UTS students are at the forefront of the digital revolution in design and manufacture with the installation of state-of-the-art laser scanning and cutting technology by the Faculty of Design, Architecture and Building.

The 3D laser scanning device, which converts solid objects to data for processing by design software, and a large-format computer-driven laser cutter, are among only a few such devices to be acquired by Australian universities.

Along with previously installed rapid prototyping machines, UTS now has completed the chain between computer assisted design (CAD) and computer aided manufacturing (CAM) according to Steve Hatzellis, the Course Director of UTS's Master of Digital Architecture.

Mr Hatzellis said the new devices would be of particular benefit to undergraduate and postgraduate students in industrial design, architecture and digital animation.

"Now it is possible for students to scan an object, modify it with 3D design software and then send it to be 'printed' in plastic by a rapid prototyping machine or cut out in fine detail from plastic or cardboard by the laser cutter," Mr Hatzellis said.

"They can produce complex prototypes, small parts and detailed models that could not be done by hand in a workshop.

"CAD and CAM are the way industry is going and our students need to be completely familiar with the processes, although traditional craft skills are still very much part of the skills set.

"This kind of technology is already well established in the automotive and film industries, in medical technologies such as prosthetics and increasingly in architecture."

Mr Hatzellis said the faculty's suite of CAD/CAM technology would soon be augmented with the acquisition of a new rapid prototyping machine that prints objects in plaster.