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3. Computer Aided design

This week we went over 3d and 2d design software.

3d Modeling

Sculpt GL

Sculpt GL is a free online modeling software. Our goal was to make something in 10 minutes, I chose to make Timothy Lockwood, from the movie “Cloudly with a Chance of Meatballs”.

The reference image:

What I made after 10 minutes:

Text-to-CAD

Text-to-CAD is an online CAD software. To use it you have to prompt the AI by describing waht you want it to make. I was not able to get a result I found satisfactory, but it is interesting how far the technology has come in the past few years.

My prompt “Wheel Rim” generated the result I was most happy with. I think that it was a decently complicated geometry to model, and besides the spokes not connecting, It was pretty good.

Maker World

Maker World, Bambu Lab’s 3D printing community, offers AI tools that create models from images or prompts. I created a bust of myself using this.

Heres the sample photo I gave it. I made a funny face not only because I was going insane and feeling goofy, but I also wanted to see how it would handle complex or unique facial expressions.

And this is what it made with about 3 to 4 minutes of time.

I found it impressive how close it was to the sample image.

Blender

Blender is a very powerful 3d software. I have a ton of respect for the people who use it because of how complex it is to start. I think that blender is NOT easy to use, requiring the knowledge of shortcuts and many details.

We were allowed ot mess around with the edit features in blender. After I delete the default cube, I added a monkey head with the command Shift A and I then went into the edit feature and messed around with the tools.

We then learned how to make a simulation. To do this we added a cube, then added a plane and subdivided the plane. Then we put properties of both of them and hit play.

Fusion 360

I’m a big fan of fusion 360. While it has a pretty decent learning curve, I think that it becomes decently intuitive once you learn the tools. My goal for Fusion was to make something in CAD relating to my final project. So, I modeled the part of my simulator that my button box will sit on.

3d Modeling

3d modeling this was super easy, I do not have a pair of calippers at home so I had to use a ruler. I put all of the dimensions into a sketch book and copied it over to CAD.

Rendering

This was the first time I looked into Fusion’s included redering software. I think that the rendering software is pretty cool and easy to get started. I think if I wanted to get more indepth I would need a tutorial but for things like lighting and changing apperance, the process was pretty simple.

Animation

Fusion also has the abilities to do animations. This animation took me around one and a half minutes. I think it deserves an Oscar.

Simulation

Fusion also has simulation software. Unfortunately this one costs money to use and is very complex. So for this I am using on eof the pre-baked simulations to show off the capabilities of the software.

2d

Corel Draw

I have major beef with Corel Draw. I’ve been using it for 2 years as my way of 2d modeling and I dislike it. I think that the UI has a weird layout and is not very intuitive. I still think it is better than blender though because you don’t need to memorize shorcuts.

I first traced bitmap.

Then I used the cut segment tool to delete the background.

Then I removed the fill color and set the outline to hairline.

Gimp

Gimp is a really powerful software. However I found this software confusing. Just like Blender, even with a tutorial I stuggled to understand how to do some things.

First I imported the image.

Then I used rectangular select to paint a gaussian blur over the latin shirt.

I then used the color curves to darken the image and add a red tint.

This is what the final image looks like.

Compression software

I used these two websites to compress my photos and videos. I jsut drag and drop them into the compression software and then download it back to my computer.

Last update: February 18, 2025