Bowen Sze - IDES1262

[bowen5311498]

IDES1262  WEEK 10 - Completing the loop.

Over the past ten weeks, I have learnt a variety of skills that assist in communicating a design idea.

In the first few weeks, we practiced using pen and paper to draw basic shapes and objects to a high degree of accuracy. During this time frame, I also learnt about the usefulness of partial auxiliary views and how to draw in perspective. However, the perspective drawing task in week 4 was definitely one of the hardest tasks in this course. Whilst the other tasks so far simply just took a bit more time to do because of the sheer amount of measurements required, I genuinely struggled quite a bit to grasp the method of drawing in perspective. Though in the end, I managed to pull through after a few attempts and video tutorials.

Starting from week 6, we transitioned into the digital workspace. We learnt how to create digital renders of our design ideas and began trying out 3D modelling software such as 3DS MAX. Learning how to work digitally enabled me to create higher fidelity models and therefore improved my design communication skills. Whilst I am still not very familiar with 3DS MAX, I am able to acknowledge its ability in efficiently refining scanned models as well as creating organic shapes. It was quite unfortunate that I wasn't able to experience the scanning and 3D printing process being an online student, but it is definitely something that I am looking forward to in the future. Being a Mac user, it was quite frustrating to use 3DS MAX via MyAccess; it was fairly laggy and the response times were delayed. However, one cannot deny the usefulness of tools like 3DS MAX. As an alternative to 3DS MAX, I plan to try out Blender as it is available on Mac.

Overall, this course taught me a lot of essential skills regarding design communication. To be honest, I probably forgot some of the skills that I've learnt throughout the 10 weeks. However, because of my Tumblr blog posts, I will be able to quickly relearn a lot of the things that I may have forgotten. It was also super helpful that other classmates' blogs were available for me to see; I was able to learn from my peers as well. I enjoyed learning a myriad skills from IDES1262 and can't wait to learn more!

[bowen5311498]

IDES1262 WEEK 9 - Preparing a 3D scan for printing.

This week, we continued using 3DS Max to modify and refine a 3D scanned model to get it ready for 3D printing.

First, I did an X form reset to correct the bounding box for easier modifications later on:

Then, I performed an FFD transform to make minor changes to the form of the model. I pushed both sides closer to the centre to make a slight concave shape:

This was quite an efficient way to make slight changes to a 3D model; I can definitely see myself using it again in the future. Afterwards, I saw a dent at the bottom of the model, so I wanted to fix it:

To fix this dent, I first tried to use the edit polygon feature and moved some of the vector points upwards:

However, I thought that this method wasn't great for fixing the dent; it was not very accurate. Thus, I tried another method. Namely, the relax brush tool:

As seen above, the relax brush tool was way more effective and efficient compared to the previous method. It was intuitive and satisfying to use. I wanted my bottle to be symmetrical. Thus, after fixing the dent, I used the symmetry tool:

I performed a symmetry modification along the X-axis so that the left and the right sides of the bottle are symmetrical.

I am satisfied with the shape and it is now ready to be 3D printed! Overall, this week's tutorial was helpful and I am now more knowledgeable regarding how to make final touches to refine 3D models. There are a variety of tools in 3DS MAX that I have yet to explore, but I think that I should definitely try them out.

[bowen5311498]

IDES1262 WEEK 8 - 3DS MAX

This week, we learnt about 3DS Max to create 3D models.

As for my first impressions, creating basic 3D shapes such as spheres, cubes, e.t.c., is very easy with 3DS Max. Though, I feel like I am more used to looking at one single window rather than 4 at a time. The UI of 3DS Max is not something I am very familiar with, and is definitely kind of different to 3D modelling software that I've worked with (Fusion360 & SolidWorks). But this makes sense since its functionality is quite different to that of F360 and SW.

I was playing around with different transforms, such as twisting, squeezing and stretching the sphere that we made earlier. This is where I started to really see the difference between SolidWorks and 3DS Max. 3DS Max is good for making organic shapes easily.

I was playing around with the polygon tools and came across the NURMS feature that sort of smooths out the shape. I tried to make a weird-looking bench, but it ended up looking a bit too weird. In the hover pop-up panel of the NURMS tool, it shows a newsboy hat that initially seemed geometric and then became very organic and natural shaped thanks to the NURMS feature. Thanks to this, I then understood the potential of this feature.

I was trying to make a chair and wanted to see what would happen if I used NURMS on it. It turned out to look like some cursed banana glove chair thing. I wanted it to be one smooth arc across, but I believe that this abomination may be due to the tessellation that I did. I was trying to figure out how to combine the 4 subdivided faces into 1, or to remove the subdivision. However, I still don't know how to do it; advise is highly appreciated! Overall, I feel like 3DS Max, just like with SolidWorks, is something that can be grasped simply by using more. Thus, I should use this software more frequently.

[bowen5311498]

IDES1262 - WEEK7 - Foam Model

This week we learnt to make foam models with the help of cardboard templates.

At first I wasn’t really too sure how to use the templates; I was tinkering around. But after a while, I got the gist of it.

Because my shape was quite organic, I had to do quite a lot of sanding. The result wasn’t great; perhaps I could have used a template for sanding as well.

Overall, whilst I didn’t do a very good job with the model-making, I believe this method was quite helpful; the results would have been far-worse if I had not used this method. For improvement next time, I believe I should use templates to guide my sanding process.

[bowen5311498]

IDES1262 - WEEK 6 - DIGITAL RENDERING

For week 6, we learnt more about digital rendering. Digital rendering is a process that helps convey a design idea clearly.

Following my first attempt at digital rendering from the previous task, I made sure to keep in mind how I should improve my drawings. For this drawing, other than the usual multiply layer (to add dark shades) and lighten layer (to add light shades), I used a glow dodge layer on the golden part for a glow effect. This made it slightly more realistic.

This drawing sort of reminds me of medicine pill containers.

For this drawing, I used a watercolour brush to add some background colour to emphasise the bottle. However, the shading of this bottle needs to be improved; I believe there should be more bright shades towards the right as the current symmetrical shading makes the bottle look a bit too round. Overall, I think I did alright; I saw an improvement compared to the last task. Doing things digitally is definitely faster and more forgiving.

[bowen5311498]

IDES1262 WEEK 5 STUDIO TUTORIAL - SKETCHING

This week we practiced developing drawings and learnt how to digitally render them.

I drew 12 designs that fit the size requirements. Then, I experimented with different shading techniques such as cross-hatching with pencil and then with markers. The 3rd picture on the bottom row was done with 2 different marker colours and it looked really off. The designs adjacent to it were done with only 1 marker; the gradient here was achieved by brushing over repeatedly and adding “layers” for darker shades. I feel like I prefer using pencil cross-hatching because it is more forgiving.

Here, I chose 3 of my initial designs to develop further. I applied pencil shading to the first 2 designs and marker for the 3rd one. After all, I still prefer pencil shading for its forgiveness and flexibility

Finally, I feel like digital rendering is much more efficient because of the advanced tools that softwares have. For example, a multiply layer is good for adding darker shades, a lighten layer is good for adding lighter shades, and a colour dodge layer is good for adding glow effects. Doing things digitally is the most forgiving as I can undo mistakes! Whilst my digital rendering does not look great (it reminds me of a mayonnaise bottle), I think these are a few ways to improve it further: - use a lighter and thinner brush pen for the outlines to make it look less cartoon-ish. - add more shades (both light and dark) to increase the realism. - consider further detailing with a pen brush.

[bowen5311498]

IDES1262 WEEK 4 - PERSPECTIVE DRAWING

For the first task, it was a bit confusing at first because there were no set rules about where to position the different view lines such as the HL and GL. However, after trying it a couple of times, it became easier to estimate where to put those lines.

Task 2 was one of the most challenging tasks so far. I drew a lot of lines initially because I wasn’t exactly sure what lines I needed to draw. However, after completing one extension block, it became a bit clearer how to do the others. Perhaps it would have been better if I used lighter line weights or different colours for the construction lines. Apparently some of the vertical lines should not be an absolute 90 degrees and should intersect at some point. However, I wasn’t really sure of how to do this part properly.

Task 3 was alright for the most part; I became familiar with the process of drawing a cube in perspective view. It was initially a bit confusing how to draw the circle properly due to the seemingly irregular and elliptical shape.

[bowen5311498]

IDES1262 - WEEK 3 - TAPERED BOX

This week, we learnt about auxiliary views and had to draw the front, top, sectional and partial auxiliary views of a tapered box. This task was quite satisfying. However, the shape had many subtle details and I had to double-check quite often.

I think that my engineering drawing abilities have slightly improved since the last task; my construction lines are less dark and I could tell them apart from the actual drawing. This is because I used a pencil for the construction lines and pen for the actual tapered box drawing.

However, I think that for improvement, I should more carefully plan the layout of my page, as the partial auxiliary view drawing appears too close to the front view drawing. Overall, this was a fun and satisfying task, and whilst I was able to see some improvements compared to last week, there are still some things I can do better, namely the layout of the page.

[bowen5311498]

IDES1262 O-Week post

Hi guys, my name is Bowen and I’m an industrial design student. I am a foodie and I sometimes take my jokes too far… but I’m working on it :)

[bowen5311498]

IDES1262 - WEEK 2 task: orthogonal projection and AS1100 standards

The item I chose was the MacBook adapter. First, I made a box that fit over the adapter.

Here, I drew a rough sketch of the adapter and added some measurements. It was quite messy and I found out that I drew the Top View too closely to the Front View. This made the LS View also very close to the Front View. Overall it looks too crowded.

This is the final drawing that I made of the adapter. I made sure to space out the drawings a bit more. Whilst it was quite a satisfying task, it was time-consuming. I think that my measurement lines were not drawn well. They are too close to the item and look like an extension of it. It was hard to tell apart the measurement lines and the adapter itself.

[bowen5311498]

IDES1262 - Week 1

REFLECTION: The first drawing that required the construction of 2 equilateral triangles was quite fun and satisfying to do. It was not very troublesome due to the sharp and straight aspects of the shape. However, the second drawing was a bit more troublesome because of the amount of curves.

For improvement, whilst it is good to include construction lines, I should reduce its opacity as it makes the final result seem distracting. Furthermore, I should have been more patient with the second drawing (the circular one) and used a compass to draw out each and every curve rather than trying to trace it freehand. Perhaps a French curve would have been useful.

For the final task, the shapes did not fit together very accurately. This was mainly due to my cutting skills not refined enough. However, I could largely increase the accuracy of the shapes by using a composition/template that has more contact lines and points.