FIRM PROFILE

Diabolical Puzzles
New Orleans, Louisiana

Fine artist and entrepreneur designs high-precision stainless steel puzzles with VectorWorks.

When New Orleans artist Scott Fredrickson, principal of Diabolical Puzzles, devised an idea to create highly complex puzzles made of stainless steel and presented a wood prototype to a machine shop, he was told the only way he could produce designs of such high precision was using computer-aided design. The puzzles would then be manufactured to use computer-aided manufacturing with state-of-the-art laser cutting technology and fabrication.

But first, Fredrickson had to learn a CAD program. After doing some research and speaking with other CAD users, he decided to purchase VectorWorks.

AutoCAD was out of the question
"I talked to several AutoCAD users who told me it was very expensive, had a steep learning curve and was not user friendly," Fredrickson explains. "I read several reviews of CAD programs for the Mac, all of which rated VectorWorks the best. And I also spoke with VectorWorks sales and technical support representatives, explaining what I wanted to do."

While there were no guarantees that VectorWorks could do what he wanted, Fredrickson was offered a money-back guarantee if he couldn't achieve the precise results he needed after completing the VectorWorks training CDs and an Introduction to VectorWorks Professional Learning Series seminar.

"As an artist with no experience with CAD, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to learn VectorWorks," he notes. "I was able to spend my time creating rather than fighting a software learning curve. The VectorWorks tutorials were presented well and were a great introduction to CAD. But attending the PLS learning seminar enabled me to learn techniques I wouldn't have picked up, which, in turn, helped me increase the complexities of the puzzles without investing a lot of time."

Creating art with VectorWorks
"VectorWorks has allowed me, as an artist, to import 2D shapes and designs directly from Adobe Illustrator and other vectored programs, then cut and trim them into surfaces with extreme precision," he says.

Fredrickson needed surfaces that were completely independent of each other, yet shared the identical edge line. He accomplished this using the Convert to Line, Convert to Polygons, and Surface Add and Clip tools, along with Smart Points, among other 2D tools VectorWorks offers.

Fredrickson also used a different angle on the Rotate tool for each puzzle piece, so when all the pieces were polished, each piece had a unique directional grain to its surface.

"The guys at the machine shop thought I was nuts for rotating each individual puzzle piece," he explains. "But when they eventually saw how intricate the finished product looked, they understood."

Frederickson adds, "The precision of VectorWorks to the laser has been amazing. Using VectorWorks, I was able to get tolerances ten times greater than the state-of-the-art laser-cutting equipment can deliver," he confirms.

VectorWorks pieces the puzzle together
The puzzles are cut to tolerances of .004" from solid metal using one of the most powerful lasers in the country, the 3000 watt Trumpf L2530. They are then welded, surfaced and polished by hand, then packaged in custom cases Fredrickson also designed. These unique, hands-on works of art are designed to challenge the most analytical of minds while pleasing the most aesthetic of sensibilities.

3D puzzles for the future
Next up on Fredrickson's drawing board are stainless steel 3D puzzles cut on a five-axis laser robot.

"I plan to take advantage of the extensive 3D rendering capabilities VectorWorks 11.5 provides to design my next line of puzzles. They will be pieces of art you can touch."