Week 2

Computer-aided design

This are renderings of how my final project could look like! It consist of two pieces an input pillow and a nightlight.

Organizing

This week we will work with 2D and 3D program’s to designs the final project, we have to test many different tools to see what works for me personal. Because there are many different ways to show your design and express yourself with it.

Things I have to finish by the end of the week:

Experience

2D: I have experience in working with vector programs like CorelDraw, Illustrator and Inkscape For me personally I like to work with Illustrator and CorelDraw because at my job we work a lot with this program. I’ve a bit of experience in making animations combining Adobe After effects, illustrator and audacity. I like to use Photoshop for raster editing.

3D: I have experience in making 3D models in Fusion360 and Solidworks. I followed a basic course in Solidworks when I started my job at the HAN. In the mean time I have switched to Fusion360 because I like the workflor for example with parametric design better in Fusion. But I still use both programs. Below you find a picture of a parametric lamp design I made before. You can change the thickness, the side panel and the amount of faces (for the lamp) with the parameters. I know the basics about 3D modeling but there is much more to learn. The Same is to say for the program Blender were I recently started learning the basics. I have also tried some stuff with sculpting things before in Zbrush and Blender and using code blocks from tinkercad to generate a design with coding.

learning goals

Introductions to programs at Waag

1. Fusion360 by Saco

Saco give us an introduction about product development from engineering perspective. Tips for solid modeling

1. start sketching, make notes, look at the V model, think about the design strategy of each part.
2. focus on solids and assemblies
3. additional tools like machining, analysis and post processing

He works with the V-model requirement management when designing things. Functional Breakdown Structure

• what does the project have to do function al requirements
• conceptual design
• detail design, electronics specifications and drawings

Product Breakdown Structure

• what does the machine look like
• what parts and (sub)system do you need
• how it can be build
• are the dimensions direct,
• production(ensemble)
• test the product
• acceptance of the product.

Fusion360 insights

• you can specify views on an angle so you can easily work on weird angles.
• right click, insert component into current design (works different then Solidworks)

Benefits

• the program is design helps to understand the tools
• manufacturing options for the design Downside
• not open source (I have an educational license)

2. Clo3D - by Michelle Vossen

The program is used for making patterns and 3D rendering of soft textiles products likes clothes but also pillows! I’m interested because of my idea to make an input pillow and I don’t know this program. In class Michelle shows me how to make a square pillow.

• start with: create rectangle tool, two rectangles 2d shapes
• select the sewing edges and snap them together with shift
• give the pillow volume changing the property pressure: volume 20
• right click and select freeze to make a pease stay in place (gravity environment)
• add a new fabric, add images or graphics for making your own patterns
• you can also start from a 3D object and draw lines onto it to make a pattern(complex)
• render 3d objects and 2d patterns I tried the program at home to design my input pillow

Benefit:

• quick results
• designed to work with fabric Downsides:
• not open source (I have a trial of 30 days)
• need a good computer to handle the rendering

3. Blender - by Michelle Vossen

Michelle gave us a quick demonstration. Since I no the basics I only type out the things that were new for me:

• refresh how to use the displacement mapping. You can add 2D designs and give it a 3D structure with displacement mapping - Use a grey scale image as a hight map. Insert the pattern (repeat tile) go to edit mode an change the placement of the pattern
• Re-mesh: calculate the hole mesh again - Helpful when the mesh doesn’t have even faces. (big and small ones) especially when using a Fusion file for example.
• apply modifiers in object mode. (don’t forget!)

I did some displacement mapping and made another pillow but I quickly decide to go for clo 3D because I like learning a new program and I like that it works from a 2D pattern that I can actually use for my end project.

Here you can find my try-out. I used a pattern (in black and white) that I made in Illustrator. Black and white so it can make a height map out of it. I’m thinking about embroidering a pattern on the pillow so I liked the height map that is like a texture on top of a surface. I started by using the scortcut e to extrude the side surface and make a rectangular shape. Added the subdivision subsurface modifier to make it round and then used the modifier displacement mapping where I added the .png texture to create the structure.

