Week 02: Computer Aided Design

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

This week we explored design programs. I previously thought CAD referred to only 3D programs, but they include 2D ones and animation as well.

2D programs

Vector vs Raster

There are 2 ways 2D design programs store information.

Vector: Uses math and equations to store information. Can be significantly scaled up and down and still look good. Good for more simple designs or logos.

Raster: Advanced pixel art. Information is stored by individually remembering what each pixel is colored as. Good for detailed designs. Raster can be scaled down, but not scaled up.

For Print, 300DPI or PPI is the high standard, and 80 DPI or PPI for online images. ALWAYS make your art bigger than you think it needs to be.

DPI or PPI stands for Dots Per Inch and Pixels Per Inch. If you want to make a print on an 8.5in x 11in paper, you need 2,550 x 3,300 DPI or PPI.

Inkscape & Inky App

Inkscape is an free to use, open-source program. Inkscape can run on android tablets through the app Inky. Unfortunately, the Inky buttons too small to easily use.

Using Inkscape on my computer was wonderful. I was originally trained on Adobe Illustrator, and it had many of the same features. I used this program to create a vector that I used to cut my puzzle.

Paint the board and measure it.

Create a rectangle the same dimension as the board.

Copy and paste a fish silhouette.

Use curve tool for the fins.

Overlay an oval and click “Union”. Now you’ve got a fish!

Copy and Paste the fish on top of the rectangle.

Click “Excluding”

now use the pen tool to create the other cuts

MAKE SURE SNAP IS ENABLED

make sure the lines all are hairline

Here’s the finished puzzle! note that this is terrible to solve.

3D Programs

Sculpt+

I decided to start with Sculpt+ because it was the first program to pop up as a sculpting program for my Android Tablet. I started out with just playing around. After I got more comfortable, I made a bear mug! Please note that I did not use any tutorials for this program, I learned solely through playing around. I have been a long time fan of SorrelsSouls, who spends her days digitally sculpting and painting delightful frogs. This mouse/rat was my first sculpting attempt.

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Here’s how to create a cute bear mug!

• Create a torus by clicking the “Layers Icon” -> “Primitives” -> Select “Cylinder” -> “Create”
• Delete the sphere by clicking Layers icon -> click the sphere layer -> click the three vertical dots -> delete
• Create a cylinder by clicking the layers icon -> click Primitives -> select the cylinder -> create
• Make the cylinder to overlap with the torus. you can change it’s shape by clicking transform and dragging the arrows to change the cylinders size and shape
• It’s time for a Boolean function! Click layers -> check both the torus and the cylinder -> click Boolean -> Settings -> subtraction. The cylinder needs to be subtracted from the torus, click the cylinder to make it red -> generate -> done
• Now you have the handle! Next you want the mug. click layers ->Primitives -> select cylinder -> create
• We are now going to place the handel on the cylinder. click transform and use the arrows to position the torus so that only half is sticking out of the mug. Pinch your fingers in the grey space to look around and make sure the handel is correct from all angles
• Lets join them together! Layers-> click both the handel and the cylinder layers -> join
• Now we create the “bowl” shape so that the mug can store liquid. Click layers-> Primitives -> cylinder -> create
• Use the transform tool to slightly raise the second cylinder ast the first one, and make it slightly smaller
• Now its time for another Boolean effect! Subtract the second cylinder from the first one
• Now you’e got a nice mug shape, its time for painting! click paint -> click the color wheel to select blue-> fill. Now your mug is blue
• Lets sculpt out the bear, click paint -> layers type brush. Create the head and ears shape, WITHOUT lifting your pen. If you lift your pen the bear will not be even
• Color in the bear brown, and reduce the brush size and change colors to add the details, such as the eyes, nose, and mouth
• Lastly, use the layer brush tool again to create a rased snout for the bear
• DONE!

SOLIDWORKS

Through the FabAcademy I was able to get a FREE student/maker license for Solidworks. Unfortunately, during the install process it asked me to verify that my computer was capable of running the program. My laptop is from 2018. It could not run the program so I uninstalled everything that I had installed.

FREECAD

Next up was FreeCAD! I was quite excited about this program, especially because it is FREE, as the name suggests. After following this tutorial to set up, and this tutorial to set up the basics and this tutorial to make my first model, I jumped right in to modeling my Final Project.

I made this model

Here’s how I made it. Throughout this tutorial I reference various constraints, here is a quick graphic I took a screenshot of from this website

• Open FreeCAD
• Select make parametric Model
• Open up Sketcher

• Select the X-Z Plane

• use create line tool to create 3 steps, making sure each point is connected. WHen points are connected they are red.Unconnected points can be connected using the “constrain coincident” tool

click on all the vertical lines and click the parallel constraint

click on all the upward angle lins and click the parallel constraint

CLICK all the upward angle lines EXCEPT the top one and click the equal constraint click all the vertical lines except the leftmost one and click equal

Use line tool to create an L, and use the perpendicular constraint on it next click the vertical lines again and click parallel

Connect the lines by using “constrain coincidence”

Hit okay, use pad tool, and click ok again

Note: I made a mistake and put this model on the XY Plane and not the XZ Plane

Click clone and transform to move the second shape to the right

Note: CLONE and COPY are different functions. If you change a parameter on an object, all CLONES will change to match.

COPIED objects will exactly match the original at the time of copying. Change made to the original will only affect the original.

Hit copy and then move the second shape to the left, CLONE the COPY and move that to the right most position

Your stairs should look like this when you are done

go into sketch mode and add this rectangle to the outside stairs

Add this rectangle to the inside stairs, this will create a hole in the models

These are the basis of your moving stairs, hopefully moving parts to follow

Compressing Files

I Document by taking screenshots on my laptop. My laptop will automatically save things as PNG, but JPG saves more space. I use PNG2JPG to convert my PNG files as JPG. Then I use CompressJPG to compress those files. To get them into my repository I just drag and drop them into my Images folder.

To compress my video I used FreeConvert

Cats

Echo and Shadow continue to hang out on their tall shelf. They are very cute and look at you when you make noises at them!

Files

1. MOUSE/RAT: No model uploaded because I did not click save
2. Bear Mug: Not uploaded because Sculpt+ requires payment in order to export files
3. Stairs:I have made and remade these steps so many times I lost the original design file. Here is a recreation.
4. Fishy Puzzle: Fish Vector :)

DOWNLOAD FILES

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Source code hosted at gitlab.fabcloud.org