Power Surfacing RE, from nPowerSoftware, is a SOLIDWORKS add-on for reverse engineering using various mesh formats.

In essence, Power Surfacing RE will take sub-d models, 3D scans or simulation meshes and turn them into SOLIDWORKS NURBS surfaces. This allows users to access the geometry in the SOLIDWORKS framework.

For a detailed look at Power Surfacing’s capabilities and how to get it, read this previous article.

The Ethical Questions of Reverse Engineering

3D Printed recreation of a Rembrandt painting made for research purposes by Tim Zaman of Delft University of Technology. The sculpture-like painting abilities of Rembrandt were mimicked well enough to fool experts. Picture taken at REAL2015 by Shawn Wasserman.

Reverse engineering is quite a useful tool to any design team. Some of the legitimate benefits include:

Recreating products from discontinued product lines
Farming outdated product lines to third parties
Recreating products when design documentation is not available
Producing a product no longer protected under copyright

An interesting application of the technology is the ability to sculpt products, scan them and bring them into CAD. This begs the question: Will engineers benefit from a few lessons in classical art, as was suggested in a previous article? Additionally, will future engineers need to learn CAD if we all go back to modeling with clay or other physical media?

Then there is a dark side to reverse engineering technology. Coupled with a 3D printer, being able to scan objects and create CAD geometry can allow people to recreate product for nefarious purposes. Counterfeiters, criminal organizations and even terrorists can benefit from a simple means to reverse engineer art, products and weaponry. With the genie out of the bottle, how will these technologies affect our safety and the safety of our IP?

Nonetheless, for good and bad, reverse engineering is here to stay. How will you use it? Should we suggest safeguards? Comment below.