4. Rhino - by Asli Aydin Askan

Rhino is a surface modelling tool and does not use solids. I have never worked in Rhino before and I was very curious. Asli give us a quick intro into different surface modelling. I don’t have the program installed and just observe. Alsi tells us that Rhino started as nurbs modelling and is now changing to subd modelling. The shows the differences:

• mesh change the dots (left)
• nurbs mathematical model, relational, if you modify it the whole form changes, like the subdivision subsurface from blender (middle)
• subd sort of mesh modeling but its defined by point around the chape. change the lines (right)
• The more points (nodes) you add the smoother curves will be.
• to boolean 2d and 3d objects the 2d surface needs to go though the whole object
• Parametric models make changes in a range.
• you can use Python in Rhino.

She nog shows the Grasshopper plug-in. It uses input and output read those always from left to right. You need to think how to construct the geometry,for example, building a shape with a 3 point circle or a midpoint circle. This is important because it changes the output of the grasshopper who generates the design.

• To make a box she add’s a BoxRec and uses a Rect2Pt to create two points, and then use a slide number to set the height of the box. The order of clicking is very important because this is how the shape will be build. Display: full names can be helpful to see what you are doing. Important you need to bake the object to be able to take the objects from grasshopper back to Rhino.
• ctrl alt click for finding where the thing in the design tree is coming from
• By holding shift you can add more outputs. primitive nurbs, lines, 2d and 3d boxes etc.

Benefit:

• build/ generate complex and textured organic shapes, lots of try and error in Grasshopper. Downside:
• totally different from what i’m used to having a hard time understanding it looking at it.

5. OpenSCAD - by Edwin Dertien

Edwin gave us the explanation of the program openSCAD. In this program you start by using code to build you designs. So it start with almost empty screen. On the left you type code and right you see the output. It uses a script similar to Java. Edwin showed us a few things but for me the most interesting was the short code Edwin made that slices a 3D shape in 2D shapes for cutting. He used a forloop for this. It shows were this program in my opinion is very good at. Making a small output program consisting us steps that the program follows.

• If you hover to Help -> 3th button Cheat sheet you can find all the commands (code) it can do, with examples.
• There is a preview button, rendering button and STL file button.
• You make variables to make things parametric. Global variables like height. When you make variables for components in components. you make a module
• box(width, height, wal) programmed a function and create the box above.
• Loft is called hull and works like a ballon around the shapes that you have in the space.
• Tip: Watch out for metrics system when scaling. Benefit:
• open source program
• program a function Downsides:
• no tooling for making assembly’s (manually type coordinates)
• need to understand coding

Clo 3D - pillow

I use Clo3D for making the 3D design of my input pillow, look at my final project page for more information. I start following the notes I made of michelle’s class and look up a few things online like the sewing tool. because I couldn’t knit multiple sides at first the free sewing tool was my answer I create pattern for the pillow in 2D on the right side of the screen with a rectangle and two circles. I used a formula to calculate how big the rectangle and circle have to be to fit together. I sew the faces together using the free sewing tool. At first they were turned but I figured out it depends on where you start the knit and you can move the shape around in the 3D simulator to make it easier. After this right click on the left side of my screen on the round piece and and select freeze to make it stay in place (gravity environment). Because the first time it all fell down onto the floor. Now I give the pillow volume changing the property of the material under pressure: volume 20. I start playing around with patterns and I use Illustrator and Coreldraw to create the patterns. In illustrator I made a symbol that it a repeating pattern. In Coreldraw I made a design that fits one on one and I try to make a pattern that would be connected on all sides but is not a repeating pattern. You can read more about it later. For the renders I try out different fabrics like fur and leather. here you see the results:

Illustrator - repetitive patterns

I make a repetitive pattern in illustrator by adding a swatch with pattern option (window). I draw a few lines and make a box with the rectangle tool and give it the pattern swatch fill after this I export the project as a png file for working in blender. I was curious how to make the pattern fill into vector drawing that I can for example cut out of vinyl to make a screenprint out of it. So I made a hole using pathfinder and then I found out that the expand tool (go to object->expand) does this. You do have to ungroup a lot to get to a workable file and for me the best practice is to change the fill to translucent and stroke to black so you can see properly what you are doing.

