Week 2 Computer-Aided Design

Week 2 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.

Learning outcomes

• Evaluate and select 2D and 3D software
• Demonstrate and describe processes used in modelling with 2D and 3D softwares
• Demonstrate image and video compression

Have you answered these questions?

• Modelled experimental objects/part of a possible final project in 2D and/or 3D software
• Shown how you did it with words/images/screenshots
• Documented how you compressed your image and video files
• Included your original design files

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My Website

Started a new HTML page for Week 2 documentation. Also I saw that VS Code can commit and push/pull changes. Still I will use git in terminal for push all changes.

I also asked AI to scrape content from Week 3-20 assignment and use my existed HTML page as a template, build similar pages. Here is the prompt I used:

https://fabacademy.org/2026/nueval/

https://fabacademy.org/2026/labs/formshop/students/yaroslav-artsishevskiy/index.html

Example https://fabacademy.org/2026/labs/formshop/students/yaroslav-artsishevskiy/assignments/week02.html

I want you to generate 18 HTML pages. I need to upload these 18 HTML pages like week 2, week 3, week 4, etc. till week 20 as my web pages for Fab Academy. You can see an example of my website, Yaroslav Artsishevsky, and example of one page. It's like week 2. This is what I want you to do for all pages. Week 1 is already done. It's fully listed. Week 2, it's only tasks. But week 3 till week 20, I need to do the same like week 2. So the schedule for weeks, you got it. And what exactly you need to put, it's actually in a new eval link, fabacademy.org 2026 new eval. From here, you can check all questions. And it can be the theme, for example, computer-aided design, and then some learning outcomes and group assignment, individual assignment, and have I answered these questions. So all of this must be in the beginning of the page. The same example, the same page like week 2. I need 18 files from week 3 to week 20, HTML, the same format like week 2.

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2D Design

Gimp

Installation and simple drawing of light and some possible art reflection effect.

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Adobe Illustrator

I used the same way as with previous apps and bought the licence on Taobao. It's faster and cheaper than on official store. The interface looks complex.

I used video tutorial about how to make a basic project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pt3rILlEgmQ

Add a rectangle to the canvas of 1000 by 1000 pixels. Center it using the Align tools, remove the fill, and set the stroke to a dark blue color with a seven-point thickness.

It can be useful to add tools on the panel from the Window menu.

Make sure the caps and corners are set to rounded. Use the Direct Selection tool to select only the top corner dots and drag them down to round off the top like a window.

Use the Line tool while holding Shift to create a straight vertical line for the ground. Create four small rectangles for the cabin logs; you can hold Alt or Option and drag a shape to duplicate it, keeping the same style. Select the Polygon tool, click the canvas, and input 3 sides to make a triangle for the roof. Place the triangle on top of a rectangle, open the Pathfinder panel from the Window menu, and click the Unite tool to combine them into one house shape.

Create trees by drawing a line for the trunk and stacking four circles on top (hold Shift for perfect circles). Select the four circles and combine them using the Pathfinder Unite tool, then duplicate the tree to make a smaller one. Draw a circle for the sun, then create rings by going to the Object menu, selecting Offset Path, and inputting 30 pixels. Repeat this 4 times. To clean up the drawing, select all the overlapping shapes and choose the Shape Builder tool. Hold Alt or Option to turn the cursor into a minus symbol, then click on the specific lines you want to delete. To clean up the drawing, select all the overlapping shapes and choose the Shape Builder tool. Hold Alt or Option to turn the cursor into a minus symbol, then click on the specific lines you want to delete. Draw a straight line and use the Curvature tool to bend it slightly to create a bird.

For the water, draw three straight lines, go to the Effect panel, select Zigzag, and choose the Smooth option. Go to the Object menu and click Expand Appearance to turn the effect into real lines. Use the Shape Builder tool again to delete any messy overlaps. Finally, select the main outer shape and give it a white fill so the logo stands out.

