eleanor5283609

[eleanor5283609]

Week 10 – Completing the Loop

Finishing & 3D Printing (Image 01-10)

In Week 10 Exercise, we reached another stage that is 3D Printing. Before Pre-class Activity, I know little about 3D Printing. After that, I learned that it is a pretty useful and convenient operation, and the software for 3D Printing like Cura is related to other 3D Modeling software like Rhino and 3ds Max. Because I have no license to use Rhino, I started from 3ds Max. Through this exercise, I explored more functions in 3D Max which can help me refine my previous models. Image 01 – Reset XForm. Image 02 – Modifier Relax (to finish the surface). Image 03 – Paint Deformation Relax (to finish the surface). Image 04 – Move the Vertex (to finish the surface). Image 05 – Symmetry. Image 06 – Symmetry Refinement. Image 07 – Subtle Modification. Image 08 – This is the refinement of my last week model. I applied the Paint Deformation Relax to finish the cambered surface. Even though it still needed to have more modifications, this surface has been smoother than the last week one. Image 09-10 – Cura 3D Printing.

Reflection on IDES1262

IDES1262 is a really useful and informative course for me as a student in the Industrial Design Program.

In the first six weeks’ learning, we started from the use of basic drawing instrument, engineering drawing, and then perspective drawing, sketching and digital rendering. This is a learning process of various drawing skills which are important in Industrial Design. For example, the sketching process allows us to have a quick drawing of our various ideas. We do not need to think about their simpleness or complexity, their feasibility or even their accuracy. We just need to represent the ideas that hit our minds. Actually, I love model making more than drawing before having this course. However, I find the charm of different kinds of drawing especially sketching now and I will spend more time on sketching in the future because I think it is a basic and essential skill for an Industrial Designer.

In the last four weeks, we learned physical model making and digital model making. In my perspective, physical model making is an amazing process. It started from a foam block and ended up with a foam model of my bottle concept. In addition, in this process, I used different kinds of tools that I’ve never used before. That’s quite interesting! When it comes to digital modeling, it is a pretty hard but interesting process. The completely new software is the biggest challenge for me. Even though I think I have started being familiar with 3ds Max, I just learned the basic functions so far. I still need more practice to find more functions. The exploration of this software is difficult but fascinating.

Besides the various skills of drawing and model making, I find that Weekly Blogs and Comments are useful. Through the weekly reflection, I could summarise the mistakes, shortages and important points that I could correct, develop or keep in the future. When making comments on other classmates’ blogs and reading other classmates’ comments on my own blogs, I could learn from them to develop my own work.

IDES1262 allows me to accumulate plenty of essential skills in Industrial Design. I also realised that the importance of recording my learning and practicing process. Moreover, in addition to basic skills, I also learned plenty of important ideas in the design process. For instance, we should take both aesthetics and practicability into consideration when designing.

Thanks to Rob, Gonz and Thomas! You delivered very awesome classes which helps me a lot every week. And also thanks to everyone, especially for your comments which can really inspire me. It’s my pleasure to have this course with all of you!

[eleanor5283609]

Week 09 – Prototyping

This week’s exercise requires more functions of 3ds Max. At first, I thought that it would be an easier process because of last week’s practices, but it is really challenging for me to complete my favourite bottle concept (Image 04). However, it is helpful for me to explore more functions in and get more familiar with 3ds Max. It is interesting and attractive to see more about what 3ds Max can do.

Lid (Image 01)

To make the upper part of the lid, I used three Bevels (Image 01) and then use NURMS to make the whole lid soft. The reason why I chose to use Bevel for three times is that, I think, it is like a circle composed of a plenty of short lines. With more short lines, the circle will be more like a circle. When the Bevel be used more, the shape of the upper part of the lid will be softer.

Concept 1 (Image 02)

I made the simplest model in my three concepts at first. At first, following what Rob displayed in Tutorial, I made the reference, but I only maintained the Front View because it is enough for me to do the next steps. After that, I made a box, converted it to poly and then use fillet to soft it. It is a pretty simple process.