CorelDraw - pillow pattern

I start with drawing a rectangle en circle object and give it the same measurements as the pattern in Clo3D so my pattern will fit perfectly. Then I trace a image of clouds. I think it might be a fun input for the pillow. I use the bitmap trace tool and bring the colors down to 3. I ungroup everything and pick the grey coloured clouds and drag them to my pattern outlines. I set all the shapes to a transparent fill and black stroke and use the smart fill tool that looks like a paintbucket to fill the shapes on the outline. I then move the pars of the pattern to the opposite edged to create a pattern that connects over the 3 pieces of fabric.You can see it in the video below:

I made a mistake here with the round pieces thinking they work the same as a square but of course it doesn’t. At the your sides of the pillow the square pattern should come together like on a sphere (like Alaska on the globe) So the pattern is not perfect but I learned from it. The mistake I found out when adding the pattern in Clo 3D and rendering the pillow. I like the workflow of these program’s together.

Inkscape

I try linking objects with the hierarchy links by making a copy of a model like Neil shows in the class. I didn’t now this is possible and want to quickly try it out so make a design with a few shapes and make a linked copy and I adjust the model. The other model also adjust! But when I use a boolean function (one shape minus the other one) the linked model in not linked to the other anymore.

Solidworks - parameters

I do a quick tutorial on how to designing with parameters in Solidworks. I draw and extrude some faces and give it the thickness parameter. The tutorial uses linked constrains a lot, I personally like the Fusion360 parameter workflow better so I quickly moved on with drawing in Fusion.

Fusion 360 - parametric final project

I start with making sketches of the size of my nightlight object and after having a idea of the dimensions I start making the outer wooden shape adding the measurements as parameters Now I will start a sketch from the origin using lines and the spline and to give it the right dimension I use a formula (parameters/2) because I use the revolve tool to turn the contour of the shape around the z axes. This means the outer dimension on the width is half of the outer diameter. I projected the inner diameter using p shortcut to project (purple)lines to make the extruded cut and I used formulas such as (height+20) to make sure that when I change the height the thickness of the bottom will remain 20 mm. I start crating a new component and start working on the inlay model that I want to 3D print. I use the projection tool a lot to keep my sketches connected. I add the new parameter tollerance of 0.15 mm to make sure my 3D print model will fit in the woden shape. In the bottom I make two holes to fasten the 3D printed part and on top I make a ring so my glass reflecting object can rest on this. The whole model it parametric and when I change the inner or outer on height parameter the wooden outer object and the inner inlay scale with all the tolerances in place! I really did my best to work properly with assembly’s in Fusion360 and I now better understand the workflow of this. The best tip I can give is to start by making a new component when you want to design the first part.

I now go outside of my current model and start a new file were I will make the transparent object that the light will shine trough. I’m going to make transparent glass like object that can be places on top of the ring. I might pour this shape from transparent resin to so I might make a mould out of it later. That’s why I don’t want to create the part in my main assembly. I’m going to create this object using the surface design environment called form in Fusion and make a cylinder the size of the inner diameter. Using the face tool I can close the upper face of the cylinder. With modify I will make a organic shape by pushing and pulling the faces on top. When I’m happy with the result I gave all the faces a thickness going inwards of 5 mm and then I try to insert this component into my nightlight assembly. I give it a joint to snap it in the right place onto the other component. Now I will try out the render options in Fusion for the first time.

Blender - rendering final project

I want to make a render in Blender to add the light coming from inside the object. I ask my college Stijn who has lost of experience in Blender for a quick tutorial about adding textures in blender and start working on the material properties and rendering myself. Here is one of the renders: These are the steps I did to make the render:

1. export the 3d file in Fusion per component as STL. files
2. import the STL. files in Blender
3. go to object -> shade auto smooth to get better shadows on the imported objects.
4. move the shapes with shortcut g
5. add planes to create the scene in object mode
6. add small planes that resemble the LED’s use duplicate shortcut shift D
7. add material properties for every object: BSDF Glass, BSDF principled, Emission (for the light)
8. switch the render engine to Cycles.
   • Eevee realtime, video game (keeps rendering, used for gaming, uses tricks to make it look realistic)
   • Cycles raytrace, (renders once, based on the real world will calculate every pixel, traces every light beam)
9. shift C : center camera on scene, the camera view will be the export view/
10. ctrl alt numpad 0 sets current view to camera view!
11. make sure you have enough space in the view to be able to see the whole scene. Widen the view at the clip end (at view, right upper corner)

Go to object mode to add realistic wooden texture, I downloaded my material from poly haven.

