

I work in the construction industry and we use Trimble hololense AR daily to show the installers what we are trying to achieve using Revit and Navisworks. Is a great tool and took some convincing to the old school people who think it is just a fad but after a few years of using it they have slowly come round to it's possibilities.

The way Adam gushes about that club chair, to me seems like it should be the subject of a video series on engaging a (local?) furniture maker to draw up a set of plans, and offer them to this audience.

I look forward to the merging of 3d design and VR. It will be an extraordinary ground breaking step forward in R&D.

You might want to look into FMA and Kali/Arnis/Eskrima if there is any in SF. Great aerobic training while flailing about sticks (among other things, also swords in some variants I think) in a controlled manner. It's a lot of fun!

GET OUT OF MY HEAD 😂❤🙏we need this!!!

Totally agree on the AR/VR with 3D modeling. What takes me 5 minutes to draw out on paper takes hours of pain in CAD. Sure, if I used a specific program daily it wouldn't be so bad, but to have something you can virtually manipulate with your hands and hopefully include INTUITIVE tooling would be fan freaking tasktic!

YES… EXACTLY! I’ve been saying that there should be AR overlays on my CNC, back when I got my Quest2 when they first came out. So you can see where the CNC is going to cut.

I love Raymond Chandler...Book ordered. Thx

I'm in the south bay and my tradition isn't European weapons, but it's darn fun to think about teaching and training with you! :)

I think that VR/AR CAD won’t automatically make everyone’s models better. There is a level of design and refinement that most folks don’t put into their 3D prints, and I don’t think that people will necessarily understand what they need to do to bring their work to the next level just seeing it in an immersive environment. Design is a skill and you have to have motivation to build it.

Quick look up, there is a Kendo dojo in San Francisco, it’s wood swords, but that’s still a very interesting fighting technique.

AR -VR seems like it's something that will revolutionise a great deal of what we do. Everything from the CAD pipeline as Adam talks about here to even mundane things like officework.

I like your VR/AR answer for CAD/CAM. I think the thing really holding it back is inputs into the 'drafting space'. VR/AR is great for viewing the model, but I think tools still lack a good way to track in 3d space where you really want to draw. Once someone really finds the right way to handle working in a freeform space as opposed to drawing on a 2d plane (CAD/CAM software or on a drafting table) and then rotating the view... then I think VR/AR will really be good.

Are you not talking about the SCA?!?! You're literally next door to where it was founded (Milpitas)! Of course, in SCA proper the list weapons are not edged or pointed, but the techniques are historically accurate. There are SCA spinoffs that do introduce live steel, with great discipline. All of these include martial forms. Side note: DC Fontana off Star Trek fame was a longtime member of the SCA. I had the honor of working with her a little at the SCA 25-year celebration back in 1991. Such a very cool person!

Part of my classes in college was CAD software and 3D modeling - primarily for architectural renders, but I've incorporated 3D modeling into my own workflow when building furniture or storage for myself. One thing I noticed in my classes is that there seemed to be a natural divide between people who just sort of Got It (maybe 20%) when translating what they had in their head to 2D CAD drawings and/or 3D models and people who Didn't (maybe 80%). I think VR/AR could have some really good applications in making that 2D/3D translation easier for folks who struggle with that and I think architecture and landscape design could really benefit from not weeding out some of the better designers just because they struggle with getting their ideas onto a computer.

That capability of AR that you mentioned is why I thought the Microsoft Hololens looked so cool years ago. Doesn't seem like much has come of it, however.

Great video sir you are awesome ❤️ 😊

Adam loves telling the story of how he found/bought his leather club chair hahah, and I love hearing it

A company that builds monster trucks bodies uses augmented reality to model bodies over vehicles it was awesome to see.

This is exactly what I thought when I watched a review a few days ago. I immediately looked up VR CAD and saw there really isn't anything there.

I’m suddenly imagining Adam riding his OneWheel at night with a giant sword on his back, gently pulling over and waiting for a car to pass him.

Huge props to Adams attention to detail. He talks about a VR headset? He puts a vintage one on display in the background. Anyone else spot it on the gas cylinder?

you suggested the Hyperion cantos, and I listened to the Hyperion cantos (I love audiobooks) so it works. probably could get ten minutes out of it and if your team reads stuff then they could add if they want.

R2 looks great there!

I dont know why youtube keeps dumping my comment. There is an SCA rapier group that meets on sundays at 1 pm Golden Gate part, near the archery field.

Hey editing/upload team, could we get chapter markings on these Q&A vids? Aside from being able to jump ahead and know how many questions there are, it makes Adam's talky videos a lot more searchable from the channel page when I want to share one. 🙏

Absolutely LOVE Adam and how he makes stuff, but as an engineer I always think how much better his creations would be if he used traditional engineering tools/techniques. Such as CAD and drawings. So I eagerly await the day he uses VR to design something, to then make it in the real world.

