Tag Archives: final

Adrienne’s Story

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Dimensional Letterforms

Jump to: Research | Concepts | Iterations | Final Reflection

My final dimensional letterforms

Twenty-six forms that represent sounds combined can create words with meaning that develop story. The visual depiction of these iconic symbols can be as simple as the scribbles of a preschooler to structural objects as seen in Lo Siento’s 4D alphabet.

Lo Siento 4D alphabet

Research

OOOOOooooooo

Both capital and lowercase letter “O”s are the same form and structure. When thinking in three dimensions, I immediately think of spheres, donuts, and targets. Taking this glyph further than extruding the surface to make a three-dimensional form is a goal.

  1. Vectorstock-circle-spherical-design-element-vector
  2. laundry-amazon
  3. www.notimeforflashcards.com
  4. Isamu Noguchi’s Skyviewing Sculpture in Red Square at Western Washington University
  5. Torus-istockphoto

Lowercase h

Or is it a chair? The stem and leg of this glyph brings ideas of architecture and furniture design. But when looking into the visual vocabulary of the lowercase “h”, I discovered how to draw a bird or to craft a house. I do love a good Old English form too.

  1. Chair + h SandroJalabadze-Dribble
  2. www.drawinghowtodraw.com
  3. www.notimeforflashcards.com
  4. logodix.com/chair
  5. Old English printableletters.org

Lowercase g

The lowercase “g” is the glyph to understand what a typeface can do for you. It’s form is versatile and unique with an ear, bowl, sometimes loop, other variants are tails. It is an obsession, just as the ampersand, to most type geeks. So much character can be derived from one character.

  1. https://qz.com “Can you recognize the letter “G”?” by Thu-Huong Ha & David Yanofsky
  2. free-printable-gothic-calligraphy-lowercase-letters-gothic-calligraphy-lowercase-G
  3. G. Ogaki Poster display typeface by Aron Jancso
  4. commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:G-samples
  5. The italic ampersand from Baskerville and the g from Newzald.

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Concepts

The beginning of letterform exploration in two dimension…

Sketches by Adrienne Hooker
Sketches by Rowan Wang

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Iterations

I wanted to tackle the patterned torus for the letter “O” but unfortunately time ran short so I had to settle for my oldest child, Oscar, being encased in multiple O’s. It was my first attempt at bringing in a 3D scanned model into Shapr3D and the program handled it well.

My next letterform is the lowercase “h”, fashioned after a modernist chair. It was fairly quick although a couple of the edges could be rounded better.

The letterform that took the most trial and error was the lowercase “g”. This glyph has so much character, I wanted to try and sculpture a two-story version in the round.

Test Prints

After modeling each letterform in Shapr3D, I test printed each on my Jellybox printer to get a sense of form but also how the models worked together. Each model took approximately 1 1/2 hours to print.

The C‘h’air felt more like a loveseat rather than a chair with the 65mm 50mm dimensions. So I’ll reduce the width to 35mm for the final print (as seen in the 3D view below).

First test print, 100% scale, coarse preset, no raft/supports, printed on side
Predetermined dimensions of 65mm x 50mm are more of a sofa than a chair.

The caged Oscar test print results were better than expected. The top connections of the multiple O’s need to thicken, but overall the bust and curves held up well.

The sculptural lowercase ‘g’ is still a work in progress, but I was successful in creating the top sphere with ear and the bottom tail. I’d like to refine the connection between the two stories. The 3D view is at low resolution since Tinkercad couldn’t handle a model with more than 300,000 triangles in the mesh. Initial print 100%, coarse preset with raft and supports. The ball of the ear snapped off when removing supports and still need to remove more support material underneath the top story and in between the tail.

Timelapse of 360° view of test print. Need to flatten bottom a bit to stand upright.

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Final Prints & Reflection

Deadlines always push the limits to what we can achieve. I attempted to print my final letterforms at home so the class could use the 3SPACE lab, but unfortunately, my Jellybox said no. With a thermal runaway error midway through the prints, I had to go into the lab.

Jellybox final prints never made it past 50% due to temperature errors.

But I would say my printing issues at home were kismet. For the first time all term, being in the lab provided that in-between time with students. It felt good to have those teachable moments again (just as much for me as them). I thoroughly enjoyed this special topics class, and I hope I can dive into the 3D relm with students another time.

