Week Two: Computer Aided Design

Goal

The second week we had to model (draw, render, animate, simulate, ...) a possible final project, and post it on your class page

Week Two Objectives

• Download and install modeling packages listed below:
  • Kokopelli on Mac and Ubutu
  • FreeCad on Ubutu
  • Rhino on Mac and Windows
  • Gimp on Mac and Ubuntu
• Model final project in the above packages and iDraw and Solidworks

What I did?

Week 00010

First Attempt in iDraft for the iPad

Experiences with iDraft

Since, I have an iPad I wanted to use it for a simple drawing, similar to drawing on the back of a napkin. I already had iDraft installed on the iPad so I decided to draw this. Note: I completed the task in 5 minutes with my finger. I would rather use a pen, but i did not have one. Started to do research on stylus and found adonit Jot Pen which looks promising. Below are my thoughts on the use of iDraft.

• Easy to use

• no dimensioning
  

• use only for quick sketching of ideas

The experience was enjoyable for what I wanted to get out of it. I am not a trained artist, however I believe a stylus would be helpful for some finer drawing.

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First Attempt in FreeCad

Second Attempt in FreeCad on Ubuntu

Experiences in FreeCad (7/10)

I was excited to use FreeCad because SolidWorks, the package I teach, is only for Windows. I use Mac and occasionally Liux for most things and would love to free to Windows. The experience was disappointing, mainly due to my knowledge of the software. I would love to continue to work with it, however, I will need a lot more time to do so. Spent about 4 hours with the sofware to get the above picture.

• Crashed the first three times I tried it. Went back to it another day and succeeded to run it.

• Once I got the hang of it and it did not crash it was still a bit cumbersome. I believe I just don't know the limitations of the software or the limitations of my mind.

• Took me sometime to find out how to dynamically rotate the viewpoint. For Ubuntu hold the right and center mouse button and move the track pad.
  

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First Attempt in Kokopelli on a Mac

Experiences in Kokopelli (9/10)

• Reminds me of a program I used in grad school.

• Could not get antimony to run on the Mac.

• Could not get kokopelli to run on Ubuntu

• I thoroughly enjoyed the scripts on the left and realtime display on the right. This allowed me to use some brute force methods to figure out how the rotate function worked. (Still have some questions on that one.)

• Since I am used to Solid Works and other industrial packages this seems crude, however, very powerful for writing scripts on top of the program.

First Attempt in Rhino on a Mac

Experiences in Rhino (6/10)

Disappointed that Grasshopper is not for Macs.

• I like the fact I can see different views and I can sketch from each of them.Cannot seem to modify an object once created.

• I do not like the fact I do not know how to modify a feature once I created it. I know there must be a way, but for the life of me I could not find it. I tried to dimensioning the feature and modify the dimension and it did not work. I tried clicking on the the feature to see if there is a window displaying the dimensions, which there was not.

Solidworks

Experiences in SolidWorks (9/10)

Since I teach classes using SolidWorks I am very familiar with the framework and technology. However going through the other packages this week. I realized a few things.

• Very easy for me to use.

• I like the fact it is parametric and hierarchical.

• I do not like the fact it may limit one’s thinking to more mechanical.

• It has taken me years to get proficient at it, so steep learning curve.

Thoughts

Ok! I thought I knew a lot on CAD packages, however, I realize I know a lot of one package with one framework. Knowing this I can start to expand my horizons with other tools. I can also expand this to the more tools you know the better your designs will be. I need to write papers on this subject. This brings me back to my machine shop days, where I built items with CNC mills and lathes. However, knowing only the mills and lathes my mind was limited. Now, my mind is opened. I have swallowed the red pill.

Final Project Picture added after week 2

electronics case