I have a wish. I wish Adam would dip his toe into the RC car world for a video or two. Any type. Top speed cars are obviously on the bleeding edge of technology for RC. Rc basher are also very popular. Between arrma and traxxas I'm sure he would be impressed with how far RC has come

You wish is not an answer to the question, but I totally get where you're coming from. Maybe 3D scanning and/or 3D software in the next decade, and finally the merger of the 3D AR at the end of the decade when the technology matures... Then of course the next decade or so maturing of that synthesis and in 20 years from now what you describe is a reality and you can't imagine living without it or how "we got things done" in the "Olden Days" I still am baffled how we operated as a society with wired phones and lack of GPS back in the 1980's But that's part of the charm and the "retro" community is enjoying and falling back in love with the 1980's... Let's keep our history living and appreciating our legacy as well as our glorious future. Cheers!

I participated in a cad forum about 10 years ago. We were asked what we thought a certain cad software giant should work on for future user interface development. There were the usual suggestions to tweak the existing app interface such as “tool x should be more intuitive “, etc. I added my own such suggestions. After some further thought, I suggested “Jarvis” as in Ironman. I was laughed at by most, put down by some and listened to by a rare few. At the time, touch screens were available, VR was available, voice command apps were available. They just needed to be put together. I didn’t have the cash to do it myself. I still think that it can be done in the open source community. And now there’s AI.

VR/AR's is gonna get better and better for planning out floorplans, recalling item locations or tracking stock. Of course the limiting factor is still gonna be generating, or accessing, the initial 3D models.

Would urge everyone to try gravity sketch.. It is an early glimpse of what's possible

I think this is 100% on point. I am surrounded by beautiful and intelligent people, who have different interests and hobbies from myself. My hobbies are design and 3d printing and audio. I have been told countless times that I’m “so smart”. But from my perspective I know the work I’ve put into understanding hire to use the tools that get the ideas out of my head, into my computer, and into the real world. It’s nothing but effort and drive/determination. I’ve met very few actual “idiots”. Most people I meet are genuinely very intelligent, more so than they give themselves credit for. Before smart photography, you usually had to have thorough knowledge of photography to artfully/tastefully capture great images. But know anyone with even a basic idea of framing and intuition can capture amazing images using a phone in their pocket. I think the same will happen with CAD. In the longer term, maybe design too. When I learned CAD, I treated like a translation layer between my mind and whatever medium I’d be using to bring my ideas into the real world, in my case 3D printing.

That VR/AR CAD idea already exists to an extent, it’s called Gravity Sketch. It’s not perfect or super popular, but I assume will grow in the coming years especially because it’s free. I’m an industrial design student and I already see some of my peers use it to design their own products

When teaching 3D cad to youngsters, many of them easily begin to create fun shapes in 3D. The more difficult part for them to grasp is scale. Whatever they create on the screen is as big in their mind as it is on the screen. Then when they want to 3D print it, they are shocked to see it's dime sized. The type of CAD interface you describe could be the "killer app" of VR headsets.

Everybody thinks they want to use gestures to control computers until they have to hold their arm up in the air for half an hour to accomplish a task.

I'd like to see a One Wheel Race on a Track. Either a Tour de France endurance or all out Roller Derby style! I'd pay a dollar to see that!

We use Siemens NX at work (which costs way more than an arm and a leg) and we do use VR with that, and Siemens is releasing their own headset later this year.

Duuuude!!! The only reason I even dabble in VR is knowing what it will do for cad cam.... imagine having a Jarvis level 3d design environment... 3d interfaces and AGI are on the horizon...

As someone with many thousands of hours of CAD usage, I feel I will have to first "unlearn" how to do things if using VR or AR to model. I think it's particularly useful for architectural/interior design walkthroughs though.

Imagine doing hema with Adam Savage.. Would be awesome

On CAD. I've resisted learning it because I don't want to invest the time I think it would take to reach a level where I'd be really pleased with what I can do, what I'd like to do. But I know there's always a learning curve, etc. and sure, some day I may take that plunge. But for now I'll stick to making complex shapes the slow way, by hand, IRL. It is already a gratifying experience. As an occasional Oculus user, I'm not sure a virtual viewer is going to make complex 3D design accessible to the average human, but it will be interesting to see where it goes in time.

I want a VR clay molding mode. You can slice parts off with a sword like fruit ninja or poke or mold things with your hands or finders. Then easily send that file wherever and maybe ai to clean things up

Really looking forward to AR/VR to enter into mechanical engineering, maintenance arena.

AR/VR is already used in several industries like automotive for testing out production lines and so on before they get built.

Sounds like you are describing a VR version of Tony Stark’s “Ironman” design workbench from the movies.

The CAD in VR/AR is most definitely only going to be brought to fruition by Ai. Once we have an "interpreter" that can translate "drill a hole" into something more mechanically constrained, we will be off to the races.

Yes VR can help visualize and support the modeling workflow and process, however the keyboard holds like 70 commands + variations with modifier keys i.e. shift, alt, control, fn... So you can get about 300 commands if you need them. Then, like using a Wacom tablet you have a stylus for direct positioning and some 2nd hand modifier keys, these tools alone allow way more control and efficiency. The benefit of the VR headset is it blocks out reality and puts you in the same space as the computer screen and 3d space with an orbital system that is what is disorienting and needs some adjusting to get used to. For long term use, I don't think it is there yet, I think the vision for VR is further ahead than the current implementation so its more marketing that carries a lot of weight, but iteration leads to advancement so...

