2. Computer-aided Design¶

This week, I learnt 2D and 3D design tools this week’s lecture. I tried using some of the tools to decide what I want to use in the future. Finally, I designed some parts for my final project using one of those softwares.

I tried using Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro because I already have Adobe Creative Cloud which is a collection of Adobe Apps on subscription including Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, and so on. According to my AboutMe page, I just study Art and I’ve used these app much frequently. So I’m going to learn how to use them at this time.

From this week, I tried using the video to explain how to use the feature of each software or apps because I realized that it is more helpful and easy to learn them by using video rather than showing by tons of words or sentences.

Assignments ¶

Model (raster, vector, 2D, 3D, render, animate, simulate, …) a possible final project, compress your images and videos, and post it on your class page.

Goals¶

To compare 2D design tools.
To compare 3D design tools.
To try using other tools. (I’d like to try to use Premiere Pro)
To model components for my Final Project.
To model modules or products for my Final Project.

1. 2D design tools¶

I picked up Photoshop (Raster), and Illustrator (Vector) for 2D design tools.
I’ll use Photoshop to edit the file size of my image in Fab Academy and Illustrator to sketch my vision or idea briefly (Actually, I sketched the overview of my final project and the sketch is attached in Conclusion Chapter of this page).

Photoshop (Raster image) ¶

I learnt Photoshop by watching Photoshop Tutorial that Photoshop has by default.

Panels
I’ll explain the panels on Photoshop UI. Main Menu, Tool Bar, Layer’s Tab are mainly used for users.

Main Menu
Main Menu is like the master tabs on top of the screen. You can do everything of photoshop’s functions from Main Menu. In tutorial, I mainly used it when adjusting the color, Hue/Saturation, Shadows of the selected area.
Tool bar
Tool bar is placed at the left side of the screen by default. In tool bar, you can brush by various color, crop the image, select only at certain space, and so on. You can see how to use each tools as you move the mouse on each icon and stay a little time.
Layer’s tab
Layer is one of the most important concept in Photoshop. By making the layer, you can edit your image layer by layer at layer panel. You can hide and show layers by clicking eye button, change the order of layers, and everything you want to do. I previewed those operations at the video in below.

How to use
The videos that I actually demonstrated the operations are linked on the blue-colored words. So you can see them anytime as you push each paragraph!

Import a file and show & hide each layer: Youtube
Adjust the atmosphere:
From adjustments command, you can edit the bright/contrast, Vibrance, Hue/Saturation, Shadow & Highlight, and so on. Very useful! Main Menu - Image -> Adjustments

Edit only the certain area you selected: Youtube
Click Quick Selection Tool. You can select / the certain area by drag the area you’d like to select. you can also remove the area you selected by dragging while pushing Option button (I use Mac).
Mask and pile up things you selected on the other layer: Youtube
You can use Mask Icon to hide everything except what you selected, and you can pile what you selected on other layer.
Crop the image and resize the file size: Youtube

My thoughts
Cool! I decided to use Photoshop to edit the file size of my images for attaching the documentations in Fab Academy. But I felt that it has too many features to use for beginners like me. I just want to arrange the size of image or add a little commend or sketch to it. But very useful for me!

Illustrator (Vector image)¶

Secondly, I used Illustrator to draw 2D sketch. Actually, I sketched the overview of my final project by Illustrator.

Create a document, make and copy, cut your sketch!
Those operation is the basic for Illustrator. I made a demo by this video Please watch!

You can also cut the part of your feature by using Scissors or Eraser tools.
Please watch the video: Youtube.

I wanted to cut the check part in below image.

You can use Scissors or Eraser tools from the left tool bar.

If you want to bring your sketch in front of or back to the other sketch?
If you wanted to move the circle to back to legs, you can select the sketch you’d like to move and right click on it. And then, move to 「Arrange」->「Bring ~」.

Right click and move to 「Arrange」->「Bring ~」:

You can bring the circle back to the legs!

If you color your sketch?
It’s better to watch my demo rather than read a tons of words. Please watch!! Youtube

Sketch of the overview of my final project
Finally, I made a sketch of my final project with Illustrator.

Here, I only showed it with .jpg. In Conclusion Chapter, I also attached the link of the images with .svg and .jpg formats.

Components:

CoreXY system
To control the position of Nozzles.
Desk
To put main dropping machine.
Pomp system
To supply the colored ink to nozzle and control its drop amounts.
Nozzle

My thoughts
It was very easy to use Illustrator. Actually, I finished drawing the above my final project’s sketch about 1-2 hours, even I rarely use Illustrator till now. And also, it takes a lot of times to master it due to a tons of features in Illustrator.