Concept 2 (Image 03)

The first step is the same to that of my first concept. And then I decided to divide the whole bottle into two parts and assemble them together. Therefore, I just made a cylinder and a sphere and then stretch the sphere to the shape I need. This is also a simple process, but I wish I could find another way to make the bottle body as a whole in the later practices. That will be challenging but I want to try.

Concept 3 (Image 04-06)

The final one is the most difficult for me. I can only make a model that is similar to my sketch but is not precise. Firstly, I made an ellipse and then added the Extrude in Modifier to it to make an elliptical cylinder. To make the curved form, I tried many ways. For example, I tried to move the edges (Image 05) and faces (Image 06). I found that moving faces is better. In addition, like the method of making upper part of the lid, when the faces were divided into more and smaller, it is easier to reach the form I want.

There is still a long way for me to get familiar with and work with 3ds Max.

(I rendered it but when I was about to save the images, the software was frozen! I have no idea about how to deal with that.)

Pre-class Video on Cup

Similarity: They are both sketch models. There is no need to be precise and to use the final material. They are used to test some properties.

Difference: The weight of the cup is important so Andrew chose the material (timber) that weight the same to the final material (ceramic) to test how holding and gesturing work. In our practice of physical and digital model making, we just think about the shape. There is no need to think about the weight and the final material.

In my perspective, making which type of models and choosing what materials are related to properties or characteristics of the product we plan to test. All models we made are significant and contribute to the final product.

Refinement (Image 07-10)

Inspired from Quince’s works about the FFD, I applied FFD to my third concept. That’s really a pretty useful Modifier. Even though some parts still look strange, it is more beautiful and precise than my original one.

[eleanor5283609]

Week 08 – Digital Models

In this week, we learned to use make digital models. This is a completely new software for me. I’ve learned about SolidWorks in T3 2020, so I thought that it might be kind of easy for me to use this one. However, I found they are pretty different when I do the pre-class exercise. SolidWorks is to make a SOLID model but 3ds Max is to make a model that composed of POLYGONs, so that lots of operations are totally different and I need to change my mind and remember that this is a polygon model not a solid model.

In-class Exercise Part 1 (Image 01-08)

In this part, we are aimed to explore various functions in 3ds Max. In addition to some basic operations, the modifier part is my favourite. A cylinder was built at the beginning and then ends up in unique forms through the functions like Squeeze, Stretch, Noise and Melt and so on. Image 01-04 is my tests on these modifiers (My favourite one is the green one, I think it is beautiful.). Image 05-08 is my attempts to use different solidity in Melt. When I tested on this modifier, I found it creative to shape the form into those solidity and they are like in the real world which I think is magical. It’s interesting!

In-class Exercise Part 2 (Image 09-12)

In Part 2, we can try more functions to make a digital model for an object with organic and/or hard-edged elements. These functions include Extrude, Bevel, Swift Loop, NURMS, etc. My impressive one is NURMS. In my perspective, it is a little bit like Chamfers because it can make the edges soft. However, I know that they are totally different, so I need to do more exploration about these two functions. For the Chamfer function, I found that they are in two parts. One is in the Modeling and One is in the Modifiers. To do the button on my remote control, I used the Chamfer in Modifiers. It is convenient to use this Chamfer when you need to make every edge in your object soft, but I found that after converting the object to poly, the Chamfer in Modifiers is invalid. I’m not sure if it is because of some wrong operations, I will explore more about this.

Through these two exercises, I found that the most important thing for me it EXPLORATION for more functions in 3ds Max.

Like the same importance of both hand drawing and digital drawing, there is also the same significance of both model making by hand and digital model making. Digital model making could make more details that are difficult for us to make in a real model. And after rendering on digital models, you could make the objects like in the real world if you have professional skills of rendering. Therefore, we should attach great importance to the digital model making.

