Loraine Clarke Fab Academy

computer-aided design

Week 2 Overview

The second week of Fab Academy covered computer-aided design which mainly covered the various types of software you can use for 2D or 3D models.

The assignment for the week was to make a 3D or 2D model.

• Link to this weeks academy information page.

2D modelling

For 2D models there is a lot of different free or subscription programs. But my favourites are :

• Adobe Illustrator (most definitely, a piece of software I find hard to do without)
• Adobe Photoshop
• Inkscape

I only learnt about Inkscape software through Fab Academy and I'm very impressed with it as an alternative to adobe illustrator.

For the 2D design I draw a branch in illustrator just to try out the tools in it. I used the pen tool. When you make a point and hold the cursor and drag then you end up making a bezier crurve which means you can create really nice smooth drawings. You can see the branch I made below.

Download the illustrator file for the branch here

3D modelling

For 3d model making there is also a vast amount of different free or subscription programs.I've used google sketch up before for messing around but I find it really difficult to make anything precise, even if it is organic. But my favourites are :

• Creo
• Autodesk's 123D .
• Blender

More professional one's are the likes of:

• Solidworks
• Maxon's Cinema 4D
• Rhino

I find it quiet hard to use solidworks for organic shapes or free form modelling (like hand clay modelling)but overall I really like solidworks for making precise pieces.

Assignment: Make a 3D model

This week I decided to make a clip for my bicycle pannier bag. I had lost one of these so need a new one. I'm going to make a 3D model and then it print it in the future 3D printing week. I used solidworks to make the model.

Here's an image of the current pannier bag clip on the bag









Then I just got the approximate measurements off the pannier bag clip using a callipers and built the 3D model using these to guide the size and shape of the model.

Here's the final solidworks model of the pannier bicycle clip I made

Download the model file here

Download Machine Files

Download the illustrator file for the branch here
Download the model file here

Week 2, Jan 30