Raster and Vector images¶

I tried to compared raster and vector images by lining up them. But I’m not sure the difference between them…

In the local session, my instructor tell me that you can see the difference between vector and raster images by zooming them in.

I tried that! For a raster image, you can see the pixels formed your sketch as you zoom it in because it is saved pixel by pixel. On the other hand, for a vector image, teh pixels can’t be seen.

2. 3D design tools¶

Next, move to 3D modeling tools! I’m going to use Fusion 360 for modeling some parts of my Final Project, so I tried using the other ones this time. I selected three softwares: Free CAD, Sketchup, Antimony.

You can move to download page if you click each app’s name.

Free CAD¶

Free CAD is an open-source 3D modeling tool, which you can add various extensions and plug-in as you like. Below image is the sketch window of Free CAD and the circle and box are created. It’s a very simple design and easy to view each command, but I didn’t know what functions each command has first.

I made a circle and a box, changed their sized, and cut between them. 　

The workflow is the below;

1.Created a box and a cylinder by clicking toolbar -> Solids -> Yellow icons.

2.Changed the size of each part from the combo view.

3.Subtracted the overlapped area of models by clicking toolbar -> Boolean -> Make a cut of two shapes.

You can also make a fillet to your model like below image.

My thoughts
I felt very fast and smooth during the drawing operation, especially when I create the simple feature like circle and box. And you can easily change its size at the left view (Combo view) and implement some modification like subtracting between features, doing fillet at the edge, or something.

Sketchup (Web version)¶

Next, I tried using Sketchup web version for modeling. Sketchup is normally commercial software for several plans but you can use its web version at free.

I’m really impressed by its very fast modeling. It has very simple UI (but different from pro version) so you can easily understand the features of each icon. You can model things intuitively.

How to draw model and copy it:

The workflow is below;

1.Created a circle from the toolbar at left side.

2.Extruded the object from toolbar -> Extrude.

3.To move the object, made a group by right-clicking and selected ‘make a group’, and clicked the toolbar -> move.

4.You can copy your object by dragging the object while pushing ‘command’ button.

You can model things very fast:

as you draw the line on the surface of the object, you can select and move the separated surface.

And, you can download the reference models freely from 3D Warehouse where people in the Sketchup community uploaded their products.

My thoughts
I used the web version of Sketchup at this time. To use the reference models I downloaded the model into my PC and drag and drop it to the Sketchup workplace.

I think Sketchup is suitable to use when you’d like to draw something that you came up in my head quickly. Great and fun to model things for me!

Antimony¶

Lastly, I used Antimony. Antimony is a CAD tool from a parallel universe in which CAD software evolved from Lisp machines rather than drafting tables. For Antimony, you can draw something by inputting formula instead of drawing using mouse.

I’d like to show how to download Antimony here, because it was a little difficult for me to do that. First, Click the title “Antimony”, so GitHub page would be opened. And then click “Assets tab” and click Antimony.dmg. Finished! Congratulations!!

Tips

Opened Antimony. But nothing happens… I opened Antimony and viewed its UI. I was looking forward to seeing UI that has many button or command like the other apps, but only two black screen were shown on my PC display.

Anything wrong during its download? No. It’s a correct Antimony’s UI. Just right-click your mouse on the black screen! The selection tab would be shown. You can draw 2D and 3D model, and so on.

So, please note not to delete Antimony even if the black screen are suddenly shown.

How to create a feature and change its size:

You use nodes that can be connected to the other ones in a graph. When you open Antimony, Graph and Viewport are displayed on your PC. Graph is the place that you put nodes and give instruction to Antimony how to draw something. Viewport is the place where the models are shown as you instructed.

What happens when you connected nodes?:
Please watch the video. If you connected a value at right side of Node1(c0) to a value at left side of Node2(c1), the value of Node1 is substituted into the value of Node2.

How to translate 2D models to 3D:
You can also translate the model from 2D to 3D. Created new node: ‘2D -> 3D’ -> Extrude.

The blue cylinder is just drawn at 3D whereas the yellow one is translated from 2D purple circle to 3D.

My thoughts
Using Antimony, I felt that it is suitable to use Antimony when the whole shapes of the models and those relationship in space are completely decided. But if it’s not enough clear, you should not use it. It was a little difficult for me to model things using Antimony.