Pre-class Video on Razor

With model making, we could test to make different physical sizes, shapes, styles and materials in a design and check whether they are ergonomics enough or not. For example, Andrew mentioned about the materiality. He said that materiality is a way of perceiving value because people will feel very different result from an aluminium handle and a brass handle.

Moreover, I think the ‘high-fidelity’ and ‘low-fidelity’ mean the degree of the precision and the quality of a model. My impressive point from Andrew is that we don’t need to have a linear process from low-fidelity to the high-fidelity, and they can be mixed together because we are checking different aspects and bringing in different elements into the design.

In my opinion, in the design process, thoughts and tests is the most important. The order from low-fidelity to high-fidelity is not that important. We just need to come up with various ideas and make models according to the properties that we want to test. 

[eleanor5283609]

Week 07 – Model Making

There was a completely new challenge in this week, we need to make a model with foam. In the last term, I tried to use foam to do mass modelling but it was simple. In this exercise, we need to make a high-quality foam model to represent our concept of Olay Bottle.

Preparation (Image 01-03)

Firstly, I utilized the orthographic drawing of my concept (Image 01) to make the templates (Image 02) for the following model making. And then I cut out a foam block. The requirement of this block is that it need to be close to a perfect box. Actually, it is difficult to make it a perfect box at first. I used my saw to cut a rough box out and then use my rasp to make it to be close to a perfect box. During this process, I found it useful to sculpt with the rasp and the file.

Body Making (Image 04-09)

Following the steps in Exercise PDF, I stuck the positive template of front face to the foam and began sculpting. From the initial to the final, I refined my model step by step with different tools. Knife – rasp – file – rough sand paper – smooth sand paper. During this process, I learned the difference between the rasp and the file. We can use rasps to sculpt to a rough shape (because it can remove materials quickly) and then we can use files to sculpt our materials to a more precise shape. For example, I added fillet to the upper edge of my model (Image 08-09) with my file. With the sand paper in different roughness, the surface of my model became more and more smooth. It is amazing to see my model changing from a foam block to a smooth model of the bottle (body). However, there are some flaws. There are some empty parts in my foam and I am not sure that it was caused by my unfamiliar operation with the rasp and the file or they are the flaws in the foam itself.

Lid Making (Image 10-12)

I followed the same way of making body part to make the lid.

Final Model (Image 13-17)

It is necessary for us to be more familiar with various tools in model making. We need to learn the different characteristics of them and make proper choices of them in different steps when we make models.

(I really want to say that it is quite troublesome to clean my room which is messed up by the foam crumbs! I need to find a way to avoid this at next time.)

[eleanor5283609]

Week 06 – Digital Rendering

Pinterest (Image 01-04)

Image 01 is my collection of works of the concept rendering. Looking at others’ drawings made me feel more interested in sketching including both hand sketching and digital sketching. It is amazing that the 2D drawings show 3D properties vividly. There are some impressive renderings for me. The drawing in image 02 shows the good use of the markers. In image 03, there are neat notes and the drawings of insects are really useful because they could show bionics. In image 04, the wonderful highlight can show the smooth surface of the material and the background can also show the shape of the whole design.

Admiring excellent designers’ sketching and rendering is a helpful way for us to develop our own ability.

Designers (Image 05-09)

Robbie Lillquist (https://www.behance.net/lillquist): Robbie’s designs are full of the sense of science and technology and the sense of the future.

Adam Miklosi (https://www.behance.net/adammiklosi): Adam’s sketch book really inspires me to do more sketching exercises.

Lautaro Lucero (https://www.behance.net/lautaro): Lautaro’s designs can show the ‘design for convenience’.

Exercise 05 Part 3 (Image 10-13)

This is my first time to use Photoshop to do the digital sketching. It is a pretty new method for me. Following Rob’s video step by step, it is still kind of hard for me in some steps. I’m not sure whether it is because there are some differences between PS on Mac and Win, but my unfamiliarity is the key reason. Therefore, I need to do more exercises and I could search on Youtube or other websites to learn more about it. There might be more ways to achieve the same effects. It is useful to grasp more methods.