Below are the final prints of my three letters: lowercase h, O/o, and lowercase g. Not sure why it took me this long to realize I chose the letterforms for “hog”. As for printing, I would like to try my c‘h’air standing upright since the side on the plate didn’t keep it’s soft edge, and my lowercase ‘g’ has been printed on its side and upright with neither keeping it’s ear. The flattening of the bottom does help it stand better, but I’m not quite satisfied with how to finish it since the supports are difficult to reach or roughs up a beautifully pristine sphere. The caged O needed a little egg top and flattening of the bottom. Overall the 360° view of the letters are where I want them to be.

  • c‘h’air
  • caged ‘O’
  • killer ‘g’

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Jonathan’s Story

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Research & Concept

Letters are unique in that they can be designed in so many uniquely different ways while still maintaining the same meaning. While many letters can vary, some can be written with entire elements included or excluded, and our brains are still able to read them as the same letter. For my letter sketches, I experimented with how different parts of the letters interact to create a cohesive glyph.

First letter: G

The first letter that I chose is the uppercase “G”. I thought this letter would be interesting to experiment with due to the different ways that it can be written. The letter always curves around from the top to bottom, and then moves inward to the left. It is unique because it may or may not have a spur protruding downwards from the right side. The angles and shape of the curves may also vary widely.

Inspiration and sketches

  • Rounded G from Google logo
  • More curvature
  • Different spurs on letterform

Second letter: Q/q

For my second letter, I decided to design the letter “Q”. This is a fairly simple letter, as most of the letterform is just a round shape. The uppercase version has a tail that touches or bisects the bowl. The lowercase version, however, rather than having a tail, includes a descender moving deeper below the letter. For my ideas, I tried to focus on different ways that the tail/descender can interact with the rest of the letter.

Inspiration and sketches

  • Different intersections of tail
  • Orientations
  • Lowercase with descender

Iterations

G

For my first letter, G, I decided to model the letter based off of the cube-shaped form that I sketched. I began by drawing out the base shapes that I needed, and then I simply extruded the sketches and arranged them to create the cube letter.

After I imported the model into Tinkercad to generate the preview, I also had the idea of changing the model so that it can be read from 2 angles. However, it isn’t as readable when viewed diagonally, so I’m not sure if I will go with this iteration.

Q

For my next letter, Q, I was originally going to model the flat, blocky version from my sketches. I started to draw the angular outline of the letter, but Shapr3D misinterpreted my stroke and created a curved line. I actually liked the way it looked and thought it looked more interesting, so I continued to model the rest of the letter using curves instead of only straight lines.

Test Prints

To test my prints, I printed both of my G iterations and my Q at low detail. Everything came out as expected.

  • Original cube G
  • Double G

Final Prints

G

After seeing my test prints in the physical world, I thought that my original G model had too much empty space on the left side, and I liked the “double G” design better. There wasn’t anything that I really wanted to change with that model, so for my final I just printed it once again but at normal detail.

I am really happy with the way this letter turned out, and I like the way the depth of the model helps it to be readable from multiple angles in a 3D space.

Q

For my Q, I wanted to make sure that the thickness was the same on each side. I went back into Shapr3D and made some adjustments to a few measurements and curves. I then printed it at normal detail, this time laying flat on the plate instead of standing up with supports.

I found it a bit harder to use depth for this letter in the same way I did with my G, but I am still pleased with the way the curved shape came out. I like how the “macaroni” shape of the tail connects to the curvature of the rest of the letterform, and also creates a flat surface for the shape to stand on without sticking downward.

Thingiverse link

Chance’s Story

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Research and Concept:

For my story, I chose the letters “Tt” and “Yy.” I chose these because I feel as though there’s quite a bit of structure in them, but also room for creativity and room for change. For the “T” I think that the stems at the top are something I can’t ignore so for the most part I stuck with designing around what I could do and change while also preserving the integrity of the letterform. The largest part about letters and letterforms is what is communicated and while I want to create something cool and exciting, I also want to keep the original integrity in tact. Both T and Y are very similar so I want to keep the designs separate as the two deserve their own spotlight.

“T”-Inspiration:

  • Modern Vector Logo Letter T. T Letter Design Vector

“T”-Exploratory Sketches:

For the letter “Y” I wanted to do the same as far as preserving integrity, but I chose to be a lot more playful in these sketches. I feel like pushing and changing dimensions is something I will strive for in the finished product.

