Xanthe Mitchell @xanthe5242524 - Tumblr Blog

My Final Posting

Today I mark the end of the blogging and conclude and evaluate trimesters 1 IDES 1261 Communication form and scale.

Time has defiantly flown by

The completion of the communication course was a challenging, but a good challenging none the less.

Each week we were learning a new and different aspects of Communication, in which we were learning how to communicate and present our ideas and work in the design feild on a technical level.

Each week we were assigned mini tasks to build our skills and learn the basic fundamentals of perspective drawings , technical drawings, CAD Rhino, sketching, rendering on Photoshop and editing on camera raw. Each part just as important as each other.

Although being completely new just foreign, to all programs. I found that I was able to get the hang of it step by step, week by week. Slow and steady. I partly enjoyed most tasks each week and I found that each task aided us to build the skills required to complete each of the projects given throughout the term.

Overall I feel like I have become competent in technical drawing and using its vast array of equipment , using computer software CAD Rhino, using Photoshop to edit pictures and to render drawings . Each task had there moments, both up and down, infuriating meltdowns, computer failures, stages or complete despair and then feeling of happiness that it was all over. But in saying that I like the challenge and I hope that later on down the track I can continue to develop my skills and progress to become better than competent.

Something I personally would like to work on …

I would love to work on my sketching and drawing abilities

I would like to grow my skills in Photoshop

Learn more in depth about what can been done on Rhino – maybe the 3D aspect of it

What I would do differently if I had the time again…

I would be organised and more efficient with my time – cant do it last minute projects

I would Jot down notes for me to refer to later and reference in the future

Ask more questions to clear grey areas up ( sooner rather than later)

Refer to and go back and look at past tutorial work shops in aiding my projects

A quick note - I would like to commend the use Tumblr, to blog and evaluate about my work, and as a tool to refer and reference back to in the future. The group page was not only helpful in clearing up queries but worked as a platform to ask questions and learn about other designers in the field, which was eye opening and indeed interesting.

I believe in the end I have achieved and accomplished a good understanding of the aspects of communications.

Trimester 2, lets see what you have to offer

Focusing on the finish line

Week 11 – brought me joy. It was a perfect class to end the first trimester.

The aim this week was to experiment on photography setup, creating depth, sophistication and flare. But this lesson was also a great way to give some foresight and ideas for photographing our own work and creating a student portfolio.

For this lesson we got into our studio A groups to complete the task at hand.

We decided as a group to pick one object out of our group as well as our geometric shape and complete this task together. This included the editing, (mostly ben) photo taking, the lighting and the setup. This created a effortless and efficient way to complete the task.

Photo setups…

· Setup 1: interior studio setup - 1 light

· Setup 2: interior studio setup - 2 lights

· Setup 3: exterior - open shade

· Setup 4: exterior direct light with diffusion

SHADE

INTERIOR SETUP

OUTSIDE SET UP

OUTSIDE SETUP

OUTSIDE

INTERIOR SETUP

Pictures :

We found with the geometric shape was best photographed outside, with the source if natural lighting, enhancing the reflective sheets inside. Plus, may I add the contrast between the shape and the natural elements/ industrial twist enhanced the shape itself.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the process of setting up the picture, the lighting and various different components that is used to achieve a great photo.

I believe after these two weeks of photography I have developed and furthered my skills and knowledge in setting up a picture and editing it. I feel like I improved my skills in capturing the essence of an object using light and tools to enhance the quality of the product, but something I can get better at overall.

A Spectacle

SAVAGE

Week 10 Studio Tutorial – Photographic Essay

This weeks tutorial was based on the subject of Photography.

We learnt about how the skill of photography can play an integral roll in the design field. How you showcase you idea, emote a feeling, capture the essence of your work to others. “the art of presenting your work”

Within the tutorial lecture I think it is important to note that photography is an effective tool of communication, a form of expression and education.

The AIM -

The aim of todays class is Creating photographic essay that captures the essence of life on the UNSW campus in the autumn of 2019.

With much gusto, I leapt out of my seat and started the assignment in ‘capturing that essence’

After the running about and walking up 1000 stairs later, it was time to edit the photos.