Digital Sketching Exercise (Image 14-15)

This is also my first time to use iPad to do sketching. I chose to use SketchBook which is an APP with plenty of functions. Although, after this exercise, I did not get familiar with all functions, I found the ‘Layer’ function which could be found in much Design Software is pretty helpful. This function is like the ‘underlay’ in Exercise 05 Part 1&2 but when it becomes digital, it is more convenient.

As a learner of design, I must get familiar with different methods of hand sketching and digital sketching as soon as possible and be accustomed to using various software, which needs lots of exercises and practice.

[eleanor5283609]

Week 05 – Sketching

In this week’s learning, we gain an insight into sketching which is an essential and significant skill for industrial design. In tutorial exercises, we, firstly, did some warm-up exercises (Image 01-08) and, in my opinion, these exercises should be done more frequently instead of practicing just before classes. This is a wonderful habit for us to develop our ability to do sketching.

After that, we redesigned the shape of the Olay Moisturiser bottle (Image 09). It is pretty interesting and creative. We needed to come up with at least 12 innovative designs. Actually, at first, I thought it is a little bit challenging because I could only think out some simple designs but I wanted to have some more creative and ‘weird’ designs. With drawing more sketches, there were more thoughts in my mind, and I found that, in addition to the ‘creative’, the ‘practical’ is also an important element for design a product. Through this exercise, I realised that there is a need for me to see and explore more wonderful designs in daily life. When I see the beautiful designs I can photograph it and have a deeper thinking. For instance, I can explore that if there are some aspects of this design could be developed or if I’m the designer to design a product for this function, what I would do.

In Exercise Part 2(Image 10-15), it is useful to use the underlays to have more clear and neat drawing finally. At first, I made a mistake when add some shading (Image 12). For my second design, when I finished it (Image 15), it looked kind of strange and more oblate than I think. Actually, I am not sure if there were something wrong of my methods. However, I will do more exercises of sketching. And in sketching exercises, I found that the contour lines and shadings are important to depict the real shape of an object and to deliver the sense of a third dimension. Moreover, I used markers and colour pencil for shading, I suppose that the markers are more convenient to use but the colour pencil could draw the shading more naturally.

Keep practicing for better sketching ability. Keep thinking for better designing ability.

[eleanor5283609]

Week 04 – Perspective Drawing

Through the pre-class reading and the lecture in this week, we learned the PERSPECTIVE DRAWING. There are three types of perspective drawing including 1 point perspective, 2 point perspective and 3 point perspective. Even though I learned a little about sketching before, I did not use these methods to draw.

In the tutorial exercise, at first, I forgot that there is also the requirement of the angle of the project line for drawing Vanishing Points, so I just chose the Vanishing Points randomly. After I read the reading again, I corrected it. If do it again, I will care more about the layout because the layout of the present ones is not good enough.

Here are some pictures of my tutorial exercise. Image 01 is my chamfered cube. Image 02-05 are Part 1. Image 06-09 are Part 2. Image 10-12 are Part 3. In Part 2, the viewing position is slightly further away, and the vanishing points move as well. Under the condition of the same PP, HL as Part 1, the distances of the vanishing points and CV become larger so that the top face of the object becomes flatter. The inclined lines which are horizontal in real world are closer to horizontal. After extending the three faces, the lower one looks larger than the original one and the right and upper ones look smaller than the original one.

I think the steps of perspective drawing are tedious, but it is helpful for us to draw step by step when we are not familiar with it. This is the only way which must be passed for us to learn the principle of perspective drawing. The whole tutorial exercise is kind of time-consuming for me but I know that it is the essential process for following learning. Only when we are familiar with perspective drawing, can we do a better sketching in the future, because in this way we can show the objects more truly and vividly.