“Y”-Inspiration:

“Y”-Exploratory Sketches:

Iterations:

For my “T” design, I wanted to play around with the view from each side. I found this to be more difficult than I initially thought. My plan was to create the bottom right design from my sketches, however my dimensions were not working for what I wanted. At first I couldn’t get the angle right in order to fit all four sides. So then I moved to creating more of a platform to allow for more space (see image1). I ended up leaving what I had because it looked as though the T was getting too bulky. Which brings the project to what the viewer sees in the tinkercad iframe. I want to ideally create something that brings design to all four sides, not just the two it has now. Feedback is the next step in my process. Another design I tried can be viewed in image 2, this design was an effort to incorporate a lowercase t. If I did move forward with that design I would hollow out the lowercase t and make the same on all four side. Again, not entirely sure the direction I want to go yet!

  • Platform concept
  • Other design incorporating lowercase t

For my “Y” design, I had hoped to incorporate both and upper and lowercase Y, but ultimately I chose to go with the puzzle design that is in my sketches. I’m not set on this design (reference iframe), I more or less just chose one to draw out. I feel like this is nice, but some of my other designs might be a better fit for the assignment. For more inspiration, I drew out a lowercase y, just to see if I’d like to incorporate it into a different way. The puzzle is nice, but I would Ideally like to push the concept further.

Lower case Y, playing around with designs

For my T print, I changed the design as I didn’t know exactly what direction I wanted to go in. This print turned out decent, I printed it multiple times during the iteration process. Each time I couldn’t get the gaps exactly right. Pictures show that by the wonky structure. I will be adjusting that for the final.

For my Y print, it went better than expected, but I printed with a raft which caused the back to be raised on each piece. As a result, the Y was wonky as well. For the final I will take that off and see how it works then!

Final:

For my final on my T letterform, I fixed the gaps so that it created enough room for them to be flush with one another. In addition, I scaled it to 65mm to follow project requirements. This print worked the best using a raft. Overall, I’m happy with how this turned out. I wasn’t too sure of what direction I wanted to go with it, just that I wanted to incorporate both an uppercase and lowercase T.

My final Y letterform stayed fairly consistent start to finish. The only complications I had were in iterations with a raft causing a lip that pushed the pieces forward when stacked. I made the simple decision to not use a raft and it worked like a charm. I also scaled this letter to 65mm. I’m also content with how this turned out!

Unda’s Story

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Research & Concept

Each letterform has its own distinct characteristics of dimensionality and texture that allows it to be able to be recognized standing alone. Although letterforms are distinct there are still multiple methods used to customize the letterform’s structure in a way that still keeps its essence but alters the appearance of the letter character. No matter what alteration, typography allows us to recognize a letterform and its shape unconsciously.

First Letter: “Z”

The first glyph I chose was the letter “Z” because I felt that it was a very unique yet simple letter. I like how angular the letter is and that it contains sharp edges. This letter form has two even horizontal line connected to the each end of an angular, vertical strip. When written it is similar to the shape of a zig zag. Depending on the font or style, the letter “Z” will sometimes contain the personalization of a serif or a san serif. Below are some examples of my own alterations of the letter “Z” along with sketches.

Second Letter: “U”

The second glyph I chose was the letter “U” because it is the first letter of my name and because it is completely opposite to the letter “Z”. I thought it would be interesting to go from a completely angular letter to a softer, more curved letter. The letter “U” contains a simple upwardly curved line. When it is in lowercase it additional has a tail attached to it. The “U” also can be alter differently depending on if it is serif styled or san serif styled. Below are some examples of my own alterations of the letter “U” along with sketches.

Iterations

My first iteration for the letter “U” was pretty straight forward because I was able to draw out the shape that I wanted on Illustrator and then transferred that file into Tinkercad. My “Z” letter took more of a process because I originally started with a design of a Z shape that is hollow on the inside but as I was playing around with the outline more I came up with a more 4D type of design that I really liked.

After looking at 4D letters and taking inspiration from letter sculptures, I thought that the “Z” was simplistic enough to be able to play around with its shape and angles as well as morph its form. I also really wanted to take advantage of how clean cut the letter is so I wanted to create a more challenging design for this letter. Because of that, I thought that it would be the perfect opportunity to create the “Z” in a way that could be read at all angles when it is turned in a circle.

This is the first “Z” letter design I came up with.

This is my second “Z” letter design. If you move it around you can see that it takes the shape of a “Z” no matter what angle it is in.

I like both designs but I prefer how the second design turned out because I enjoy its unique 4D quality. The 2nd design to me also has a lot more potential as well to be altered in a creative way.