3. Other App - Premiere Pro¶

As Neil introduce many kinds of tools to design things on my PC and edit those data, I wanted to tried to use them but it has enough time to do everything. So I picked up Premiere Pro to try. Premiere Pro is one of the video editing tools developed by Adobe Systems. I just want to learn about the movie editing skill for my life log taking, and also I plan to use it to edit my video took via Fab Academy.

I really recommend that you do a In-App tutorial first because it is so easy to understand the basics of Premiere Pro and how to use it. Premiere Pro has two tutorials in about 15 minutes: Basic Edits, and Creative and Stylish Edits.

Panels
There are four basic panel in Premiere Pro’s UI. Understanding those roles first would help you learn the features of Premiere Pro.

Project Panel: Import your media (called as Clip). You can copy it by dragging and dropping to other panels.
Source Panel: Preview the clips you’ve imported before editing them.
Timeline Panel: Edit your project.
Program Panel: Preview and check your project.

Note

Clip is the media that you imported and didn’t edit.
Project is the media you’ve edited with various effects.

Import your video into the project panel
In order to import your file in this project, you need to double-click in the project panel and select your file and click open. Also you can import by opening Finder and doing drag and drop the movie file to project panel. And you can drag and drop it to the other panels anytime.

Drag and drop the clip to Source panel
As you move the clip to source panel, you can specify the reproducing time in the video as you like. And then, drag and drop it to Timeline panel.

Tips

For clips in source panel, The audio and the video data are separated, so you can move only Audio or Video in the timeline panel and edit them separately by pressing the buttons at the bottom of the video display area.

Edit project at Timeline panel
You can edit your project by playing more slowly, adding the comment or fade-out effects in your movie, connect with the other movie.

I demonstrated the above operations using Premiere Pro in video, so please check them out!
Introduction of Panels: Youtube

My thoughts
I felt it is difficult for the beginner to edit the videos by using Premiere Pro, because there are a lot of things we need to remember to edit them. One of the students in Kamakura told me the alternative apps: InShot. So I might use it instead of Premiere Pro…

4. 3D Modeling for my final project¶

For modeling some of the parts for my final project, I used Fusion 360 as a 3D modeling tool. Fusion 360 is the commercial 3D software developed by AutoDesk, Inc, and also has the free version. Firstly, I summarized what I model with Fusion 360. Here is what I’m going to model:

Desk to put the main dropping machine
Legs of a desk with unique designs
Holders for Core XY system in the main dropping machine

Desk¶

For my Final Project, I plan to make not only the ink dropping machine but also the desk which put the machine on. So I first tried modeling the whole parts of the desk based on Reference model of desk: Ref.1, Ref.2 made by Kirsten Camara, and then arrange its legs with unique design. I also plan to use it later at CCM lecture.

Make parts
I designed parts of the table first. As I thought that I’m going to make the miniature version of desk using Laser cutter, The size of each part is arranged for it. The way of sketch, extrude, cut features are shown as the demo video in the below Tip Chapter.

And then, I tried gather all the parts into a new workplace. So I made a new workplace by ” Tool bar -> Files -> New Design “, and insert each part to that workplace by right-click the parts in Data panel and click “Insert into Current Design”.

Here are the parts that I designed:

Top board:
Leg x 4:
Plates at handling side x 2:
Plates at supporting side x 2:
Poles for supporting desk x 2:
Poles for supporting paper roll x 2:
Poles at handling part x 2:

Tips

I demonstrated the basics of Fusion 360 (how to sketch, extrude, cut features) and put them as video in Tips Chapter, so please check it out if you’d like to learn the basics.

Joint and assemble parts
Next, I tried assembling the above parts and forming the desk in the workplace.

There are several ways of jointing. I used Rigid and Cylinder: Rigid is used at the position where you completely fixed and don’t make it move. Cylinder is used at the position that can be rotated.

How to use Joint command:

Work flow;

Tool: Assemble -> Joint
Select the part you’d like to connect.
Note that you have to consider the order of selecting your parts; Connect Component1 to Component2.
You can choose the joint type (Rigid, Cylinder, etc…) and alignment from the joint panel at side.

Question

I conducted cylinder joint between the poles at handling part and the holes in legs part to rotate the handle at legs. And then I made the handling parts and the legs recognize each other by using contact set. So the handling parts don’t be removed from the legs. But as I dragged and dropped the handling part quickly, it was removed… So why does it removed?
Handle was removed: Youtube

Note

Body is a single container for a contiguous 3D shape in your design. By default, when you create your first 3D shape it will become a single body in a component that represents one part.
Component is a container for bodies, sketches, construction objects, etc. that defines a single part. By default the Fusion 360 browser represents a single component, or part.
Reference: Autodesk Knowledgenetwork

Rendering
Finally, you can arrange the appearance of your models by Texture and render it.