The the editing process was done using adobe bridge.

In my experience.....

Let me start again.

I have not had any experience in editing photos or using adobe bridge. But in saying that I found it enjoyable in creating and editing photos. It was quite a relaxing process. I

The photo series is called Savage as life at UNSW can be savage. The perspective has a theme - I call it up your nose.

Photo 1: SAVAGE BEN

I used a Monochromic styled edit with the edits of increase shadow, clarity and decrease temperature. Having a chilling yet bold effect.

PHOTO 2: SAVAGE BIN CHICKEN

Within the heart of UNSW I found a print of a bin chicken against a wall.

Effects Used :

temperatures, shadows and contrast tools to edit

What did I want to emote:

Sad savageness - the lack of wildlife on campus is none existent

PHOTO 3 & 4 : SAVAGE BUILDING

Effects Used :

temperatures, shadows Exposure, whites and contrast tools to edit

What did I want to emote:

Bright bold and stark building - hostile bare, but glowing

PHOTO 5: SAVAGE BRICKS

Effects Used :

Black and White, contrast whites and highlights

PHOTO 6: SAVAGE REFLECTION

Effects Used :

Increase whites, exposure and decrease saturation and temperature

PHOTO 7: SAVAGE LIFE

Effects Used :

Black and white, increase black shadows and increase white

PHOTO 7: SAVAGE PIPES

Effects Used :

Increase temperature, decrease of saturation and exposure and a tint of green

Overall this was an enjoyable stress free tutorial learning about the basic fundamentals of photography. And may I add how interesting it was to transform a photo and create a different photo entirely.

For next time I will focus more on getting better perspectives, angles and the elements within each photo. I will also look into looking at lighting and shadows. something to explore further in the coming weeks. Something I will look into in depth for next weeks class !

#SAVAGENESS

Shades ‘n’ freude

Project 2 :Oakley Windbreaker Glasses

Render Bender

Week 8

PHOTOSHOP RENDERING Exercise

This weeks lesson was more complex than I would have ever anticipated . Challenging and confusing would be my choice of words to summarise this lesson. However in saying that , I enjoyed the feeling of finishing the exercise. Before beginning this exercise - I was not sure what to expect or in fact how to use photoshop.

This was either going to be a success or a failure.

This lesson was divided into four sections

The Line work

Colour and tone reflection

Detailing

Finishing touches and final product layout

Part 1 consisted in us learning how to layout cut and remove unwanted colours.

We had to desaturate the image ( removing colour and unwanted tones ) highlighting grey and black tones and using the lasso tool to cut the image out.

This was part was simple and straight forward.

It was up until part 2 where things became a little more confusing and complex.

Part 2 consisted in organising layers within our image and creating constructing elements (masks) and using the pen tool to create elements of the hairdryer. Furthermore, refining our colour scheme, highlighting and reflection of the hairdryer

Part 2 showed me how to :

1. Create separate paths for each part, and an extra path for the overall hairdryer outline.

2. Use these paths to create selection masks.

3. Apply those selection masks to layer groups constructed for each part...

4. into which you will add seperate layers of colour, tone and reflection.

I decided against the orange and grey scheme - seemed quite banal and lifeless. So I thought a pink and green scheme was more suitable and fun.

Part 2 was very time consuming and fiddly and needed your full attention detail. Referring to the highlighted image on the exercise sheet was helpful in creating highlights and tones. It was after creating the colour, tone and reflection of the hairdryer that I had released I had forgotten the hole ….

At this point I decided to note this mistake and own it.

NOTE TO SELF: I couldn’t express more the need to name and organise your work.

I learnt this the hard way - my lack of organisation was a problem that I faced - which added confusion and missing elements of my work.

Part 3

Part three was a little more straight forward than 2 - And used my trusty search engine called google to help me out.

Part 3 was focusing on and learning how to :

Adding in an Outline

Adding in edge/ part line details

Creating a LCD Display

Adding in textures- NOISE feature - Something I would like to explore in depth and what other features do

Creating the LCD display was insightful and interesting

Using the the bevel and emboss feature

Creating a glow using a Gaussian blur filter

Something I can improve on ..

