2. Computer-Aided Design¶
This week we learned how to use some new 3D softwares and some 2D ones as well. For 3D, we learned Sculter and Blender. Then for 2D, we used corelDraw. Then for a little bit more extra, we learned how to use Ai to create a 3D object in Maker World.
Downloads¶
Important Links¶
Tutorials¶
Files¶
Blender¶
Downloading Blender¶
For blender I fist needed to download it. The link to download is above in downloads. THere are three options and I chose the download directly one. I did this so then I could eaisily download it right away and didn’t have to go into the app store.
Learning Blender¶
For learning blender we learned for a teacher that is very good at it. Her name is Angela Horstman. SHe also taught us how to use Scultper.
Setting Up File Settings¶
The first thing we opened up to was the page below. When we opened it up it automatically opened up to that page. After the first time using it, blender automatically opens up past that into page.
In this page we went into a general file. After that it took me to a couple new options. For us we kept the default settings for a general file because we were just learning how to make things.
Learning Tools¶
Before we begain to do any animations or cool things like that we needed to learn how to use the tools. Todo this we added a monkey shape because it had a lot of edges, vertices, and faces.
Adding an Ojbect¶
To add an object, you have to use the keyboard command Shift + A to open the add menu. If you don’t do this there is no other way to add an object. Once I did that, it opened to a drop down full of materials and shapes. We went into the mesh, because we want it to be a solid and mesh willl always be solid, and then clicked on the monkey. Then in the center of the screen a money was addded.
In the top right corner there were four choices of tools that we could choose between. We kept ours on the non-invisible option.
Editing Mode¶
To actually edit the monkey we needed to switch into editng mode. To do this I went to the top left hand corner where is said Object Mode. Clicked on that and then switched it to the editing mode.
Faces, Vertices, Edges¶
When in belnder we used the monkey to learn how to edit the faces, vertices, and the edges. Every dot is a vertices, lines are edges and the gray is a face. Something important to remember is that when modeling solids, they have to stay solid. You can have an open gap.
We began to play around with the different tools in blender and learn how to minipulate the three different things. If I pressed 1 on my key pad on my computer, then vertices are what I was editing. If I pressed 2, the I could edit the edges, then finally if I pressed 3, then I would be editing the faces.
This is an image of my monkey after I finished learning the tools of blender.
Animation in Blender¶
To create the animation, the first thing I needed todo was delete the monekey. I was very happy to get rid of the monkey because it was very scary with the edits everyone made to them .
I entered in to object edit mode again. The I did Shift + A again to add a cube. Then before we moved onto the animation we learned that if the mesh has a opened side then the object wont print of download if you try to download it.
Creating the Plane¶
When creating the plane, we at first added the plane in the same edit mode as the cube which means that the animation wouldn’t happen. To fix h=this we deleated the plane and ecited edit mode and went back into object mode. Once we were back in there, then I added a plane the same way as the cube. Once I added the plane, I made it really big and moved it to be floating above the cube.
Setting the Collision/Physics¶
Setting up the collison takes a few parts. When went to the tools down the side. We went to the physics one that look like a planet.
This is what the physics menu looks like. While selecting the cude, we chose the collision option and we kept the normal settings.
To make the plane an annimation, we needed to ad subdividers to the plane. This adds more faces allowing the annimtion to work. To use this we wet into edit mode, the we right clickd and subdivied. It popped up looking like this.
In this menu we could only do 1-20 cuts because otherwise the computer would crash. The more vertice the more natural it looks.
The next part was to exit edit mode then click on the plane and go to physics. Then we clicked on cloth and kept the presets. The most important part was in colliosn we had to turn on both slef collison and object collision. If you don’t check those then it won’t work.
Exporting in Blender¶
When exporting from Blender, you follow the same steps as any other software. You go to file, then ecport and then select the file you would like to save it as. I recomend .stl files.
Sculpter¶
About Sculpter¶
Sculpter is a free 3D sculpting tool that can be found on any web browser. When you first open the website, it opens up to a circle clump of clay. The website is an online version of what it would be like to actually use clay in real-life. There are a lot of possibly different tools you could use. We were asked to play around with the website to learn how to use it.