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3D Design

Rhino 8 Mac

Problem 1: I logged in for download the app. Download successful. Rhino needs a license. And my 90 days license is over. I will try to find a solution.

Solution 1: I bought app on Taobao. And it's working.

For inspiration, I used this short video: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/8WuoeBPMg7Y

Phase 1: Base Construction

1. Draw a circle and make a copy of it. (Type Circle and press Enter, then use Copy or Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V)
2. Use the Offset tool to create another circle based on the first one. (Type Offset, select the curve, and click inside or outside to set the distance)
3. Apply the Polar Array to duplicate the geometry into a circular pattern. (Type ArrayPolar, click the center point, and type the number of copies you want, like 6 or 8)
4. Delete any extra circles you don't need. (Click the unwanted lines and hit Delete)

Phase 2: Center Definition and Curve Adjustment

1. Use the Polyline tool to draw the center of the shape. (Type Polyline to click and draw straight lines)
2. Apply the Polar Array again to create additional copies of the center structure. (Right-click to repeat the last command, ArrayPolar)
3. Rebuild the curve and adjust the control points to ensure the curves are accurate. (Type Rebuild to change point count, then press F10 to see dots and drag them to fix the shape)

Phase 3: 3D Form Generation

1. Divide the curves into four segments. (Type Divide, click the curve, and enter '4')
2. Draw circles of varying sizes at each division point. (Make sure Osnap is on so you can snap the circles right onto the dots)
3. Use the Loft tool to connect these circles. (Type Loft, click the circles in order, and hit Enter to make the skin)
4. Extrude both the top and bottom of the shape. (Type ExtrudeCrv or just use the Gumball arrows to pull the shape up and down)

Phase 4: Finalization

1. Employ the Cap tool to close it off and make it solid. (Type Cap to fill in the flat holes)
2. Follow with a Boolean Union to merge the elements. (Type BooleanUnion and select everything to glue it into one piece)
3. Finally, utilize the Quad Mesh feature to unify your object. (Type QuadRemesh to clean up the geometry lines)

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OnShape

I registered new account and it was already linked with Fab Academy. I made a simple shape in it.

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Fusion360

Problem 2: I got a problem with renewing my fusion license. When I try to update my account it was some problems and use a connection mistake, platform was not able to verify my documentation and letter from Fab Academy. I tried to email support of Autodesk platform about to solve my issue, but I need to use fusion now and I need extended license.

Solution 2: I decided to find license on Taobao. Which can be cheaper and faster to apply than wait for reply from AutoDesk.

Instructor recommended a course about Fusion360 on YouTube. I already made several projects and Fusion360 is more familiar for me.

https://www.youtube.com/@ProductDesignOnline/courses

I decided to make something looks like organic shapes and printed on the printer. This shape can be used like a light and generator interesting effect for lightning. It was series of attempts how to do it and I check YouTube video about how to build a several shapes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=158ZpD44dq4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuJ82relaHM

Attempt 1

Based on the research from the Internet and some tutorials and video content, the process is like this. Just I want to create a regular shape and pulling and pushing the existed sphere or even make a holes. Making holes can be done by boolean technique or by removing some plates and make wall thicker. Also for creating some interesting shapes and patterns I made irregular shape by using curves and… And later I used to extrude command to cut the body.

Next part is to create a mesh from existing body. The mesh command can generate very high polygon, high shapes structure, and it was a step number one after this. I want to reduce number of polygons and make it simpler. Simple shape with just simple edges is what do we need for next step.

After simplifying a mesh, it was a special command, how to select only edges without selecting body, and after selecting edges, those edges can determine into some organic shapes, but in the step of saving, I got a roar that the body can't be converted. I realized that it may be some empty structures inside and I don't know how to solve this problem so I decided to make the initial shapes not so complex a bit more simpler.

Attempt 2

This step I decided to make shape without hollow companies and just cut the holes using extrude command. I design a simple patterns by curves to create unique shapes.

Then after cutting holes, their body can be converted into mesh body. And this mesh buddy contain a lot of polygons as in previous example, and then amount of polygons can be simplified.