Part 4 - The home stretch

Part 4

Adding Graphics

Adding a Background.

In finalising the layout of my product I wanted to use the previous outlines and raw sketches of the design which added depth, sophistication and enhanced the graphics of the product.

The use of a dark bold colours against a light pink and green colour scheme added the element of pop without distracting from the main product.

This part of the rendering process was quite fun.

Notes for attempting rendering for next time :

Organise my work - name and create folders correctly

Save my work in incremental stages throughout

Look at other products for ideas of shading

When attempting the creating the elements using the pen tool focus on the interiors not the whole thing

Make sure you have completed every detail before moving on in the process

Finished Render

There are a few grey areas that I am unsure of which makes me a little anxious to attempt my rendering for project 2. However in saying that- the exercise sheet is a great reference to refer back to if I get lost or confused. This exercise required a lot time - something to put in consideration when beginning Project 2.

Overall I am content with the final outcome . Although this render it is not perfect, I feel this was a good first attempt.

Don’t panic, its only a drill

Sketching Drills Week 7

Week 8, was definitely a departure from what we would normally do. Setting aside electronics and software and to adopt a pencil in our hands, with no rulers, magic tape and T-squares, it was defiantly novel concept.

The class was separated in two, attempting the class exercises with a little variation between the tutors.

At the beginning of our lesson the exercises were quite straight forward.

- 1. Creating horizontal, vertical lines and then creating grids. Then in turn attempting this using different directions to draw those lines to what you would normally feel right.

- 2. Drawing circles in 2D and then adding elements to create spheres. This was done by drawing in ellipsis and curved lines within the circles.

- 3. Drawing a coin in different perspectives. From flat to facing you.

- 4. Drawing a free hand perspective drawing of a cube - using the same ideas as last week

Moving on to uncharted territories, exercise 5 became a little more challenging. We incorporated the same notion of perspective drawings but placing them on a different lines, using different shapes like circles, rectangles, and cubes and shading them in adding that 3D element.

In our last exercise , we were told to draw water bottle within a 5 minute time constraint. Under the pressure we had to incorporate elements of contouring and shading in our bottle design.

I found that under the time constraint, although stressful allowed me to create something quite interesting naming it ‘curation’.

Finalising this exercise we had to make the design pop, using a rectangular element in the background. Adding the name of the design and signing it. All in all, I was quite content with the finished design.

Throughout the lesson we were told to focus on:

- Keeping body relaxed

- Drawing from the shoulder

- Keeping spacing even

- Starting and stopping the same distance from the edge of the page

- Keeping the lines perpendicular to the edge of the page

Concluding Fridays lesson, I found a new appreciation to for those who can draw straight lines, circles and 2D and 3D objects and the incredible eye for detail, shading and lighting.

The overall aim of this lesson was to improve and enhance our free hand sketching. With the drills we learnt skills. Creating 2D 3D shapes, contouring and highlighting features of those shapes. Learning how imperative it is to communicate ideas and designs clearly, precisely to others. There is definitely an art to free hand sketching and something I would like to get good at.

I throughly enjoyed this lesson and the departure of electronics.

Lets put things in Perspective

This exercise is still on the basis as learning by doing, something I am finding very helpful and a great way to clear up grey areas and gaps in my knowledge. In this case, after the Fridays lecture I found it hard to grasp on some of the ideas and information provided. Doing the exercise and implementing It into my work helped cleared up my confusion.

The learning objectives this week was learning the different types of perspective projections, understand when and how to use them and developing methods to construct my own accurate perspective drawings.

In the pre class activities I found this information very helpful to look back at and refer to during the lesson to help get my head around this new topic.

Perspective drawing attempts to produce an impression that closely matches what the eye or a camera would see in real life. There are three types: 1 point, 2 point and 3 point. Each has its advantages and these will become clear as we explore them.

Using the step by step guidelines in creating perspective views on Moodle was a resourceful document to follow and guide my work.

