2. Computer Aided Design¶

Individual 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

Download Design Files¶

Click here to download my design files folder

The gimp file, even when compressed, is too large to upload. Instead, I have linked it here in Google Drive.

3D Design¶

In all of the 3D Design programs below, I will be designing a box (intended to be the basis of a pill container design) and compare and contrast the 3D Design programs.

Brief description of the tools I primarily used:

Tool	Description	Example of How I Used It
Extrude	Adds depth to open or closed sketch profiles or faces	Extruded sketch rectangles to create box side’s with thickness to them
Create Sketch	Enters Sketch mode, where you create geometric profiles that define the foundation of a design	Used every time I start a new design to make the 2D version of a design before I extrude to make it 3D
Fillet	Rounds the edges of a solid body by adding material to interior edges and removing material from exterior edges	Used to soften corner sharpness
Move/Copy	Moves the selected face, body, sketch, or construction geometry a specified distance or angle	Used to move the circle sketches to my desired location
Delete	Permanently deletes selected objects, and everything related to them, from the design	Used to delete incorrectky dimensioned sketches or features that are unnecessary
Line	Creates lines and arcs	Used to create lines in my sketchs
2-Point Rectangle	Creates a rectangle using two points for the diagonal corners	Used to create many of the foundational sketches for the box sides
Center Diameter Circle	Creates a circle using a center point and diameter	Used to create sketch circles that I can extrude to make 3D
Sketch Dimension	Create sketch dimensions for sketch geometries. Use dimensions to control the size or position of sketch objects	Used to specify the size of sketch geometries and ensure precision in my designs
Coincident	Constrains the position of two points or a point and a line or curve together	Used to ensure sketch lines are connected

FreeCAD (download here) – I used version 0.21.2¶

Designed following Tim Wilson’s YouTube Tutorial

Pros:¶

It’s FREE!
Fairly user friendly
Easy installation

Cons:¶

Crashes often
A bit overcomplicated when designing in depth
Hard to figure out where to start
Requires you watch a tutorial to figure out how to design anything

Overall Opinion:¶

I think FreeCAD is a good program - it has many features, is accessible on multiple platforms, and is FREE! However, coming from an extensive Fusion360 background, it was very difficult to figure out the language used for operations called different names in Fusion. Additionally, when the program would fail, I had trouble figuring out what went wrong; errors popped up in a code like form that I had trouble interpreting. I also could not tell whether my file saves actually worked and saved my design.

I had many problems using FreeCAD. I had issues figuring out how to use the software so I had to look up and follow a tutorial to become comfortable with the interface. Additionally, it was hard to make any substantial progress with my designs as it would keep crashing and I would lose my progress. To counteract this, I saved my design more frequently. Overall, the main issue I had with FreeCAD was just building the motivation to keep trying to use the software after I kept having problems with it – FreeCAD was a very frustrating experience overall and online resources/tutorials were actually fairly scarce and required a good deal of searching to find helpful and current videos.

Blender (dowload here)¶

Designed using Graylight May’s YouTube Tutorial

Pros:¶

It’s FREE!
I like the overall feel of the interface
Nice to see the physics behind your designs
Easy installation
Can figure your way around the program without prior experience/tutorials

Cons:¶

Not as many features as I’d prefer for a CAD software
Details regarding videos, images, and simulations crowds the CAD interface

Overall Opinion:¶

I really like this software, however, I still lean towards a more CAD focused program such as Fusion360. Being able to see the physics behind your designs is nice and would be very useful for a civil engineer, but as just a basic CAD student, it’s a bit overwhelming and destracting.

Fusion 360¶

Pros:¶

Easy to use
Familiar to me
Avaliable on multiple platforms
Love the interface

Cons:¶

Expensive
Need to learn how to use the more advanced features

Overall Opinion:¶

I love Fusion360, however, I’ve been using it for multiple years so I am very familiar with it. The number of things you can do in Fusion is incredible and it’s a very powerful platform.

2D Design¶

For my 2D design work, I will be trying out Gimp and test the features to get a feel of the program.

Brief description of the tools I primarily used:

Tool	Description	Example of How I Used It
Move	Move layers, selections, and other objects	Moved the background image and brush strokes to the location I wanted
Crop	Remove edge areas from image or layer	I croped the background image to the size I wanted
Paintbrush	Paint smooth strokes using a brush	Used 2. Hardness 100, Acrylic 05 #2, 2. Star, and GEGL goat brushes to make the squiggly lines, bushes, stars, and goat
Text	Create or edit text layers	Used to create the “Alana Duffy” text
Color Picker	Set colors from image pixels	Used to set paintbrush color as a shade of blue/green I saw in the background image
Zoom	Adjust the zoom level	Used to zoom in so that I could see certain area’s details more clearly
Layers	Create different layers which can be adjusted so layer’s contents (e.g. images, text, brush strokes) appear infront or behind other layer’s contents	Used to have the background image behind the brush strokes which are behind the text, all in their own layers

Gimp (download here)¶

Tutorial I used: Brett In Tech YouTube’s tutorial

Background image from Unsplash

Pros:¶

It’s FREE!
Avaliable on multiple platforms
Tons of image editing capabilities

Cons:¶

Not beginner friendly
The overall interface is a bit confusing and jarring on the eyes

Overall Opinion:¶

I think this is a super cool program - tons of oppurtunities and ways to create. I honestly had a lot of fun messing around in this program. I did have to watch a short tutorial for Gimp before getting started, but after that, it was fairly straitfoward. I like the layers and how you can manipulate layers, text, images, etc.

VR¶

My Fab Academy Node experimented using Gravity Sketch with VR headsets. We were asked to evaluate the usefullness of VR CAD and if we belive it’s a technology with a successful future.

Gravity Sketch¶

Tutorial design

Elephant I designed

Pros:¶

FREE to download (the VR headset, however, is not free)
Wonderful for visualzation
Good to quick rough sketches
Gives a good concept of scale and size
Fairly easy to pick up after some exploration/tutorials
Easier to work with others; will speed up product design/production

Cons:¶

Doesn’t have all of the CAD features that I use commonly in CAD design like extrude (or at least I can’t find them)
Although VR headsets are becoming more affordable, widespread avaliability is still a concern; not all schools are as fortunate as mine is to have VR headsets readily avaliable
Disorienting after awhile
Unaware of physical surroundings while using (…I hit my hand on a table)
Hard to make concrete, measurable, 3D printable designs

Overall Opinion:¶

I think the future of VR CAD and Gravity Sketch is blindlingly bright. However, there is a long way to go. Currently, Gravity Sketch is great for visualzation and rough sketches, but in terms of commercial product quality designs, it has a long way to go. I believe there is a good demand for technologies such as this, however, serious consideration needs to be put into the widespread accessibility of the technologies and resources neccessary for this to ever rival current CAD softwares. If these boundaries can be breached, I see Gravity Sketch and other VR CAD programs having a significant stake in CAD softwares.

Reflection¶

Through Week 2, I mainly grew in my exposure to other programs. Charlotte Latin School is very Fusion360 based, and while Fusion is my favorite CAD software (even after this week), being exposed to the other softwares really helped me to see the different uses for different CAD softwares. Gravity Sketch is great for visualization and quick rough sketches, Fusion360 is great for printable and well-made CAD designs, and Blender is great for realistic, physically possible CAD designs. Furthermore, I learned how to streamline an idea and clearly identify the benefits and downsides to different programs independent of my personal opinions/biases.

References¶

Unsplash

Brett In Tech YouTube’s tutorial

Graylight May’s YouTube Tutorial

Tim Wilson’s YouTube Tutorial

Last update: July 1, 2024