For the letter “U”, because it is the complete opposite of the letter “Z”, I wanted to take a different approach to it. My main concern when I chose the letter was how it was going to stand up on its own because the base of the letter is curved. After doing the research I came across many designs where the curve of the “U” is slightly more angular but still holds the true essence of the letter. I really love the style of old english and thought it would be clever to create a 3D print of a letter that looks like it came straight from a written pen or off a page of an old book. Below is the design I came up with. You can see that the bottom of the “U” is also sharp enough to stand on its own as well if needed.

Final Print & Reflection

Before printing out my final letter form I had to make some slight changes. For the letter “U” I tidied the corners up so that the letter form as a whole had a smoother edge. Below is the final design of the letter “U”. For the letter “Z” I decided to keep that the same because the test print came out really well.

Below you can see the two final forms of my two letters “Z” and “U”. On the top is the final design for the letter “Z” and on the bottom is the final design for the letter “U”.

Overall I’m super happy with the final prints for this last project. As shown above, you can see that both letters both stand upright on their own. I’m most happy with the outcome with my letter “Z” because it can be viewed as a “Z” in all directions. I’m also content with my letter “U” because I love how it is able to stand up on its own due to the old english font it is in. Both letters were fun to make and a nice challenge to play with their letter form.

The process to obtain these prints were mostly easy but I did come across some obstacles. The test prints for these objects came out super well even though I accidentally broke the “Z” taking it home. When I went to print out my finalized letters the 3D printer glitched and melted the back of the letter prints. The supports also didn’t print with the “Z” and so it spaghettied everywhere.

After this I reprinted the letter and they came out very nicely. The supports actually printed and the overall form of both letters looked clean. Below are my final letters together. They two prints came out the cleanest and are the sturdiest!

Caroline’s Story

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Research and Concepts

The Roman alphabet is such an intriguing thing. These little shapes or forms carry so much meaning when standing alone or combined with one another. Letters form words, and words hold power. Every letter in the Roman alphabet has been engrained in our brains since the earliest years of our life. They are unmistakeable in any form. 2D, 3D, Script fonts, sans serif, doesn’t matter.

Below are my ideas for my letter prints and some inspiration I drew from for them.

First Letter- N

The letter N contains two legs and one stroke line. I think there is a lot of potential to develop this letter in both a 3D and 4D Space. For all of my concepts I toyed with making the letter appear infinite in a sense. The fist wrapping around itself as though it were ribbon. The second taking a more abstract, sculptural shape where I connected the legs and stroke line with two more connectors, running back and forth between the connector line- somewhat taking inspiration from an infinity cube sculpture and the Nintendo design.

Second Letter- E

The letter E has one leg and three arms, one shorter than the rest. For my exploration with the letter E I toyed with negatives and removing part of the leg in the E while still maintaining its basic form. I also toyed with the idea of printing the arms and legs separately and placing them on top one another like building blocks, however balance may be an issue here.

Iterations

Here you can see both of my concepts for my prints in Shapr3D and Tinker Cad. I think both went relatively smooth, and I will try to print these first before making any changes. If anything I may try to smooth some edges on my “N”.

Final

When printing my final, I attempted to reprint both of my letters after refining some of their edges. I never ran into an issue with my “E”, however my “N” refused to print and would turn into spaghetti each time. I didn’t change any of my print settings from my first time printing, and after reaching out to my instructor for further help I was still unable to properly print. With that being said, my first prints became my finals as I ran out of time. I tried to re-print three times, each failing for a reason that is unknown to me. The final prints are good, but the edges aren’t as clean as I would have liked them to be.

Karina’s Story

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Research & Concept

Letterforms have specific structures that always look the same no matter what style or typography it is written in. It can be written in either 3D, 2D, or even 4D and can still be identified as its letterform because of its structure. In other words, each letterform has their own structures and shapes that specifically characterize its specific letterform despite its font.

First Glyph- “K”

The first glyph I have chosen is the letter “K” because it is the first letter of my initial. This letterform has a tall stem that has one leg and one arm that stretch out in an angled manner. Legs, also known as tails, are the lower angled strokes that come from the stem of the letter. The letter “K” has one leg that is angled downward from the stem. Meanwhile, arms are the upper angled strokes that come from the stem. This glyph also has one arm that is above the leg and angled upward from the stem. These specific parts of the glyph identify it as the letter “K”. Below are some images of my inspiration and exploratory sketches.

Sketches of the letter “K”
Second Glyph- “H”

The second glyph I have chosen is the letter “H”. This letterform has two tall stems with a short connecter line in between. This connecter bar is also known as the crossbar, as it connects the two lines of this uppercase letter. This letter is symmetrical, meaning it could be cut in the middle horizontally or vertically and still mirror the other side. Because of this, I view the letter “H” as balanced. The upper case letterform of “H” differs from the lowercase letterform. I will be creating the uppercase letterform of “H” because of its more symmetrical and balanced look. Below are some images of my inspiration and exploratory sketches.

Sketches of the letter “H”

Iterations

I first attempted the design with elevated triangles on “K”, but found it too difficult to continue. I thought I could just draw the triangles in the form of a “K” and then raise them into bodies. However, this was not the right way to go about it, so I learned how to create pyramids. These pyramids were very time consuming and difficult to make and the design was not turning out the way I wanted it too. Therefore, I went with my second design and added more to it.

After this attempt, I was going to do the design with the 90 degree platform that held up the curved “K”. Then, I came up with the idea of making that platform into the letterform as well. This way the object has two 90 degree “K’s” holding up the curved “K”. The “K” can be placed down on either side and their will always be an identifiable letterform.

I overall really like how this iteration turned out and I don’t think there are many changes that I need to make. The only problem with the curved “K” is that it does not line up very well with the other “K’s”, so when I print this I am going to have to see if this is a problem. There are still some more things that need to be cleaned up in this design, but again, I will need to see if they are actual problems when printed.

I also decided to go with a theme for my two letterforms and created the same design for “H”. Since this letter is symmetrical, it made it very easy to create the letters and match them up. Again, I am really happy with how this design turned out and I am really excited to actually get this printed. I think once I print, I will be able to see if there are problems in the design. However, I do think the letter “H” came out cleaner and probably won’t need many fixes.

Both of these iterations came out good and only had two very fixable errors. The “K” print did not come out very clean especially once I removed the raft. Its first layer kept printing in a messed up and rough way. Therefore, my original solution was to print it without the raft. I thought this would allow for a much smoother base and platform. However, I found that what needed to be done was to rotate it slightly, so that the model would be flush on the bed. The second error for both of the prints were their size. I originally printed each with a dimension of 65mm and 50mm. However, this made the overall shape look uneven. Therefore, I made a simple fix and changed the dimensions to 50mm and 50mm, so it could be a cleaner and even print.

Final Print & Reflection

Above you can see both of my final prints for my Story project. On the left is my final print of the letter “H” and on the right is my final print of the letter “K”. I kept a theme for my two different glyphs because I really liked the idea and its design.

I am really happy with how the letter designs came out. As shown, each letter can be placed on either side and it will always show the same letter. Each side is also the same dimension of 50 mm, which gives the design an even and aesthetically pleasing look. One side is curved, which allows the entire object to rock back and forth when that becomes the platform.

The overall process to obtain these final prints was semi-difficult, but very fun. I really enjoyed doing this project and creating these letter designs. I encountered very little errors when designing the objects and printing them. The only difficulty I had while creating the letters, was finding the right dimensions and getting the object to print cleanly. After a couple prints, I was able to quickly solve this problem and get the right dimensions. These prints are small and do not take up much room, so they can be placed just about anywhere. These are my final prints because they came out the cleanest and exactly how I wanted them to. Therefore, I am really happy and proud of the final prints I have created. Shoutout to Professor Hooker for all the help in getting these prints!

Jonathan’s Self Expression

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Research & Concept

When I first started brainstorming ideas for playful objects, I initially had some trouble thinking of an object where the playfulness didn’t impede on the function. At one point I was thinking about how, since my Airpods are broken, I have been having to use wired headphones and have been frustrated with the wires getting tangled. I wanted to design an earbud cable wrapper in the shape of a person. However, I could not figure out how to make the human shape work well with the function of the object. After thinking further about what I could do with the general shape of a person, I had the idea of a desktop phone stand. There are many times where I am working on my laptop and like to have my phone nearby for easy access, so this object will definitely come in handy.

To add some playfulness to this object, I thought that the best approach would be to add people that are holding up the phone. As I develop this idea further, I will want to make sure that the measurements are broad enough to fit my phone with and without a case, and I will have to play around with the positioning and amount of people needed to create a stable support. I am also considering raising the stand up and adding a hole to allow me to charge my phone and use headphones while it is in the stand.