Before attempting the perspective drawings we were told to attempt this exercise on CAD Rhino.

Now with a some clarification all we had to do was mirror this process, layout and translate it on a piece of paper using the dimensions of the wissly chair.

In my opinion the chair looks very uncomfortable.

Getting Started on this exercise was no breeze, working out the scale was a hard. It was either too big or too small. Plus, adding to my problems the layout of my work had some minor hiccups. I had to change the centre line, so the lines could match up and fit on the page. However after working all that out and creating the top view I was set to go.

( something I will have to work on)

Notes

- The layout moving the centre line towards the right hand side

- Drawing the seat, somehow was infuriating and flummoxed me

- Use a grid method to aid free hand sketch

Something to work on for next time is translating image on paper.

Successes

- Creating the lines and constructing the layout

- Dimensions

Overall I found this task both very challenging and enjoyable, but there is still room for improvement.

Presenting Project 1

#wireyousoannoying

ABOUT TO AUTO SNAP

In my blog this week I would like to take this opportunity to comment on the comedy that CAD brings to our class. RAGE, ANGER, EXPLETIVES all quite entertaining.

Week 5 had us constructing all three perspectives of a pivot bearing from an isometric view.

In creating the pivot bearing this week I was consolidating and solidifying skills and key information learnt from last weeks and this weeks classes. The basic Fundamentals.

New Info

- Hatching

- Dimensioning

- Text

This weeks class I defiantly I felt more confident and eager to attempt this project.

A reminder not to forget to use :

exact coordinate and angle entry

drawing aids such as ortho lock, the various object snaps and smart track

layers to help you organise your work and to assign correct line-weights and line-types

projecting lines to help you transfer information between views

your textbook to ensure AS1100 standards, including for dimension

From last weeks class I knew I had to plan and organise my work, such Creating layers , Naming them and colouring them before beginning the exercise. This will not only help me keep my work organised but it will make it much easier to read and understand. Additionally, reading the dimensions and understanding the task at hand was made easier through drawing rough sketches of views. Not only will this help but save time and help with constructing the pivot bearing on the computer.

A quarter of the way through constructing my pivot object, I found out that I was in the wrong view port. (Minor hiccup) Not knowing how to change or flip the image I had to re-start. A time costly mistake. I have to remember to start in the right view port, Or find a command that can help aid this mistake.

During the task I found it hard to understand how use the

⁃ Mirror command

- Joining

- Pdf formatting and creating

I will need to take some time and research these commands and formats in order to complete my project tool this week coming.

Helpful tips and tools to use I found along the way :

⁃ Create a template for A1 A2 A3 A4 title blocks - this will help save time in the future and help set out your work

This will allow me to visualise how to space out my work and determine what template will be more appropriate to use for a tool or instrument.

⁃ To rotate the perspective view I had to use the Rotate 3d command to rotate my drawing about the x axis.

- In relation to my PDF formatting and printing layout – I must make sure that the axis starts at 0,0 or else the image wont appear in the preview print.

- Using Projection lines

- Always refer to the book for AS1100 standards

ISSUE OF NOT STARTING FROM 0,0 Axis ( focusing on another area of the gird)

IMAGE OF PROJECTION LINES

Note to self always keep work on the axis -centres my work

The end product includes dimensioning , hatching, full sectional views and a title block.

Overall this lesson helped me build on the basic skills and foundations of rhino cad and hopefully has provided me with everything I need to know in able to attempt and complete my hand tool depiction on rhino.

Altogether the success outweighed the errors I made today. I feel like I am slowly making progress and understanding how to use rhino.

The wire cutters stand trial

The submission of our mechanical drawings of our tools were assessed on Fridays lesson. The feedback given was both critical and constructive.

Feedback

- Instead of enlarged detail views, a cross sections view maybe have been more appropriate for my tool. ( showing hidden elements)

- Read about detail views

- Need to pay more attention to detail – connect all lines and dimensions together

- Linear Dimensions pick one, unidirectional or aligned not both – and it must be inside the line not outside.

- Adding in more information that might be necessary to create the tool ( angles/ depth)

- A3 May have been more appropriate ( too much space)

These changes will be accounted for, changed and updated on my project in Rhino.

