Introduction and Computer Aided Design
assignment 1: plan and sketch a potential final project
assignment 2: model (raster, vector, 2D, 3D, render, animate, simulate, ...) a possible final project, and post it on your class page
Initial Planning and Sketches
Reference Images from the Internet
From “The maze puzzle box” on YouTube – for the design on the top of the box. I like it because it indicates that the box is a puzzle.
From “Vintage Japanese Puzzle Box Antique Wooden Marquetry Box Secret compartment” on Pinterest – This is the original inspiration for my idea (not this exact box but one like it that I remember from a slumber party), and so much of the “puzzle” aspect of the box is derived from this.
Moroccan Puzzle Box from Amazon
How to Make a Wooden Box on Pinterest – Good for looking at potential joints between sliding wood pieces.
From “Based on Book Box by Lucía” on Pinterest – Possible thing to have inside the box just for extra inception-level fun.
From “Secret Castle Trinket Box craft from The Princess Craft Book” on Pinterest – It’d be cool if the box had a drawbridge but it’s not currently on my design.
CAD
First step – mess around on GIMP. Not really sure what was going on there. Next step, watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO5QHmBv4BU or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYj6e-72RDs. The second one has a good quote, “80% of the work comes from 20% of the features.” I ended up not watching the first one at all.
I think a deep dive into one software will better translate to general success. The tutorial is quite long but very engaging. I’m not at the point where I can adequately design the box in blender yet though so I’ll try messing around in Inkscape.
I started with Inkscape to get a feel for the interface. I tried not looking up tutorials first and got this:
Not my best work but I feel the design will take shape as I find a modelling technique to commit more time to (probably Blender). GIMP is hard to use without a tutorial – I will commit to get through one later, but it’s quite late at night now.
I did not give myself enough time to really dive into the tutorials and I regret that. The first week of school has been quite hectic. I will be going through the tutorials though as I work to create better CAD drawings.
Inkscape is good because it’s intuitive. It’s also a vector based drawing suite, so it’s scalable. Ever since I learned about vector images in middle school I have liked the idea of them better than raster.
GIMP is very confusing to me and I will definitely need to look into more tutorials before I can really give it any judgement.
Blender looks like it will be great but the tutorials are long and it has a steep learning curve so I haven’t done much except mess around with boxes and do some of the tutorial exercises.
Box Example:
This flaming Suzanne was part of the tutorial. It also had us make a moving torus as a fun exercise after some procedural “how to move, rotate, etc” instruction.
Simulation example:
Lessons learned: It is important to know the power of your tools and take the time to learn them. I also need more detailed sketches to help set me up for more detailed CAD modeling. I think I will try Fusion 360 next because it’s made by the same people who did AutoCAD, which I have some familiarity with already.
Fusion says my graphics card isn’t the best but it did give a nice little intro tutorial to get me started. This is a series of videos to watch to get started: http://help.autodesk.com/view/fusion360/ENU/?utm_medium=product&utm_source=fusion360&utm_campaign=help-and-training&utm_id=662996&mktvar002=662996&fgvid=79f663bd-a3d3-4b8f-9fd6-7692d92847f0#sketch.
I also really like that Fusion has built in version control. You save and comment on your saves. Glorious. Here’s an initial concept for the box body with front panels:
