27 Jul 2015 Spotlight on Corbel 3D

In this week’s spotlight, we are highlighting a company that helps their clients design products and develop new technology. Corbel 3D is a Vancouver based company that provides rapid prototyping, CAD designing, and 3D scanning and manufacturing. Corbel 3D has an eclectic team with a mix of abilities to solve design, manufacturing and prototyping problems of all kinds. Read on to learn more what life is like at Corbel 3D….

1. Describe your company and your primary product(s) and/or service(s).

We are a full service custom manufacturing company specializing in every stage of product development from design, prototyping all the way to manufacturing. Our rapid prototyping services help companies quickly turn innovative ideas into tangible models and prototype parts for design review and testing. Once you have created your first working prototype and are satisfied with the design, we also help in sourcing reliable low cost manufacturing options overseas to create your first big production run.

What makes our services unique?

Corbel 3D’s prototypes are created using advanced 3D printing technology. Typically 3D Printers can range from $500 to $500,000 with higher cost printers offering significant improvements in surface finish, build size, speed and layer accuracy. We primarily use a technology called PolyJet developed by Stratasys, which unlike low cost 3D printing methods; PolyJet stays very true to the original CAD file offering a dpi of 600 x 600 and layer accuracy down to 28 microns. This produces a smooth, accurate part that will ensure true fit, form and function testing.

2. How many employees currently work at your company?

5 full time staff

3. Where are you located?

We are located in Vancouver just off Main Street and Marine Drive behind Superstore on #101 – 334 East Kent Ave South. We have a lovely view of the river from the front of our office.

4. Describe the culture at your company.

We are an eclectic team engineers, visual effects artists and business savvy entrepreneurs who bring to the table a mix of abilities in order to solve design, manufacturing and prototyping problems of all kinds. We hire people who are smart and determined and who feel comfortable sharing ideas and opinions. We love the work that we do and we look forward to our next project just as much as we look forward to the weekend.

5. What does your leadership team (and company as a whole) do to support/grow that culture?

We believe that the best place to work is with your friends in an autonomous environment that breeds creativity and values mistakes just as much as we praise success. We all work in the best interest of the company and our clients. Even though there is no dress code at Corbel 3D, no one has come to work naked lately.

6. When your employees talk about your company, what do they brag about?

A lot of the stuff we want to brag about we can’t! The most exciting thing about our company is that we get to help businesses and entrepreneurs alike develop and bring to market their innovative and exciting ideas. We get to be one of the first ones to see new products and inventions before they even come to market! Every day we prototype new cutting edge designs from our clients that only goes to show how much creativity there is in this world!

7. Describe your most recent achievement, milestone, reason for bragging rights.

Over the last two years, we’ve custom built a 3D scanning system that is comprised of 128 digital cameras in a 360 degree array around a target. These cameras are all synchronized to trigger simultaneously in order provide an instantaneous, high resolution capture from all angles. These photos are then processed and compared to construct a 3D image with high resolution texture maps aligned perfectly with each scan. Our custom built 3D scanning system, dubbed the “C3D Scanner” has been is used heavily in visual effects as the go-to 3D capture solution for low latency full body scanning, used to create digital doubles of actors for CGI shots in television, film and video games.

This year, with collaboration between our visual effects artists, programmers, mechanical, and electrical engineers, we have heavily redesigned the system to make it fully mobile and answer the unique fast paced needs of the film industry. We have created something in-house that is truly innovative by reducing the footprint of our setup, and avoiding labour intensive set up, we can do more work with less manpower on a shorter notice to provide this unique scanning solution to our clients.

8. What kinds of roles are you hiring for?

We have locked our visual effects artist in a room with the lights off and he is getting cranky and wants a friend. We expect the next position we hire will need to be an in-house psychologist.

Or better yet, we will probably invest in more visual effects artists, sculptors and 3D modelers to increase our capacity for creating stunning photorealistic visuals and 3D renders.

9. What kinds of people are you looking for?

We value ability over experience. Everything in 3D technology evolves so fast that we want people who can catch up and stay ahead of the curve. We look for someone who fits with our company culture and is ambitious and driven, because that will lead to better success, creativity and passion for their job.

10. What is your company goal for the coming year?

Medical 3D printing has always been a huge interest of ours for to its potential to save lives and improve patient care. Through the extraction of a patient’s medical scan data, we are able to create 3D printed medical models of skeletal topography to be used by healthcare professionals for surgical planning, education, research and patient communication. This technology allows healthcare professionals a cost effective way to more accurately assess the defects present in order to be better prepared for approaching complex and unique procedures. Our goal is be at the forefront of medical 3D printing’s introduction to Canada and aid in its development and the research of its potential and applications.

To learn more about Corbel 3D, visit them online at corbel3d.com

If you’d like us to shine the spotlight on your company, email hello@wearebctech.com today!