In the feedback I was told to create a cross sectional view as it will provide the reader with more information. Therefore, new measurements will be needed to determine cross section.

Notes to self

- I need to prof read my work before submitting

- Make a few drafts before final hand in – allow more time

- Make sure I am using the best views to showcase the tool or instrument details

- Remember to take breaks and not rush the work as silly mistakes and unwanted lines will come about

- If there are any queries, ask the my peers or teachers sooner rather than later

If i had the time again I would make sure to create an action plan and draft my work. This may be time costly but it will create a better outcome.

This checkpoint in Project 1 was curtail for the final submission of my work.

I understand there is still room for improvement, but I am still happy with the end result.

Sorry, Cutting in ...

#atoolfromtheworkshop

CADastrophic - Week 4

This weeks studio’s lesson was challenging no doubt, as I have never used computer aided graphics and designs application software before.

Understanding the terminology, function and tools of the software was hard, but in saying that something I have to get good at.

I definitely felt behind in comparison to some students.

This week’s studio workshop aim was teach each other and share our knowledge on what we had learned in our lecture groups and our pre research activates to our group.

Task: Part 1: Learning by Teaching. Explaining and sharing my knowledge on the topic, definitely helped me clarify and solidify what I had learnt previously.

However there were a few issues that arose from the studio workshop. Some of my group didn’t attend the lecture before and therefore couldn’t explain the green part “rendering and editing.”

This was a slight issue towards the end of the Gasket, but something we worked out and asked tutors and classmates about.

Part 2: Learning by Doing – This task allowed me to implement skills that I had just learnt.

Through the process of creating the Gasket I found the part of creating the shapes, angles and projections were very interesting and fun.

Through the process of creating the Gasket there were Tools and functions that were helpful

Creating and colour coordinating my work – Construction lines, Centre lines and Default lines

Reading PCD radius lines and Centre lines were very helpful to determine projection and placement of lines and shapes.

Thoroughly reading the Gasket image on the sheet was a great way to plan your shape and envisage what I had to do. Printing workshop activates may be a great idea for next time. Using the knowledge from week one, symbols and abbreviations I could read and understand the shape.

Using the side bar and clicking Centre, Midpoint, Quadrant, Intersection was very useful to have precise lines and shapes.

Terms, Commands, Functions and tools that I need to take on board and learn outside of class.

Command of Array

Command of Offset – helped in creating the rectangle on the left side.

The Offset command copies a curve so that all locations on the copied curve are a specified distance from the original curve.

Command Fillet

The Fillet command adds a tangent arc between two curves and trims or extends the curves to the arc.

The Gumball - directs future projections of object – made the circle.

Starting the project on the 0,0 Axis ( Centres your work )

I learned that there are a plethora of functions and commands to complete the task. Learning them and knowing all these commands and functions will save time in the future and enable me to be efficient.

Completed Gasket

What I really should have considered in brining

Bringing a mouse

Laptop Charger –shout out to Keith for saving me !

Overall creating the gasket was challenging but was interesting.

A note to self is that this gasket was time consuming. In future project I will have to allow copious amount time to my complete work.

THE SCREW

The Object To Be

AUX or AWKS ?

Studio Week three, brining on some interesting and mind boggling views….

Task:

Make a third angle orthogonal drawing of the object shown on the following page. In addition to front and top views, draw a section view through A-A in the position a right side view would normally go. Finally, project a partial auxiliary view of the tapered surface from the section view in order to show its true size and shape.

This studio workshop required us to visualise and imagine how each view will look like as the object (Tapered Block) is transferred to primary orthographic and auxiliary projection planes. From last week I knew immediately a free hand sketch was necessary to plan out the positions of my ‘views’ front, side, and aux view. I Started with a freehand layout sketch on a separate sheet of paper. Working out how i will compose the views to fit well on the page This determined if I needed a A3 or A2 piece of paper to properly space out my work, including the title block, revisions table and boarder otherwise the views will be wrongly placed on the drawing sheet.