Being able to look up and order any part for any piece of equipment. If not be able scan and print/cnc said part. Quickly.

I hear another RU-vid creator downplaying the VR/AR thing because they believe it is just monitors in front of your eyes. Oh, but it is so much more than that. I think once people experience it and the price point gets to where everyone can afford them, we will see more of their true usefulness. I can really see them in design, diagnostics of complex equipment and telemedicine (speaking of complex equipment!)

I dont have any experience or particular knowledge of spears and/or swords, bit listenting to you, I would then assume that the spear is so good and simple that it only needs 100 days to be effective, but a sword needs 10,000 days to then try to best it.

i agree with the vr for cad it would be revolutionary.

I was very excited to find out more and read this new Shining book you mentioned. Much to my dismay, I found that it's a limited edition Taschen book, is $2500, and is sold out (not that I could begin to afford that). How disappointing. Guess only a select few will be reading that one.

The most important thing IMO for CAD/CAM will be for it to have its Blender moment, Right now these programs are either very limited free, horribly non intuitive free or outside the price range of lots of hobbyists. So a blender moment would be free cad software that is at a minimum at the level of Blender 2.8. A FOSS CAD program doing for that process what Blender did for hobbyists in computer modeling/animation would change things greatly in the 3D printing space.

Dean Pelton has already shown the power of VR. :)

RE spear vs sword : Yeah in a single combat, you dont want to be the guy with the sword if you can help it. sword and shield is at least better odds. If the space is really confined though, the spearman has a struggle. In one on one, the spear benefits most with a lot of room to move. The only real "technique" the sword can apply is to rush and get past the "doughnut of death" that a spearman has. Of course there are a lot of sword skills that go into that, but all of them including " do x while rushing.. land that blow or die." But polearms can also be quite awkward to handle compared to something like sword and buckler or dagger. Especially if you can force them to switch sides or change stances. Spearmen do a lot of back stepping as well. So.. there are things you can do to throw them off.. but every option is a roll of the dice with bad odds for the sword person.

are we talking about a unicycle or electric thingy? Shop looks fantastic. So jealous.

Imagine using the VR to use as visual aid for presentations to developers. I thinking an architect walking through with a client their new home, their new building

I'm a professional product designer (Achilles Design, Belgium). I use AR/VR regularly in my design pipeline - In prototyping, verification, testing, client review. If you're ever curious, I'd love to have a chat.

Book group? I'd start with Denver Riggleman's book, The Breach. Then we can chat about Joseph Conrad, Cocteau, James Jones, Peter Matthieissen, etc.

Shapr3D is doing some awesome CAD stuff on the Vision Pro

You should read all James Hadley Chase books. His style was copied by many in crime books and movies but he never gets any credit. True British noir

Hello Adam , do you have Pre-ordered the new haslab Ghost ? i hope i see a unboxing and overview on youre channel .

Adam, you should do a video VESC modding your OneWheel!!! Especially since they have become so anti-consumer here lately. As someone who has visited their facility and made one, I would love to hear you talk about where they are now.

Is there any members only Blade Runner stuff. I’ll make a subscription if there is!

I think you would like Whitehead's "The Intuitionist" - the title refers to a philosophy of elevator repair. You would totally dig it.

Re "The Chair", Howard Chappell in his boatbuilding book, calls the R and R chair the "groaning chair", and insists the would-be boat builder have one.

Do you have your own welding bay? And have you ever made something by mig welding aluminum?

My big worry about this is that it's going to lock so many makers into a -rental- bunch of subscriptions they probably didn't need and can't afford because of FOMO and other pressures. "You will own nothing and you will enjoy it" is the motto of the current tech industry, and we can certainly do a lot better than that.

The big advent for 3D printing will occur when some type of integrated "follower" is developed to provide a finished surface as the print is produced. Production time would essentially be unaltered and the familiar lines from stacking will be a thing of the past. No idea if the best process would be chemical, mechanical, possibly involve laser or maybe some entirely new concept, but that to me is when 3D printing will be optimized.

Just to let you know, in the field of architecture and engineering, we have been using AR/VR for the last five or six years. I have used Hololens for example to display the final design over the work in progress to check for variances in construction. Done complete walk-throughs of my designs before construction. So, not new. Apple did not suddenly invest the space. Their product is beautiful, well made, etc, but not new.

We need a Tony stark type designing software and VR is getting us closer, just a well thought out design software and having it recognize hands as a mouse would be great on a VR head set, but I’m not a software engineer so I can’t help with that

Adam saw Ironman 1 and has a dream. Me to Adam, me too.

So the club chair is your Captains chair . ☺️ Going to need to get me a Captain's chair 🤪

Crazy that Adam still plugs OneWheel.

It would take so long…… but to make a digital location map of an entire maker space, complete with digital labels, search and highlight options…. “Where is that weird handle that I found on the side of the road ten years ago?” “Bin A2 of cabinet 7; marking now.”