3. Computer Aided design¶
Assignment¶
model (raster, vector, 2D, 3D, render, animate, simulate, …) a possible final project, compress your images and videos, and post a description with your design files on your class page.
2D Vector Software¶
In this assignment, I will be using Inkscape as the 2D Vector Software. Inkscape is powerful, open-source, and one of my favorite tools.
As a trained photographer, my experience lies in using the Adobe Suite. For the last four years, I have worked with K-12 schools in the US and found students and teachers constrained by district-mandated firewalls and Chromebooks. During the pandemic, we used Google Draw and occasionally the Inkscape Plug-In. To present a laser cutter in school buildings, we would use Corel Draw to adjust a design in real-time quickly and cut said design with ease.
In a K-12 space, it will be the most useful to share free software and create steps to make it easy to use. My goal is to share learned knowledge in the course with information that other K-12 educators would find helpful. Here is the video I found most beneficial.
2D Design, Parametric Design Tool for Final Project¶
Helpful tutorial for paramentic designs:
Using Inkscape to make a parametric design:
- Open Inkscape
- File > Document Properties > Adjust Display Units to in and Orientation: Custom size to the size of the laser cutter bed. *When possible you can save time by creating a template with the dimesions for the laser cutter/vinyl cutter in which you use.
- Create a shape, and Clone said shape. When using the clone feature vs. duplicate you can change the size of a shape consistently.
- Make a KEY off the page to keep track of the orginal shap being cloned. The original shape can change in dimension and will adjust every shape size.
- Create tiled clones to create multiple shapes to be printed.
My example that I created during the tutorial:
3D CAD Softwares¶
Solidworks¶
Fortunately, as a participant of the Dassault Solidworks node, I was given powerful software to use for free. Abishek even made a handy video on setting up Solidworks Professional on your computer. Since I have a Mac, I first needed to find a way to run Windows on my machine. Additionally, I am waiting for a new computer to be sent by March. I chose to use Parallels to make it easier to be going between multiple machines. I could have used Bootcamp (natively on Mac) or another software like VMWare.
Here are helpful tutorials to follow:¶
An extra shout out and thank you to Abishek Bali for making this process more straightforward with this video.
SOLIDWORKS Fundamentals Part 1: Global Variables.
Next week, I plan to download Fusion 360 on my Mac, at the moment my node is waiting to receive student licenses.
3D Model Files for Final Project¶
Since I am still learning Solidworks Professional and came to the end of my allotted time this week, I used Solidworks for Kids to first become familiar with it when sharing with other educators. Second, to walk away with a functional 3D model for my assignment this week.
I went to Solidworks Apps for Kids and made an account. You can see the site I visted in the image below.
Solidworks Apps for Kids has a straightforward interface. When working in the K-12 space, I would recommend this application for grades K-4, as it is intuitive and sophisticated. Tinkercad is great for grades 5-12 as an introduction when exposing students to CAD software with less than fours of making time and coming out with a functional model. Below you can see one of the prototypes I made.
Here you can see how I exported my file as an .STL
Here are my two prototypes:¶
I uploaded both to SketchFab to share with you:
A. A wooden cube with dimples.
B. A wooden globe with dimples.
In this design choice, I think adding dimples to the wooden block would allow for little hands to grab the block with ease and quickly. What size would the block need to be to still hold electronics inside of it?