Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)This book is a collection of chapters written by various academics and industry representatives. Overall, it is an excellent resource for anyone interested in 3D scanning and reverse engineering, especially as they relate to manufacturing and mechanical CAD/CAM/CAE. Chapters 1 - 4 cover the technological aspects, and do a very good job of it. Because each chapter was contributed by a different group, they are somewhat repetitive, but given the complexity of the topic it's actually useful to get a few different points of view. The only problem with these chapters is that the information is a bit outdated already, but this isn't that surprising given the pace of development in 3D scanning and RE technologies. Of important note is that the book does not cover the so called 3rd generation process of making a parametric CAD solid model from 3D scan data, which is a newer development and is often the best method for mechanical reverse engineering.
Chapters 5 & 6 cover rapid prototyping (RP), which is somewhat off-topic for the premise of the book, but many organizations use reverse engineering and RP together, so it's understandable that the editors included some information about RP technology.
Chapters 7-9 offer various real-world case studies of how 3D scanning has been used by various companies. These 3 chapters were all contributed by a single software vendor in the industry, but generally seem to be impartially written and not just marketing fluff. They serve as useful examples of how different companies make use of 3D scanning/RE.
Unfortunately, the last 2 chapters of the book are not really helpful at all. Chapter 10, Legal Aspects of Reverse Engineering, is especially out of place - it covers software reverse engineering (read: decompiling software to discover its source code). I'm not sure what the editors were thinking when they included this chapter - the book is about industrial RE of physical objects, which has nothing to do with decompiling software. The chapter is at best completely irrelevant and at worst gives the false impression that mechanical RE is akin to software code RE. As for the legal aspects of 3D scanning and mechanical RE, there isn't much case law to refer to, but in general the courts have found that 3D scanning and remodeling of a legally obtained object is legally similar to taking a photograph of an object (Search Meshwerks v. Toyota for a recent decision on the topic). The final chapter on Barriers to Adopting Reverse Engineering isn't particularly helpful either, as it seems to be a general article on capital purchase decisions and has no specific connection to 3D scanning/reverse engineering technology purchases (Chapter 4 does a much better job of informing potential buyers what to look for).
Again, overall I would recommend this book to anyone interested in 3D scanning, and particularly to anyone considering acquiring the technology - just focus on the first four chapters and forget the last 2!
Click Here to see more reviews about: Reverse Engineering: An Industrial Perspective (Springer Series in Advanced Manufacturing)
This edited collection of essays from world-leading academic and industrial authors yields insight into all aspects of reverse engineering. Methods of reverse engineering analysis are covered, along with special emphasis on the investigation of surface and internal structures. Frequently-used hardware and software are assessed and advice given on the most suitable choice of system.Also covered is rapid prototyping and its relationship with successful reverse engineering.
Get 20% OFF
0 comments:
Post a Comment