3. Computer Aided design¶

This week I worked on getting used to Computer Aided 2D and 3D design.

Assignment for this week:
Model (raster, vector, 2D, 3D, render, animate, simulate, …) a possible final project, compress your images and videos, and post it on your class page.

Softwares¶

- For all of the 2D design practice I used Inkscape and GIMP.
- For 3D design I used Fusion 360.

2D practice | Animated Pac-man¶

Since it’s my first approach to Inkscape (for something more than just “Trace bitmap”) I decided to try making something rather funny, then I made this short Pac-man animation:

Pac-man animation

Drawing¶

I drew it mainly with the basic figures: Squares, Circles and Lines which by default are on the left site.
For some details on the shape of the ghost after drawing it, I used Path > Object to path, then from “Edit path by nodes I used “Insert new nodes into selected segments” and “Make selected nodes auto-smooth”.
For some details on the color, so they don’t look completely “plain”, I used Path > Inset, set the inset in white and played with its opacity; I also created some shadow with Filters > Shadows and Glows > Drop shadow > shadow type = Inner.
To align the drawing I used Object > Align and Distribute… > Select objects to align > Align = Center on horizontal axis > Distribute > Make horizontal gaps between objects equal.
This is how the drawing process was (and yes, I changed my mind to the color red for the ghost):

Pac-man Making

Animation¶

For the animation task (the most tedious) I moved the drawings and capture every position of them (37 in total); I did it saving them as *.svg files.

As you possibly imagined, I used different faces different positions, but only had to edit the vector from the first one:
To make the GIF I used GIMP:
- File > Open as Layers… > Select the images for the the GIF > Open.
- In the Layers tab sort the images (The GIF sequence will run through each layer bottom to top).
- Optimize the final file size: Filters > Animation > Optimize (for GIF).
- To preview GIF: Filter > Animation > Playback.
- To save GIF: File > Export as… > write the name for the file with .gif > Export > Check the boxes “As animation” and “Loop forever” > Set delay between captures/images > Export.