As in previous attempt after simplifying the polygons, we can select only edges and after selecting edges, we can use the pipe command to create organic shape.

Even after another type of the shape, it was the same error error, and maybe it's something but I need to learn in the future and this complex organic shape require extra attention. To make a ball will be a better solution and I can experiment with printing. Also, in the future, I can experiment more with hollow shapes and some complex joints inside the body.

Attempt 3 — Low-Poly Sphere to "Organic Joints" Lattice

1) Why I restarted and kept the sphere "regular"

This is my third attempt, and the main decision was to avoid an irregular, chaotic base shape. In earlier tries, the sphere deformation quickly turned into a random form and the final result looked accidental. This time I treated the sphere as a controlled "base mesh," because the whole workflow depends on predictable topology later (especially when I convert edges into pipes).

2) Converting the solid body into a mesh (and why it becomes heavy)

After the base sphere was ready, I switched into the Mesh workspace and converted the body into a mesh. The conversion produced a dense polygon surface, which is expected because curved shapes are approximated using many faces. At this point the model was too complex for the pipe-all-edges idea, so simplification became necessary.

3) Reducing faces to control the "low-poly look"

The key turning point is the Reduce tool. I reduced the face count while still keeping the silhouette round enough. The goal was not to destroy the sphere - it was to intentionally create a low-poly version that still reads as a sphere. This step defines how complex the final lattice will be.

4) Switching Selection Priority to Edge Priority

To pipe the structure, I needed to select edges reliably. On complex geometry Fusion often selects faces or bodies by default. I changed Selection Priority to Select Edge Priority so that edge selection becomes faster and more consistent.

5) Turning the mesh edges into pipes (creating the "joint network")

With edge selection under control, I used Pipe to generate tubes along the selected edges. Conceptually, I removed faces from the design and kept only the edge skeleton as a connected structure. I created the pipes as a New Body to keep the workflow non-destructive and easy to iterate.

6) Separating bodies, applying appearance, and adding an inner sphere

After piping, I had two bodies: the low-poly mesh sphere (reference) and the pipe lattice (final structure). I hid the mesh sphere and kept only the pipes. Then I added a smaller sphere inside to make the design more interesting and applied different appearances for clearer visual separation.

7) Section Analysis to validate the inside structure

Finally, I used Section Analysis to cut through the model and check how the lattice and inner sphere read internally. This is both a visual presentation tool and a validation step before exporting for fabrication.

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Image Converting and Compression

I compressed all images before uploading to keep the website fast and responsive. I used ImageMagick for batch processing of images.

Method Used

Tool: ImageMagick (command-line tool)
Command: magick mogrify -format jpg -quality 85 -path compressed *.{png,jpg,jpeg}

Settings

• Format: JPG (converted from PNG and other formats)
• Quality: 85 (good balance between quality and file size)
• Additional optimization: Removed metadata with -strip flag

This compression method significantly reduced file sizes while maintaining good visual quality for web display. Original high-resolution files are kept separately for archival purposes.

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Video Converting and Compression

I tried video converting and compression before with online services and GUI apps, but this time I used command line with FFmpeg.

Tool: FFmpeg
Goal: convert a MOV file to MP4 and reduce size for web upload.

First Command (High Compression)

ffmpeg -hide_banner -y -i "input.MOV" -c:v libx264 -preset medium -b:v 400k -maxrate 400k -bufsize 800k -pix_fmt yuv420p -movflags +faststart -c:a aac -b:a 96k "output.mp4"

Command Breakdown

• ffmpeg: runs FFmpeg.
• -hide_banner: hides startup/version banner.
• -y: overwrites output file automatically.
• -i "input.MOV": input video file.
• -c:v libx264: H.264 video encoder.
• -preset medium: balance between encoding speed and compression.
• -b:v 400k: target video bitrate.
• -maxrate 400k: caps bitrate spikes.
• -bufsize 800k: controls bitrate buffering behavior.
• -pix_fmt yuv420p: compatible pixel format for most players.
• -movflags +faststart: places metadata at file start for web playback.
• -c:a aac: AAC audio codec.
• -b:a 96k: audio bitrate.
• "output.mp4": output filename.

