[Editor's Note]
Recently, Creaform held the '2023 Creaform Contest', a reverse engineering competition utilizing 3D technology such as 3D scanners and 3D printers. Unlike previous events, this event was conducted in a format where experts obtained scan data using 3D scanners, then reverse engineered, 3D printed, and inspected the data, and evaluated the results. Notably, it went beyond simply evaluating the reverse engineering skills of 3D scanner users and even went as far as manufacturing actual products, enhancing their expertise. At this event, Obed won the grand prize for scanning a portable, silent heater docking cover for camping, with the concept of reverse engineering a silent heater cover and creating a heater cover that can close the space between window frames. We met with Obed CEO Kwon Oh-hyun for an interview.

■ If you could introduce yourself and tell us what made you participate

hello.

My name is Kwon Oh-hyun, and I'm the CEO of Obed, a company that manufactures camper boxes for minivans. I'm in charge of everything from design to production.

As the camping market has grown recently, a variety of products are being produced. Our company is also introducing 3D scanners to develop products that require closer contact with vehicles and precise design.

When scanning with the peel2 we currently have, there were some areas where the scan quality was poor in black and glossy areas of the vehicle.

I decided to participate in the contest to see if I could improve these inconveniences by using the new product, peel3d.

■ Won the grand prize at the ‘Creaform Contest 2023’. How do you feel about receiving the award?

I would like to thank all the Soltive staff who recommended me to participate in the contest and provided thorough assistance from product concept meetings to training and video production.

I would also like to thank Creaform officials for giving me the opportunity to use better products through this competition.

We will always strive to become a manufacturer that creates more precise, high-quality, and convenient products.

■ Please provide the topic and description of the final submission.

This is a portable, silent heater connector.

There are many campers who do not install a heater in their vehicles for various reasons, such as LPG vehicles, electric vehicles, or safety reasons, and instead use them as portable campers.

When using a portable, silent heater, you have to open a window to connect the heater tube, wires, and controller wiring, but if there is no connector, there are many gaps and it looks messy.

Also, it may rain during rainy weather.

This is a product that can solve these problems.

Because the product's characteristics require high adhesion, the use of a 3D scanner was highly beneficial during production.

■ It must not have been easy to compete while working in the field. Were there any difficulties during the contest process?

It's the temporal aspect. In particular, since I had to travel back and forth between Seoul and Daegu several times to prepare, I tried to use my time as efficiently as possible for each meeting.

Additionally, those who work with general 3D scanners acquire scan data to reverse engineer or design other products based on this reverse engineering data.

On the other hand, I can't do reverse engineering, so it was difficult for me to find a way to use the scan data directly in SolidWorks.

■ I know you are a design expert. I am curious about how using a 3D scanner during design helps in the final results. Also, from the perspective of an actual user, what are the pros and cons of the Creaform 3D scanner?

I manufacture automotive products. Measuring dimensions is difficult when creating products that fit closely to a vehicle. Using a 3D scanner and designing based on the lines generated by the scanning program allows for accurate design.

Since I haven't used many scanners, I compared it to my pee2, which scanned very well on black and glossy areas, and the scanner had a touchscreen (LCD) so I could tell if the scanning distance was appropriate without having to look at the computer, which was convenient.

■ You will be the promotional ambassador for the Creaform 3D scanner in the future. Do you have any plans on how you will proceed?

We plan to use peel3 to create content in a variety of fields, not just camping-related products.

Especially from the perspective of a beginner using a scanner, I hope to be able to capture the expansion of the scope of use and the advancement of the device and software.

thank you