[eleanor5283609]

Week 03 – Engineering Drawing

Through this week’s videos, reading and lecture, we learned more about the engineering drawing. It is about details. Firstly, we could use the hidden lines to draw the internal parts, but sometimes the hidden lines could not show the details clearly. Therefore, we need to use the section views. There are several types of section views including offset section view, half section view, broken-out section view and so on. Different section views have different functions.

In addition, auxiliary view which could provide more details and information is a vital element for engineering drawing. The purposes of auxiliary view are, 1) to show a cross-section; 2) to show an inclined surface in TSS; 3) to show a true angle between surfaces in TSS. To draw the auxiliary view for an inclined plane, it is significant to make the inclined plane to be an edge shown in the drawing. Therefore, in some cases, there is a need to draw the primary and secondary auxiliary views.

During the tutorial exercise, I made a mistake at first, I omitted several dimensions and presumed that the bottom of the left and right part is on the same level. To be a designer, I should not make this kind of mistakes. Every detail is important, so we need to be careful, careful and careful!

These are some images of my exercise. I tried to draw in the scale of 1:1 and 2:1, and I found it more beautiful when the scale is 2:1.

[eleanor5283609]

Week 02 – Engineering Drawing

In this week’s lecture, we learnt about the Engineering Drawing. When I saw the example on Tumblr, I thought that it must be difficult to finish. After reading and lecture, I found that there are many principles of engineering drawing. For example, different line weights convey different meanings. In addition, there has to be a gap between the measurement or projection lines and the outline of the object.

When I made dimension of my phone charger. I found it difficult to measure the radius of an arch, especially when the arch was not a quarter or a half of the circle. I also tried to measure the stapler, and it was more difficult because there is a bigger arch.

Even though engineering drawing by hand is kind of difficult and time consuming, it is essential for us to learn and master.

There are some images for the tutorial exercises. Images 01-04 are the process of Part 1. It is a quite useful method to learn each side of the object and learn the First Angle and Third Angle. Images 05 and 06 are the 5-sided paper box I’ve made.

Images 07 and 08 are the Part 2. Just the sketches to figure out an appropriate layout for Part 3.

Images 09-12 are the process of Part 3 and Images 13 and 14 are the final drawing. It is a time-consuming exercise. There are a lot of principles I needed to follow. I believe, after I practice more, it will be easier for me to do the engineering drawing.

[eleanor5283609]

Week 01 – Drawing Instrument Exercises

This is the first week of this term. In the lecture, we learned about our course generally. There will be courses for drawing and model making which I am really keen on. In the tutorial, we had some exercises which are not difficult to finish. I think the real meaning of these exercises is to get familiar with some new tools like a t-square and a circle template. In addition, from my perspective, the circle template is suitable for some little circles but I am still used to using the compass, because I think it could be more accurate.

Image 1 and 2 are the first exercise in the tutorial. This figure is a six-pointed star and it is like two triangles being entangled which is really attractive. In this exercise, I tried to use the t-square. To be honest, I have never used a t-square before. Therefore, it is a little bit difficult for me to use it properly.

Image 3 to 5 are the second exercise. I think it is like a rim of a wheel. I drew many construction lines to ensure the accurate dimensions. I found it a little bit hard to draw the arcs of radius 3mm and radius 10mm.

Image 6 to 8 are the third exercise. I chose colourful paper to do this exercise so that when I joined the paper which I cut to test whether they were accurate or not, they could show more clearly. When I drew the shape, I used protractor so I drew the outline of the whole shape directly. I found that most of them are joined together well. What’s more, this shape is pretty beautiful.

I am looking forward to having the following lectures and tutorials.

[eleanor5283609]

About Me

Hi everyone! I’m Zihan Tang. You can call me Eleanor. This is my 3rd term in UNSW. I’m interested in model making and Lego and I’m trying to play Lego MOC.

I loved to design many things before, like clothing, interior, architecture. However, I am keen on props design and furniture design now. I’m still looking forward to finding more things I want to design because I belive that, when I try more, I can find my favourite one and stick to it.

It’s a pleasure to be here with you!