Learning How to Use¶
When testing the website, we had 10 minutes to create what every we wanted. I made the following.
To create that image I used all the tools possible in the tool tab.
The top drop down is where you select the tool you want to use. Then the setting change for each tool but the basics are the radius and the intensity. The radius controls how wide the tools is. The intensity is how stronge you want the tool to be.
After I made the face, I learned how to change the shape of clay in sculpter so I decided to make a donut.
For the donut, I used the Torus shape. Then using the color brush I painted on the brown icing. Then I changed the radius of the blush and color to make the sprinckles.
CorelDraw¶
About CorelDraw¶
CorelDRAW is a vector graphics editor developer. One of the assignments was to use 2D and we needed to make both vector and raster. For CorelDRAW I used the Fab Academy logo.
This is the logo that I used. I saved the image and then imported it into corel.
Process¶
Then I needed to turn the image into actual lines that a laser cutter could follow. To do this I clicked on the image, then went to trace bitmap. Under that drop down are three options. The first one is a quick trace, then centerline trace and the one I did, outline trace. Then from the drop down of outline trace I did logo. An important thing I learned NOT todo is click edit bitmap. If you click that before making a bitmap, you will crash Corel.
When creating the bitmap, I didn’t need to change any of the settings because it already looked good. Then I clicked ok and it was created. When you first create the bitmap, it’s on top of the image, therefore I clicked and drags the top layer as u can see in the image. The image is on the left and then on the right is bitmap with me holding down on it. When you dont hold down on it, it looks identical to the image.
Gimp¶
GIMP is an acronym for GNU Image Manipulation Program. I used GIMP for my 2D section for my raster sections of this. The first thing I did was just explore the tools and then I actually followed a tutorial.
Exploring the Tools¶
When exploring I started off with changing the background. To change it I clicked on the paint bucket, picked my color and then clicked on the background. Then next thing I did was use the text feature. I couldn’t come up with a word todo so I decided to do my name.
This is my name that I typed out and then I changed the color
The next thing I decided to do was create a 3D layering effect. To do thing I duplicated my name and moved it diagonally just a litle bit. Then I changed the color to a shade a little bit darker than the first layer.
After I created the first two layers, I made another one to add effect. And then I was exploring the brush tool and found one shaped like a leaf and I was very bored so I went crazy and started add alot of leaves to make my name look like it was sitting on a bunch of leaves. The cool thing about the leaves is that the look very relistic and changes color each time I used the brush to different shades of green.
Then I found a new cool brush and so I changed the color to yellow and started going crazy with the litte star brush. I could have made them bigger but I didn’t want to. The annoying part about it was that you have to click every individual star which was fun at first but then my hand got tired of clicking. But in the end it looked like this.
I then explored the different layes. In gimp you can create different layes of art which makes it eas for you to move things infornt and behind other things. When creating the stars I had then on a nex layer because when ever I made an edit I created a new layer. I rocommend doing this because it easier for you in the future if you want todo something like I did. I ended up moving the stars behind everything but the back ground layer.
This is the final look of my design when i was playing around.
Following a Tutorial¶
The next thing that I did was follow a tutorial for GIMP. The link to the the tutorials is at the top under tutorials.
This is my idea from this screenshot. So basically I had my name on top of a picture. And my plan was to make the picture fill into my name. I decided to do roses because I thought the photo was very pretty.
The next step after getting the text on top of the image is to doulble right click on the text layer and click “Alpha to Selection”.Then you click on the tiny eyeball to remove it. The shape of the text is still there because the alpha election.
After thatI double right clicked on the background image layer and selected “Add Layer Mask”.
Then under the “Add Layer Mask” tab, this box poped up. Under this box I selected selection. Once I clicked that, I went ahead and clicked add.
Then the rest of the image was removed but the part where the text was because of the Alpha selection as you can see in the image above.
This is an image of what my name looks like after the whole process was done. I didnt like the checkered background so next time I will add a new background but for now it’s ok.
The last step of this process was to unselect everything. To do this I simply went to the top right of the screen, clicked on select and then went down to none. While looking at the image I noticed that I should have done a different image like something that would look better but it was a great image for practicing.