Tinkering in Tinkercad

I have been fixated with learning Tinkercad and teaching it to others since I learned about it in a Techshop class in October. I have several projects in the works that will bring Tinkercad and 3D printing to education settings. Working with the de Saisset Museum at Santa Clara University, I have been mapping out a public art workshop series and art installation for January 2014. The project is calls a Serving of Shapes/ an Exploration in 3D Printing. This 3D printing workshop invites the public to reflect on Silicon Valley's agricultural past and technology infused present. We have also applied for an Applied Materials Excellence in the Arts Grant to take the workshop on the road to the Dr. Roberto Cruz Library in East San Jose for a teen workshop and to the Mayfair Community Center for a teen workshop. I am creating a library of objects. Here is a link to the wasp/bee design below on Thingiverse: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:201105

Bee and cherries printed from a library of 3D objects I am designing for the workshops. The project will also result in a picnic tablecloth that integrates the public's designs and design process.

Working with a teacher at a local Cupertino elementary school,  I am guiding a 4th grade class in exploring Tinkercad as they create chess pieces that reflect upon their literature reading. They are creating chess pieces that are literary characters and they are explaining how their chosen character is suited to the roll of the chess piece they selected. We are printing the chess pieces on the used Afinia 3D printer I purchase off of Craigslist a month ago.

4th grader designing a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory chess piece.

Stanley character from the book Holes as a King chess piece. Created by a 4th grader at Stevens Creek Elementary in Cupertino, CA.

Side view of Stanly chess piece.

Percy Jackson chess piece (King chess piece) by 4th grader at Stevens Creek Elementary in Cupertino.

I will be posting the lesson plan for this project soon, but here is a link to the worksheet the students used.

I just discovered Makerbot's lesson plans: http://curriculum.makerbot.com/2011/lessonsPlan1.html and look forward to delving into these for curriculum!

Exploring the blended use of 3D rendering applications

I have begun to experiment with the free downloadable application Sculptris. Using this application in conjunction with Tinkercad is a great way to incorporate more organically shaped forms into one's designs. Sculptris does not export to the required .stl files for 3D printing, but if you import the Sculptris .obj file into Blender, you can export it to a .stl file. Then in Tinkercad you can import that converted .stl file into your workspace.

Below is an image of a wasp I design by creating the head and body in Sculptris. I wanted to explore creating a netsuke-like object. The wings, legs and honeycomb were created in Tinkercad. The "c" symbol on the back of the wasp and the patterns on the wings were created in Illustrator and saved as .svg files which I imported into Tinkercad.

You can see the form in Thingiverse:
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:165645
or in Tinkercad: https://tinkercad.com/things/5ewqJ0I4k2h

 

Above: envisioning a sugar egg. Just an exploration in Tinkercad. I would love to learn how import  a .dwg file into a 3D rendering program where it can be curved and extruded from another surface.

Exploring 3D Printing and Design

There is so much going on in the world of 3D printing and it is exciting to be dipping one's toe into it. For a several years now I have been teaching basic SketchUp to middle school students and a few 4th grade classes (via the Seeking Shelter Design Challenge) . This year I will be exploring Tinkercad with students. Below is the first design that I have created in Tinkercad and uploaded to Thingaverse. This coming summer I hope to have a 3D printer to use with middle school students in the Alum Rock Art & Design Thinking Camp.

Recently I learned of a company called Sugar Lab and it amazingly prints .stl files as sugar art creations. I hope to be exploring their services in a future project! Below is a design test I created of an abstracted cherry blossom flower that could be 3D printed in sugar.

 Shapeways Creator has interesting tools and options for 3D printing (to their services). I wish it enabled export of .stl files. Maybe it does and I just have not found the function yet. Here is a design I created with Sugar Lab in mind for output.

Finally, Sculptris is a great tool for organic 3D designing. I am just beginning to explore it. Below is a wasp I am making in Sculptris. It looks like I will need to download Blender to convert the object files of Sculptris to stl files. I would like to create components in Sculptris and import them as stl files into Tinkercad to complete the forms.  The very bottom image is a Sculptris design created by my nine year old when I walked away from my computer for five minutes!