Iterations

For the modeling process, I began by taking measurements of my phone to make sure the holder would fit it exactly. I went into Tinkercad and placed shapes to create the holder itself, making sure they corresponded with the measurements that I took before. I then rotated it back slightly, and arranged several more shapes to create the people that hold it up. I made sure to have the people connecting to the holder in multiple places, and I positioned them with the hope that they would be sturdy enough to hold my phone. At one point I was considering adding another person that would interact with the phone from the front or side, but I ultimately decided against it because I wanted to be certain that the phone would still be fully usable while on the stand.

After finishing the model, I began my printing process. Because the model needed to be tested at scale and is fairly large, I printed it using the “fast” preset, with 20% infill. However, about an hour into printing, the model started coming off of the plate, which was interfering with how the filament was being placed. I realized that this was happening because I used the “skirt” adhesion, so there was nothing holding the print down and keeping it stable. I cancelled the print and tried again.

For my second attempt I used the same settings, but this time I used the “raft” adhesion to be sure it would remain 100% stable while printing. Once it finished, I really had to work to get off all of the supports, but I was very pleased with how it turned out. The print is perfectly sized for my phone, and the people seem pretty sturdy and have held up well so far.

Final

For the final iteration of my Stickman Phone Stand, I decided to make a few aesthetic changes. The main change that I made was making the people a bit smaller, in order to make it look like the phone was heavier for them and they were struggling more to keep it up. I also rounded the edges of the stand, since the corners were very sharp in the previous iterations. Finally, I added 2 small supports underneath the bottom of the stand itself to make it more stable when holding the phone.

Overall, I am very happy with how the stand turned out. The entire process of sketching, designing, and refining went well, and I always had clear ideas of what to do next throughout the process. I think that the addition of the smoothed edges do a lot to make the product look more refined, and the smaller size of the stickmen do a great job of making the phone look heavier, while still providing enough support and keeping it stable.

Karina’s Self Expression

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Research & Concept

As I was trying to come up with an object that I could inject a sense of playfulness into, I came up with the idea of creating a whimsical bookend. The function of a bookend is in its name, it is designed to be placed at the end of books to hold them upright. Bookends are sturdy and tall enough that they are able to support and hold books up. They usually have a platform at the bottom, so that way the object itself is more sturdy and capable of holding the books up. The weight of the books on the platform keep the bookend from slipping and moving away from the books. Overall, a bookend allows for easy access of any books and a better display of such books as they are held upright. When I was gathering inspiration, I came up with a great whimsical and playful design to add to the bookend so that it wasn’t just plain and boring.

I plan to make this bookend whimsical by making two separate pieces in which each end is a stick figure doing an action that appears to be holding books up. The people stick figures will appear as if they are doing such actions to keep the books from falling on them. One end will be of someone pushing the books upright, while the other end is of someone kicking at the books so they don’t fall on it. I will also be adding a hole into the arm of one of the stick figure ends, so that it serves the function of holding my favorite pen and appears as if the stick figure human is holding a sword or something. Below you will find my sketches of what I am envisioning.

Iterations

To design my object, I created individual stick figures on Illustrator and downloaded the SVG file to Tinkercad to create what is shown on the left.

However, I made a mistake while creating the figures on Illustrator. I had forgotten to make each shape on the Illustrator drawing into one. To do so, I had to create a path that combined each shape. That is why, in the images above, the stick figures are not filled in. At first, I thought I wanted this design, but then quickly realized that it would cause problems when printing. If I were to print the non-filled in version, then the walls would be way too thin and not print correctly. In the image above on the right you can see where I started to begin filling in the shape to fix this problem. However, I realized it would be extremely difficult to do so using only Tinkercad. Therefore, I went back into Illustrator and added the path to the overall tick figure shapes that I could later import into Tinkercad and have the full filled-in version of stick figures. The prints of these iterations are shown and explained below.

I first printed these iterations shown above with different settings. I had scaled down both iterations to 80% just for the purpose of it being an iteration and saving time. The purple one had a layer height of .2 and an infill density of 20%, and it took a total of 6 hours to print. This one’s platform also printed differently as it came out more curved. In the middle image of the purple prints, you can kind of see the curve I am talking about; however, this error is not that noticeable nor does it cause a problem.

The red print printed out perfectly and just how I wanted. I simply changed the settings of the printer so that it could come out stronger and sturdier. Considering that these bookends will be holding up books, it needs to be sturdy and strong. Therefore, for this print I made the setting as .1 for layer height and 30% infill density, with a printing time of 10 hours. The only thing I am realizing that I need to change, is the hole made for the pencil on the hand of the stick figure. Although these iterations were scaled down for the sake of fast printing time, I still think I need to adjust the hole size so that it is actually capable of holding a pen or pencil. Therefore, below you will see this adjustment via Tinkercad 3D view.

The two images below are supposed to show the different hole sizes. The left image is the initial, smaller hole size. Meanwhile, the right image is of the adjusted, bigger size.

Final Print & Reflection

This is my Self Expression final print of a playful two-piece bookend. The two human stick figures shown kicking and pushing at the books add a playful design to a simple bookend.

The entire design works really well with the function of the object. It is sturdy and strong enough to hold any size books. The platform of the bookend keeps the object from slipping and sliding because the weight of the books hold it in place. The way each figure is “pushing” at the books allows for a good hold of them. Having two separate pieces to the bookend permits for an adjustment in-between space size. In other words, the two separated bookends could be closer or further apart depending on how many books need to be held up. The hole placed on one of the pieces, can hold my favorite journaling pen and it still adds to the playful design. Now my pen and whatever book I wish to grab, can easily be accessed. The bookend pieces are small and take up very little room on my desk.

The overall process to obtain this final print was very easy and fun. I encountered very little errors when designing the object and printing it. The only difficulty I had while creating this bookend, was finding the right size for the hole that would hold the pen. After a couple prints, I was able to quickly solve this problem and create the right hole size. I was a little nervous about the size of my bookends, but they turned out to be perfect. They do not take up much room on my desk nor do they slip and slide all over the place. This is my final print because it came out clean and exactly how I wanted it to. Therefore, I am really happy and proud of the final print I have created and I know this is an object I will definitely use. I hope others can find this design helpful (and playful!), and will wish to print it as well!

Jonathan Berrang’s Form|Function

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F|F Research & Concept

Single Joy-Con Grip by 3DBotMaker on Thingiverse

This Thingiverse object is a grip for a Nintendo Switch controller. These controllers are very small and somewhat uncomfortable to use on their own. The grip is designed to increase the size of the controller by giving your hands something bigger to hold onto. It is designed to make it easy to insert and remove the controller, while (hopefully) still holding it tightly in place. There are also holes in the back so that you can push the controller out when you’re done using it.

After some planning, I realized that I wanted to make some changes to the model. While I knew the grip would be helpful on its own, I wanted to take it a step further and make the handles longer, making it shaped more like a traditional controller. Another improvement I was originally planning to make was changing the back side so it would be easier to hold. On the original model, the grip is perfectly rectangular, so I considered making the back curved to give my fingers an easy place to grip.

F|F Iterations

Original Model

Single Joy-Con Grip by 3DBotMaker on Thingiverse

This is the printed base model from Thingiverse, with no modifications added.

Modifications

After seeing how the model looked in the physical world, I started to make some changes in Tinkercad. At first, I planned on extending the handles and making the back side curved. However, after testing the original print, I thought the straight back still felt pretty comfortable, so I just focused on making longer handles. For my first iteration, I simply added some rounded shapes in order to achieve this.

After working on it some more, I wanted to make sure that when printed, the handles would fit to my fingers more naturally, so I decided to replace these handles with custom extrusion shapes. It was a bit hard to integrate my additions smoothly because the original model includes rounded edges, but I tried my best to align it as well as possible.

The base model came with instructions to print with 10% infill and .25mm layer hight, so I used these settings to print both the original model and my remix. The second version ended up, structurally, as I expected, however the “layers” didn’t seem to be as smooth as the original print. The settings were exactly the same, so it may have been because I used a different printer model for the second version. After testing my remix, I found that the extended handles did make the controller more comfortable to hold as I intended, although they could have been even longer to fit my entire hand.

Final Iteration

I then went back into Tinkercad and tried to figure out a way to make the handles match the original model better. The process was very tedious, but ended up accomplishing this by adding hole shapes around the handles, which “carved” the straight edges to be rounded.

  • The handles with sharp edges
  • The hole shape I used to “carve” the edges
  • Aligning the hole shapes
  • Rounded handles
  • Final print
  • With controller

The final model and print ended up working out very well. As I was smoothing out the edges in Tinkercad, I was worried that it would come out blocky, but once I printed it it actually ended up being pretty smooth. Because I didn’t make any changes to the base model, the controller fits perfectly inside the grip. It is snug enough to stay in place while still being easy to insert and remove. The handles are now a good size, and the controller fits comfortably in my hands. Overall, this project was very challenging, but I am very happy with the way the final product turned out.

