3D Imaging Spreads to Fashion and Beyond

A body scan can save a lot of time in the fitting room, and fields from medicine to architecture are adopting 3D computing applications

by Rachael King

No longer just the stuff of Hollywood movies and Silicon Valley video games, 3D technology is changing the way people do business everywhere. Consider Lori Coulter, a women's swimsuit designer inside the Macy's (M) at the Chesterfield Mall about 30 miles west of St. Louis.

Lori Coulter clients needn't try on piles of swimsuits amid unflattering fluorescent lights in a cramped dressing room. Instead, they discreetly step into a room where the shop uses a scanner to take 140 measurements in less than a minute, then uploads them to a computer, which builds a 3D image and suggests an array of figure-flattering styles. The client chooses a style and pattern, and within as few as three days a custom-made swimsuit is ready to wear.

Lori Coulter is one of the scores of businesses that are being transformed by technology that lets you build and manipulate computerized three-dimensional models. "What we're seeing increasingly is the greater use of computer simulations," says Boyd Davis, a marketing director at Intel (INTC).

The widening use of 3D technology is being aided by advances in computing that render graphics more realistic than ever. Even the most mainstream computers possess 3D graphics capabilities, says Kathleen Maher, a senior analyst at Jon Peddie Research, a consulting firm that researches graphics hardware developments. Such advances have been driven by chipmakers including NVIDIA (NVDA), AMD (AMD), and Intel. A typical workstation based on two Intel Xeon processors delivers computing performance roughly equivalent to the fastest supercomputer in the world in 1993, according to Intel. Another catalyst in making 3D computing more mainstream is the video game industry, which has helped push high-end hardware out to consumers, Maher says.
Design Previews

One of the most common applications of 3D computing is what's known as 3D computer-aided design, or CAD, which lets a business create an exact replica or model of a product before it's manufactured. While the automotive and aeronautics industries have worked with 3D computer-aided design for at least two decades, it's now spreading to other industries and smaller companies as it becomes more affordable.

As of this year, the 3D CAD market generated about $3.4 billion, or more than half of the roughly $6 billion CAD market, according to a Jon Peddie Research report in March. Still, 3D computer-aided design users account for just 37% of total computer-aided design users. Until recently, 3D products have been expensive, but that's changing as more mainstream products such as Dassault Systemes' (ENXTPA:DSY) SolidWorks, Siemens'(DB:SIE) Solid Edge, and Autodesk's (ADSK) Inventor become available.

Even as computers become more well-equipped to handle 3D technology, the software for computer-aided design and manufacturing remains taxing for many people. "We need to create better tools," says NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang. "Right now it's not easy for the layman to use." Still, he sees hope in such areas as video game design. In Spore, the new game by Electronic Arts (ERTS), the Spore Creature Creator, which lets players create their own 3D monsters, is quite user-friendly, he says. "Somehow the Spore creators have taken computer-aided design and made it so simple that anyone could do it.

Teardown of Sony's PlayStation 3

According to iSuppli, the device costs significantly less to build than when it was first released in 2006, and is nearing break-even

By Arik Hesseldahl

One of the great articles of faith in the consumer electronics industry might be stated thusly: "Time heals all costs."

Basically it means that over time the parts used to make a popular product will become less expensive, or that two parts might be combined into one, or that better parts will become available at the same cost and so improve the product.

And it's proving to be true for Sony (SNE) and its flagship gaming system, the two-year-old PlayStation 3. According to a teardown analysis of the latest generation of the product conducted by the research firm iSuppli, the device now costs significantly less to build than it did when it was first released in 2006.

Profiting from the Games

Back then, an iSuppli analysis pegged Sony's "bill of materials"—the total cost of all the components used to build it—at more than $840 for the model that sold at the time for $599, and $805 for the starter model that sold for $499, making it a money-loser for Sony. It still appears to be a loser two years later, iSuppli says, but the loss is shrinking: The PS3 now costs $448.73 to build while selling for $399. Sony subsidizes the hardware price but makes its profits on the many games that it and other game publishers sell to run on the machines.

Having sold the PS3 at a loss for its entire life span so far, iSuppli says, Sony may reach the break-even point with the PS3 in 2009, and start turning a profit on the consoles after that. "Every time we do a teardown, it's sort of backward-looking," says iSuppli analyst Andrew Rassweiler. "Sony is one step ahead of us and probably has plans to re-spin the hardware to reduce the costs yet again," he says.

One key difference in the latest console, Rassweiler says, is that Sony has in many cases combined two or more chips into one, or integrated some low-level chips. When it was first released, the PS3 sported a total of 4,048 different parts, including those in the handheld controllers. Now, that number has come down by about 30%, to 2,820. "At the end of the day the PS3 is doing the same thing it did before, but with two-thirds as many parts," Rassweiler says.

Fewer Chips Inside

On top of that, two key chips in the PS3 have moved on to more advanced manufacturing technology. In 2006, the main chips in the console, like the Cell processor and the Nvidia (NVDA) Reality Synthesizer, which handles graphics, were built on 90-nanometer manufacturing technology. Now they're even smaller, and are built on 65-nanometer processes, meaning they cost less to make than before. ISuppli estimates the Cell chip costs Sony $46, down from the $64 in 2007, and $89 in 2006.

The Nvidia chip has come down in price, too. It now costs $58, down from $83 last year, and $129 in 2006. In both cases, Rassweiler says, the chips have been significantly redesigned with new features for functions that used to be handled by separate chips inside the system, which also helps reduce costs.

And smaller chips require less power. That means Sony now ships the device with a less beefy—and less expensive—power supply that costs $21.50, vs. $30.75 before. "It's a slightly greener machine than it was before," he says.

Hesseldahl is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com.