How to use Texture and render your models:

Work flow;

Change the workspace to RENDER from the toolbar.

Click APPEARANCE in toolbar -> SETUP.

You can attach so many type of textures onto your design by drag and drop the texture onto your design.
Render your design by clicking In-canvas Render in toolbar.
You can arrange the rendering time at the right-bottom bar.

Finished! Cool!!

Conclusions¶

2D and 3D data modeling for my final project¶

2D Data - Final Project_Table Ass’y: ai
2D Data - Final Project_Table Ass’y: svg
2D Data - Final Project_Table Ass’y: jpg
3D Data - Final Project_Table Ass’y: f3z
3D Data - Final Project_Table Ass’y: STEP

Self-review of This Week’s Goals¶

To compare 2D & 3D design tools: 90%
I had many kinds of experience to use 2D and 3D design tools. Most of them were the first time to use for me. But that was very exciting and really helpful for me! So I wanted to use Illustrator (2D - Vector) but I had no time to do that… so 90% !
To try using other tools: 90%
I wanted to use Unity and UnrealEngine because I’m just interested in AR and VR. I had no time to do that. But its priority is so low.
To model components for my Final Project: 70%
I wanted to model some components which is 3D printed for CoreXY system this week. but I’m in the middle of that work. I can model some of all the parts briefly.
To model modules or products for my Final Project: 30%
I planed to put the main machine to the desk. So I wanted to model the overview of those sets with 3D. I can model the desk but can’t model the main machine so much. The desk’s shape is still completely copied from Reference model of desk. That’s boring me, so I planed to arrange the design of its legs parts, but I had no time to design them…(Needed to manage the time)

Things I realized this week¶

Importance of Knowledge Sharing
At Fablab Kamakura, there are 6 students for taking Fab Academy, and we use Slack to share the information through the lecture and post and solve the issues the students have. That’s a great system because the learning that is given to solve the someone’s issue can be shared at the member in those community. Learning speed is so fast. More efficiently than learning by myself.
Supportive team
This week, I had a tons of questions and things that I don’t understand. But I can solve those problem because the members in Fablab Kamakura teach me how to solve them, even the students taking this lecture. I’m very glad to join as a part of this supportive community. Thanks a lot! I want to become to help people in trouble from my knowledge and experience.

MEMO¶

What I wanted to learn more¶

Antimony, Photoshop, Illustrator, Unreal Engine, Unity, Blender Physics, Premiere.
Fusion360 Generative Design

Free CAD¶

When you opened FreeCAD, you can’t show any tools on toolbar. You can show the toolbar from view -> toolbars.

X. tips¶

Fusion 360¶

Sketch, Extrude and Cut
Very simple demonstration Youtube

Data format
There are many formats with 3D data.
Reference: Understanding the Different Types of 3D Files

Photoshop¶

Data format
In the tutorial, I dealt with three files with different formats: PSD, JPEG, and PNG.

PSD (Photoshop Data)
PSD is the standard format for Photoshop that retains all the layers you can edited. And PSD has the feature that it lighten the file size of PSD because PSD file is compressed when saving it, and it’s decompressed when opening it. But note that you can open PSD files only on Adobe Apps.
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
JPEG is mainly used at homepage or webpage because it can be compressed and resized to smaller file size. Notes that JPEG file is compressed irreversibly, so you can’t resize to larger file size once compressing it.
PNG (Portable Network Graphics)
PNG is also one of the famous formats. PNG file can be compressed reversibly, but its file size is relatively larger than JPEG.

Reference: The differences between PSD, TIFF, GIF, PNG and JPEG

2. Computer-aided Design¶

Assignments¶

Goals¶

1. 2D design tools¶

Photoshop (Raster image) ¶

Illustrator (Vector image)¶

Raster and Vector images¶

2. 3D design tools¶

Free CAD¶

Sketchup (Web version)¶

Antimony¶

3. Other App - Premiere Pro¶

4. 3D Modeling for my final project¶

Desk¶

Conclusions¶

2D and 3D data modeling for my final project¶

Self-review of This Week’s Goals¶

Things I realized this week¶

MEMO¶

What I wanted to learn more¶

Free CAD¶

X. tips¶

Fusion 360¶

Photoshop¶

Assignments ¶