Week 3

Computer Aided Design


2D Vector Drawing

Using Inkscape

Why Inkscape?

I, initially wanted to test Inkscape and Krita, but after having tested Krita first, I understood that while it can be used for design and editing 2D vectors,

it was more geared toward artists and the like, whilst Inkscape was geared towards a more professional photo editing first and foremost.

In the near future, I will be revisitng Krita, with a WACOM perhaps, but for this assignment I choose Inkscape.

I am using a reference image, of a Les Paul 1957 Standard Reissue. With this image I will trace the image and then use the result to edit it in a 3D environment

PaperKit 2 By Creative Tim

The reference image

For tracing the image, I will be using the bitmap trace tool, which can be found under the "Path" tab on the toolbar.

Choosing VSCode as Git's default Editor

Select trace bitmap under Path tool.

I made sure to check "Edge detaction" as I wanted all the curves of the guitar to be traced as musch as possible.

Choosing VSCode as Git's default Editor

I chose a threshold of 0.910, as that gave me the most detailed bitmap trace.
Choosing VSCode as Git's default Editor

The bitmap trace result.
More Inkscape Tools

In order to get it ready for a 3D modeling software, I first wanted to seperate the guitar neck from the main body. The Brezier Edit Node tool are a great asset to do this.

Alas I do not have any pictures (forgot to make them, while I worked...sorry) I do have a great turtorial video below:


After having edited the nodes, I could finally seperate the neck from the main body. I closed off the neck vector and done!

Choosing VSCode as Git's default Editor

The result of the node editing.

Now we need to save this as an SVG file, in order to import it either to Blender or Fusion 360.

The SVG FIle can be downloaded here:Download.

3D Modeling.

Choosing Fusion 360 over Blender.

Why Fusion360


Again, this comes back to choosing between an artist and manufacturing software. I want to try out blender in the future, But am going to focus on Fusion 360 this week.

In order to work with the SVG file we created, we need to open /insert the file into Fusion 360

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Insert the SVG into Fusion360

The SVG image is now editable in Fusion360 and in order to make it into a 3d model, I first extrude the sketches one by one.

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Select the extrude option and select the Face you want to extrude.
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The Result of the extrude function.

I quickly realised, that I could not edit the nodes of the model, meaning I had made a mistake. So I started a fresh in sketching and modeling in Fusion 360.

Did I mention that I'm fairly new to this software? It can be a bit daunting for a beginner, so I decided to look for some tutorials in drawing guitars in Fusion.

I found a great starting point, a video made by STEM Guitars:

And I decided I will use their template to get a better grip of how modeling in Fusion works. I downloaded their CAD files from here, imported it into Fusion 360 and went to work.

For those who want the complete design files for building a guitar you can see them here.

Witht he help of the tutorial, I am able to make my own design and added a basic neck to the body.

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The Result of the extrude function.

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Select the outer body, to cut from the Guitar Design.

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Change your view in order to better see, how deep the Cut should be

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The Result of the Cut function.

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Sketch The Neck

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Just a basic Neck.

The Guitar design Download.