ENGINEERING

TORONTO, CANADA -- Alias/Wavefront(TM), an SGI (NYSE:SGI) company, announced today that its StudioTools(TM) computer-aided industrial design (CAID) software was a key contributor in the creation of the official Olympic® torch of the 2002 Winter Olympics®. The slender, icicle-shaped emblem of the Olympic spirit has passed through the hands of over 11,000 people, traveling 13,500 miles, to bring the eternal flame from its home in Greece to the site of this year's Games in Salt Lake City. Building an Unusual Form The fiery icicle design, which embodies the theme of the 2002 Games, ``Light the Fire Within,'' is a departure from earlier Olympic torches because it adds an asymmetrical glass crown to the top of the main body. The complex angles of the crown, coupled with an aluminum shaft that tapers from three inches down to a half-inch, presented a difficult challenge to the team of designers from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Tim Purdy, instructor of industrial design at the Institute, thought he had the answer. ``We had some very complex surfaces to deal with because of the curves, textures and tapers, and all we had to start with were 2D sketches given to us by the Olympic Organizing Committee (IOC),'' he says. ``I teach students how to use Alias/Wavefront StudioTools, so I knew this was the only software that could handle such a high level of complexity.'' Meeting an Unusual Deadline Purdy's instincts proved to be correct as the project unfolded and various refinements of the design made it necessary to change size, shape and material -- all within a slim eight months. Another member of the design team, Sam Shelton, mechanical engineering professor at Georgia Tech, was in a special position to understand the significance of the timeframe. He helped design the torch for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, a project that took nearly two years. When the IOC called with the offer, Shelton said, ``I never would have agreed to take on so important a project in so little time if I hadn't been down this path before.'' To cut time for the 2002 effort, original sketches were moved into 3D by using geometric mapping in StudioTools. ``Once the initial concept was in place in StudioTools, we were able to play with the design, trying different glass tops and body shapes, without having to go back to the start every time,'' says Purdy. ``For instance, when the cut of the glass crown was changed from angular to perpendicular, we were able to produce new output for an SLA prototype and still keep the project on time.'' The same was true when the team explored a plan to make the torch body from plastic material. When the idea was presented to the IOC, the Committee felt a metal casting process was preferable. Because the various design options were created in StudioTools, Georgia Tech was able to move quickly on to the development of the final body casing, made of aluminum with antique silver finish and dark-shaded grooves. Passing an Unusual Test The three pound, 33 inch-long torch produces a flame as high as 20 inches. Fed by a small butane/propylene tank in the body and emerging from a copper cauldron in the glass crown, the torch must stay lit for as long as 20 minutes under every imaginable adverse condition. Thanks to the experts at Georgia Tech and their use of StudioTools, after a 65 day trip, all 11,500 torches met the challenge. Enduring wind, rain, heat, extreme cold, and abrasion, they burned bright -- even in full sunlight. For further information visit www.gatech.edu or www.aliaswavefront.com/