A tip found on Pg. 149

1. Drawing a boarder line and location of views on the drawing sheet

2. Light construction of views

3. Lining of views

4. Dimensioning and insertion of subtitles and notes

5. Drawing of title block, parts list and revisions table

*very helpful

Auxiliary Views was a very hard concept to process and define. However through seeking help from my fellow peers ( shout out to @adian ) I was able to understand what I was doing.

Auxiliary views are a projection of a true shape of a view of the irregular face.

Page 188 and 189 now made sense.

Overall I thought this task went well, there was success but also some failures that could have been prevented.

- Using the combination upper and lower-case letters throughout.

- Spacing of the views were a tad cluttered towards the right side of the page.

- Sticky tape coming off – making my work wonky. Realising this earlier would have saved a copious amount time, some lines are wonky.

This did annoy me as their wasn’t their element of precision in my work.

The success came from the confidence of using the instruments, how I organised my work and time and the spacing of the my work.

The Art Of Lining Up

Fridays Studios Lesson was jam packed with new information regarding an introduction of dimensioning drawing, methods, common features, scaling, spacing, tables and types of projections.

Task :Orthogonal Projection & AS1100 Standards

Before I precede into my blog, I found that the pre class activities, like the readings and Lynda video were necessary, helpful and insightful for Fridays lesson.

The task at hand was to complete a third angle orthogonal drawing (3 views) of your chosen object, mine being a standard black stapler, simple. Yet, little did I know that the simple object could be so difficult to draw.

We started off with a freehand layout sketch on a separate A3 sheet of paper. Working out how on how I will compose the views to fit well on the page This was a great way to understand and visualise what I was doing and what I needed to do.

In the sketch i added

Measurements – of length, depth and height to the object

What views to choose – which had the most detail. Top, Left side, Front

Spacing – Where I would place the each drawing

Scale – 1:1

Through out the studio time I referred back to the Lynda Video to Orthogonal projection system which enables the transfer of measurements from one view to another. Where possible, use projection to align your views and transfer measurements between them. A general principle, favour construction over measurement. This took some time to grasp at this concept and put into practice. After time and the help of peer and tutors I got in the hang of it and became a lot easier to complete.

During the lesson I re hashed on skills I learnt last week using techniques and tools that would help with creating precision and accuracy to the drawing. T-squares, compass, rulers and French curves.

After completing my technical drawing I was happy with the end product although not perfect I now know what to do for next time. It will only become easier and quicker.

If I had the time again I would have done one of two things differently. I would have spaced out my drawings instead of them being cluttered in the centred. The cluttering of the drawings cluttered reference lines and dimensions. Secondly, I would take more care with measurements the first time around so I wouldn’t have to re draw and re sketch aspects of my drawing.

Overall I Developed a lot of insight to how precision was crucial in creating these drawings.

A tip to self, Measure twice check twice draw once. Saves times and gives me a better product. Something to remember when starting on my assignment.

So the blogging begins

During the first studio class of ‘IDES1261’ we started practising and learning skills to draw technical geometric shapes. The class exercises of ‘Drawing instruments and geometric construction’ were a challenge for me.

I learnt that the t square is a pivotal instrument in creating straight and centred lines, which will give the work precision, overall this helped me guide my drawings.

When creating the Star of David I found that by finding the reference line, is critical.The this trick will helpful in my future drawings.

- Note to self scale is important. Do not reproduce the dimensions that need to be copied, look at the scale.

- Drawings measurements will be given in and need to be completed in by millimetres. (learnt this the hard way)

Along the way of making the gas wheel shape it was noted that I needed to take my time. Rushed work is never good work.

Note to self, a thin pen is much easier to work with than a thicker one. Plus using the other side of the set square will not smudge your penmanship. (learnt the hard way)

For part two, I used what I learnt in part one to construct the tessellating pattern.

The things I learnt during the lesson were through the process of trial and error. Understanding what tools to use and when to use them and how to use them correctly. (was a bit of mind boggle) but Patience is a virtue.

Using these particular skills and equipment for these technical drawings, will result in a high quality finish.

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Xanthe Mitchell