Research Triangle Park, NC: September 6, 2006 -- Geomagic®, a worldwide software and services firm, and Creaform, a 3D digital technologies company, have announced an aggressive educational discount program that will allow design and engineering students to access the leading-edge technology currently used by engineering professionals in the aerospace, automotive, manufacturing, medical, and consumer products industries at a discounted educational institution pricing structure.

"Enabling students to use the latest technology is of great benefit to all," says Andrew Stein, vice president of product management and marketing of Geomagic, Inc. "We see this as an investment in the future, one that will fuel product and engineering innovation for years to come and prepare students for a digital world of noncontact measurement for design, inspection, and a variety of other applications."

One institution, the University of Michigan, is already putting Geomagic software and Creaform Handyscan 3D hardware to good use.

"At the University of Michigan 3D Lab we provide research assistance to all departments on campus, so we look for the most flexible technology available," says Brett Lyons, senior research technician, University of Michigan 3D Lab. "Forty minutes after unpacking the Creaform Handyscan 3D scanner bundled with Geomagic software, we were scanning dinosaur bones and brake calipers, one right after the other."

Students at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA have also recently begun to benefit from this initiative.

"Our students and faculty have wanted to have access to 3D scanning capability for years, but until the Creaform Handyscan 3D became available it just wasn't practical," explains Michael Berman, senior vice president/chief technology officer, Art Center College of Design. "Older solutions are expensive, slow, cumbersome and difficult to learn and use.

"Now with the Handyscan 3D and Geomagic software, we can scan a student's 3D work in the morning, and by the afternoon they're producing high-res renderings or printing new versions with a rapid-prototyping machine," says Berman.

In France, students at Ecole Centrale Nantes have also begun to benefit from the "out of the box" utility of the Handyscan/Geomagic combo.

"Now, we have a solution that is easy to use for students, for industrial companies and also for designers," says Alain Bernard, professor/head of department, Engineering of Industrial Products and Systems Department, Ecole Centrale Nantes. "Many application fields have not yet been analyzed but this technology is really a breakthrough in the field of 3D digitizing systems."

The educational discount program, available worldwide, will make available a minimum of 150 hardware and software kits at an 80% discount to qualified institutions. Educational institutions can order the kits directly from Creaform using the contact information below.