First option to import texture (for me this was super complex and Stijn helped a lot)

1. Add -> Texture -> image texture
2. Connect color with base color:
3. change the color to diff
4. connect the normal map glossy
5. connect the roughness
6. add a texture coordinate (UV = 2D map of your geometry)
7. make new texture shift D for duplicating and then add nor gloss. map Change color to non color
8. add roughness map (linear color)
9. adding a vector input for changing the direction on the wood texture

All this adding and changing is happening in a environment similar to rhino grasshopper. It has input and output from left to right and you connect the dots and change the settings.

Second option to import a texture (this worked much better for me)

1. To import the wood we go to file -> append (import the material from the blendfile) -> material -> click on the material.
2. go to material properties and assign the material to the object.
3. the object turned pink because its missing its texture
4. go to file -> external data -> find missing files -> click find missing files.
5. now in the preview you will see the wood.
6. It is now missing the UV map, the texture doesn’t know how to project.
7. Go to edit mode select all a type u for UV-map options click on smart UV Project press ok.
8. Now you should be albe to see the material.

Because we used a blender file we could easy transfer the data of the material to my own blender file. The benefit of this is that you don’t need to manually construct a shader material. What is a shader material? you might think, it’s the depth the color the structure the shine all together that make the material. We now added all this info at once instead of one by one. If you select the shield button near to the name of the material in the material properties the, the material stays in the file when you change the material .

go to shading mode to change the direction of the mapping in Rotation and also scale the mapping texture to your likings. Click and drag the input to the right output. In my case I changed Texture coordinate from UV to generated and then the output stays the same: vector. I changed the rotation to make make the wooden nerf’s add up the way I want to.

Fusion360 - generative design tool

I start playing around in the generative design tool in Fusion360. I follow the learning tutorial on the right side of the screen that pops up when you open the generative design workspace called my learning. You start creating a new design study and add object in the design. I try it out with some cylinders and want to create a shape between the two cylinders but not hitting the obstacle in the way.design setup I create shapes that will stay and add them to preserved geometry I add shape (s) that need to be excluded as obstacle geometry and add a symmetry plane and a offset for the obstacle geometry. Next step is to set a constraint, I add a load (force) in Newton and I can start going in to the preset. With the educational license I can use the Fusion cloud to generate multiple outcomes and change my inputs or constraints if I want to. I and up testing two different models with different loads and obstacle geometry. I compare the designs and choose one I like, I downloaded this model af a fusion model where I can edit the faces again and as a mesh model.

Benefits:

• The workflow is pretty straight forward
• Generates multiple outcomes on the cloud that you can make iterations from Downside:
• very random how it will generate. I do believe the more effort you put in to it the more likely you have the outcome you want. Downside:
• We don’t know how long the educational license has aces to this tool
• Would be cool is you can set constrains for FFF printing. I can use the constrain additive manufacturing but this is not especially for FFF printing (support angle of 45 degrees).

Files

• 3d file of the nightlight(Fusion)
• 3d file of the pillow (clo3D)
• 3d file of generative design exploration (Fusion)
• 2d patterns (Corel draw)
• 2d pattern (Illustrator)

Things I messed up and learned from

1. I underestimated the time that you need for documenting, I tried to do it while I was working but it’s hard for me to keep this up. I tend to want to figure something out that didn’t work or get exited by something and then my notes stop and I need to think about what I did later. I even redo the pattern in illustrator because i didn’t save the file so in my download .zip files you find another pattern.
2. My notes are messy so it takes me lots of time to organize them, I’m going to try to type full / logical sentences right away in English.
3. My laptop is crap so I borrowed another one from work to be able to render things and work properly in Blender and Clo 3D it slowed down my process to get the right pictures and files back on my own laptop. In the future I will not even try to render something with this laptop.
4. I wanted to try out more things, I didn’t get to trying out cuttle and the joints in Fusion360. I think I could have better put less time in the rendering but I was exited about learning this especially the clo3D was really fun to try out different patterns. So my time management was a bit of here. With the modelling part itself I did not experience mayor issues. I already new a lot about the basics of working in 2D and 3D program’s so that was helpful. Also I could have made a clearer design for the pillow that I actually want to use for the final project now I just tried out things on the spot but I think I will use a different design, that i have more thought out how I can fabricate it.

I’m very proud of myself finishing this week again tho. It’s been long days working in the evening and weekends combining the course with my job. But I learned a lot this week the renderings and also the generative design try out was fun! I like that my final project is more tangible now and it makes me think about the next steps to actually fabricate it.