This command produced a very small file (~3 MB), but quality was too low.

Better Quality Command

ffmpeg -hide_banner -y -i "input.MOV" -c:v libx264 -preset medium -b:v 1M -maxrate 1.2M -bufsize 2M -pix_fmt yuv420p -movflags +faststart -c:a aac -b:a 128k "output.mp4"

• -b:v 1M increased video bitrate.
• -maxrate 1.2M allowed slightly higher peaks.
• -bufsize 2M gave smoother bitrate control.
• -b:a 128k improved audio quality.

Result was around 6 MB, with better quality but still not ideal.

CRF Method (Quality-Based)

ffmpeg -hide_banner -y -i "input.MOV" -c:v libx264 -preset medium -crf 28 -pix_fmt yuv420p -movflags +faststart -c:a aac -b:a 128k "output.mp4"

• -crf 28 uses constant quality (lower value means better quality and larger file).
• No fixed video bitrate limit, so size depends on scene complexity.
• Useful when quality consistency is more important than exact file size.

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Design Files

• Download video file (output 3 MB.mp4)
• Download GIMP source (Gimp_light.xcf.zip)
• Download Illustrator source (Nature logo.ai.zip)
• Download Rhino STL (rhino8!.stl.zip)
• Download Fusion 360 source (Attempt 3 Organic Ball.f3d)

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Week 2 Reflection

This week was both challenging and exciting as I explored various Computer-Aided Design tools for 2D and 3D modeling. I worked with GIMP, Adobe Illustrator, Rhino 8, OnShape, and Fusion 360, learning different workflows and techniques for each platform. I also met my fellow classmates and instructor in the lab in Shanghai.

Key Learnings

The hands-on experience with multiple software packages helped me understand the strengths of each tool:

2D Design: Adobe Illustrator proved powerful for vector graphics, and following the tutorial to create a nature logo taught me essential techniques like the Pathfinder tool, offset paths, and shape building.

3D Modeling: Fusion 360 became my most familiar tool, especially when creating organic shapes for a potential light fixture design. The workflow of converting bodies to mesh, simplifying polygons, and using the pipe command to create organic structures was fascinating.

Challenges Encountered

Software Installation Issues: One major lesson learned is that software installation and licensing can consume significant time. I encountered license expiration problems with both Rhino 8 and Fusion 360. While I found workarounds through alternative purchasing methods (Taobao), this delayed my actual design work. In the future, I would recommend installing and verifying all necessary software licenses well in advance to avoid losing valuable project time.

Learning Curve with New Tools: Even with tutorials, getting familiar with new software interfaces and workflows takes time. Understanding the logic behind each tool's approach to 3D modeling required patience and multiple attempts. For example, my first two attempts at creating organic shapes in Fusion 360 failed during export due to internal geometry issues I didn't initially understand.

Technical Obstacles: The export errors I encountered when converting complex organic shapes taught me important lessons about geometry validation and mesh topology. After three attempts, I learned that simpler initial shapes often lead to more successful final outputs.

Skills Developed

• Image and video compression using command-line tools (ImageMagick and FFmpeg)
• Understanding video bitrate, codec settings, and quality/size trade-offs
• 2D vector design techniques in Illustrator
• 3D organic modeling workflows in Fusion 360 and Rhino
• Problem-solving when software doesn't work as expected

Looking Forward

Overall, 3D design is cool and interesting, and I'm excited to continue developing these skills. The ability to visualize and create three-dimensional objects opens up endless creative possibilities. While the technical challenges were frustrating at times, overcoming them made the successful outcomes even more rewarding. I hope to polish my skills further and tackle more complex projects, especially focusing on parametric design and creating functional objects that can be fabricated.