2. Computer Aided Design¶
This week I worked with different programs and tried to design (raster, vector, 3D). The world of design is new to me, and it was hard to understand the logic of programs and how it works at all. As I am a fan of open-source programs, I choose three open-source and free programs, each one for its own job.
For the raster, I did some research to find out which software to use. So, there were three programs on my shortlist photoshop, imagemagick, and gimp.
Before Fabacademy I used only a photoshop few times. To me, gimp is the best choice because it has a pretty good user interface like photoshop but at the same time, it is free and open-source. On the other hand, Imagemagick is free and open-source too, but it doesn’t have a user interface and you should use it from the terminal only with commands sometimes it is not too hard, but in many cases, it is not practical. That’s why I think gimp is the best choice for raster.
For a vector one, I shortlisted three programs adobe illustrator, Corel Draw, and Inkscape. Illustrator and Corel Draw are paid programs and they have similar functions, but to me, Corel is more user-friendly as I have already used Corel a couple of times, but again it is really important for me that they are paid programs. At the same time, Inkscape is a free and open-source program that can do the same thing. The only thing is that Corel and Illustrator have a more enhanced user interface and they are bug-free. But as a programmer, I like finding bugs and reporting them or if I can I would like to solve them by myself. This is the main reason why I like open-source programs.
And finally, for a 3D design, I used Freecad. The 3D design is a completely new area for me. I have not designed anything before Fabacademy. So, when I asked my friends what software they are using, most of them told me that the best one is Fusion. But, here is the same story first I searched for free and open-source programs. I find Freecad and OpenScad more interesting. I read about Freecad first and it seemed to be a good choice, but Openscad was more interesting as it is like a programming. But as it was my first try I decided to use Freecad as it has a GUI and it is more userfriendly, but I am going to master my skills with Openscad and I will use it in the upcoming weeks.
GIMP¶
I am using Ubuntu, so for installing GIMP, you need:
sudo apt install flatpak
Flatpak install https://flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.gimp.GIMP.flatpakref
flatpak run org.gimp.GIMP//stable
After installation, I decided to edit the image of my final project’s sketch. Here, I play with color balance.
Then I tried to take the color measurement and draw the missing arrow with the color of the pen.
After, I selected the pen and drew an arrow.
Finally, I added some text and scaled it to make it 563 Kb as its initial size was 12.7Mb.
Conclusion¶
The best part about gimp is the easy-to-use and user-friendly interface. I liked it very much, and of course, taking to count that gimp is free and open-source software, it is perfect.
Inkscape¶
To download Inkscape type in terminal
sudo apt install inkscape
I tried to sketch a wing of my final project’s drone in Inkscape. It was pretty easy to find tools and their purpose.
I started with a rectangle which is the main body of the wing, and some holes on it. Holes are for mounting and screwing the motor.
For the mounting of a motor, I added a semi-circle in the edge of a rectangle as a part of a design and as a space where a drone motor should be mounted.
And in an oposite direction, I added a little rectangle. As you can see, I placed it right in the middle, after that I used
path -> union
tool to cut the intersection between two rectangles. The same thing I did with a circle.
And for the last step, I wanted to add holes to screw motors. I used a rectangle to ensure that the holes are symetric distance from each other.
And finally, this is the final view of the wing.
Conclusion¶
I had some experience with Corel-draw, I designed some simple parts with Corel, and I find it pretty easy to use and user-friendly. I can not say that Inkscape is matching the level of Corel draw but as it is free and open-source it is becoming one of the best vector design tools that I would like to use.
Freecad¶
The most interesting part about Freecad was the parametric design. I tried to sketch a body frame for my drone, which will be parametric. I could choose whether it is a quad-copter or it is a hexacopter, or it could be an octa copter.
To install Freecad just type
sudo apt install freecad
After installing, starting a project was hard for me. I took a look at Babken’s Fabacademy website to see how he did it. It was truly helpful.
First, I added a new body.
Then, open the sketcher workbench to draw a body in 2D. When I had just started, I was a bit confused with constraints. I did not understand the idea. But after a while, when I was trying, I found constraint very useful.
After finishing my drawing, I decided to make some parameters. I opened spreedsheet workbench, then added a new spreedsheet and two parameters. One was the radius of a circle and the second one was the number of sectors.
After adding parameters, I used PolarPattern tool in the PartDesign workbench to make the final shape of a drone body.
Conclusion¶
At first glance, it is hard to understand and use Freecad, but after getting familiar with the tools and logic of Freecad, it is not hard to use, and even it is pretty useful and straightforward in many cases.