Karina’s Form|Function

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F|F Research & Concept

Original Object:
3D Printed Phone Stand

The image above is of an original and simple 3D printed cellphone stand found on Thingiverse. It is designed to be placed on a flat surface to hold up a cellphone in an angled manner. There is a hole in the back of the object and on the bottom of the actual phone holder section, so when the phone is held up vertically, a cable or charger may run through the object. The object also allows for a phone to be set up horizontally as well. This original object on Thingiverse, is designed to fit an iPhone 6; therefore, it must be adjusted to be suitable for other phones.

Potential Personalizations/Improvements:

One personalization or improvement I wish to make is a thicker notch that can fit an iPhone 12 rather than just an iPhone 6. The original object contains a notch that is about 7mm, but the change I would make is a notch of about 9.5mm. This notch also is adjusted to fit my iPhone with its otter box case which is about 2mm. Another slight customization I plan to make is curving the point at the top a little. Rather than having a strong point, it would be curved. Overall, the two big improvements I’d make are change the notch size and round the edge of the top.

Another idea is widening the entire object so that it can have a better grip of my phone when it is placed horizontally. I also read some comments on the original Thingiverse object saying how it slips a lot and moves around easily. Therefore, maybe I can find a way to 3D print an anti-slip feature at the bottom of the phone stand. In addition to this, I read a lot of comments about the platform not being high enough, so I can make some altercations heightening it a bit.

F|F Iterations

Phone Stand designed by GoAftens
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This is the print I made of the original phone stand designed by GoAftens. To print this object, I used an Ultimaker 2 Extended+ printer. To cut the printing time, I changed the layer height to 0.3 and changed the infill percentage to 10. I was able to cut the printing time from 7 hours to just 2 hours and 25 minutes.

I think the original object would be even better if I lifted the platform just a little more so that the charger does not hit the table. Therefore, I will be attempting this fix in my remixes.

First Remix

In attempt to make the notch size wider, I accidentally removed the notch all together and did not realize until after it was printed and tested. In this remix attempt, I made a hole at the bottom, widened the overall object, and curved the top.

Second Remix

In this remix attempt, I created a different style for the platform, but realized I need to make the hole bigger to allow for the charger to go through. I also added a fun little 3D text on the back that states “CHARGING STATION”, which I like. I kept the wider look and the curved top from the past remix and fixed the notch on this one! I think overall this is my better print and that I simply need to add the bigger hole into the platform and raise the platform a little.

Third Remix

I have not been able to print this remix attempt quite yet (due to the snow and campus closings), but according to my calculations from my past remixes, I think this one will work out best. I fixed the hole on the platform and adjusted the height of the object.

F|F Final Print & Reflection

This is my F|F Final print of the remix of GoAftens original phone stand. My remix includes changes to the overall height and width, notch size, platform design, notch design, and back design. More details about my remix can be found on Thingiverse.

Original VS Remix
Original VS Remix
Reflection:

The overall process to obtain this final print was relatively easy, but very time consuming. I encountered very little errors, but was still able to find ways to improve the overall design of the object. Although the original object was really good and sturdy, I still found it important to create subtle changes to overall improve the function of the object.

I immediately knew I needed to adjust the notch size of the original object so that it could fit my iPhone 12 with its thick case on. After some more trial and error with this, I discovered I also needed to raise the height of the object because the original height was too low that a phone charger could not properly fit into the design. I also made a big hole in the notch for a phone charger to run through as well as one in the platform that helped with the issue of the charger. Originally, a phone charger would hit the bottom of the table or the platform and not properly work with the design. However, the changes I made allow for the charger to fit without an issue. This gave me the idea of naming the object the ‘Charging Station’, which I wrote on the back because it is, indeed, a charging station for my cellular device.

I really enjoyed printing this phone stand and creating personalizations and changes to the original object. It was very exciting to find an object that I could potentially use then adjusting it to my specific wants and desires. I was super proud of my final print and was really excited to show it to all my roommates. I learned a lot throughout this entire project process including how to use Tinkercad and how to 3D print. After a few trial and errors, I learned what the necessary printer settings needed to be in order to print a sturdy and more durable phone stand. This was a challenge because print time was an important aspect, but I was able to work around this issue. Overall, I cannot wait to use my new and improved Phone Stand- Charging Station that I 3D printed!