Due before class on Week 2:
Create a portfolio post (be sure to categorize it under Student Portfolios). Your portfolio post should have three different sections. The first is “Hello” (written in a header font 3 or less). The post should include a picture that represents you in some way and that same image should be set as the “Featured Image” for your whole Portfolio post. In this section, tell us something about yourself. We will be adding to your Portfolio all semester. The second subsection should be headed with your grab bag noun (for example “Circus Tent”) again written in a header font 3 or less. In this section, you will talk about your design and print process for your grab bag noun. You need to include at least one screen shot from your design process and at least one photo of your final print. The third section is “20 objects”. In this section, please name your 20 objects and tell us a bit about each of them. This section must contain at least one (preferably several) screenshot of all 20 of your objects on a single build plane so that each can be seen well in at least one picture. This section is your opportunity to play with the program. Have fun with it! Try some Shape Generators! Try making something challenging, even if it doesn’t work! All of these things should take maybe 2 hours at home designing and writing.
Due before class on Week 3:
Add to your portfolio! Print at least one of your 20 objects and include photos of that print in your “20 objects” section. Add a new section (in a Header font) called “Moving parts”. Your next assignment is to print moving parts. This is your first taste of iteration in 3D printing. You will need to print and reprint until the parts move the way they are supposed to. Also, while you do this, think about what you’d like to do for your final Tinkercad project.
Due before class on Week 4:
Add a new section to your portfolio “Tinkercad Final Project: (whatever you are making)”. This project will be your final opus of what is possible for you to do in Tinkercad. Please make this project ambitious, not something you can do in a few hours, but something that is difficult to design/difficult to print/is well beyond anything you have attempted to construct in Tinkercad up to this moment. Your final Tinkercad print and design are not due until Week 5, so for next week, I’d like to see significant progress both in planning (what you’re going to make) and in the design process (how you’re going to make it). Your post should include at least one screen shot of your design process.
Due before class on Week 5
You and your partner’s print for the Silly/Serious class challenge should be ready to present. More importantly, your Final Tinkercad project print is to be presented to the class.
Due before class on Week 6
Document your Final Tinkercad project with a post of its own that goes through your design process in detail. This post can be built off of your previous post in your portfolio, but should include at least 4 pictures and loads of detail on the issues you had with the printing/designing process. Please categorize this post in Tinkercad Final Project. You and your partner should also have a short post for your Silly/Serious Class Challenge which should be categorized in Class Challenges. Your design assignment due is the Fusion 360 ring tutorial (which should be sized correctly, decorated using Meshmixer, and printed). Please create a new section in your portfolio for this project.
Due before class on Week 7
Create 20 objects in Fusion 360, document them, and print at least two of them. Create a new section in your portfolio for this project. Your ring may be one of your 20 objects, but for the rest, I strongly suggest you use the tools in “Create” and “Modify”. Fusion is a much more difficult program than Tinkercad, so don’t worry if your objects are not recognizable things like chairs and lamps.
Due before class on Week 8
Create a new post and categorize it in Fusion 360 Final Project. Document your progress planning and designing this project.
Due before class on Week 9
All outreach events are canceled due to CORVID19. For Week 9 finish your Fusion 360 Final Project digital design. Be sure to take multiple screen shots of the design process, you’ll need them for later, but the documentation for this project will be due the week after, so concentrate on making the design the best it can be. We will be meeting during class time using the WebEx format (you’ll get an email with more details within a few days).
Due before class on Week 10
Documentation for your Fusion 360 Final Project. Similar to the documentation for your Tinkercad final project, this should include at least 4 pictures and loads of detail on the issues you had with the printing/designing process (if you did manage to get some prints in before break). Categorize the post under Fusion Final Project. Also due are your answer to the second Class Challenge! This Challenge involves going to https://makerware.thingiverse.com/challenges, picking one of the challenges (or the challenge we were going to do in class which was “Make it Fly”) and either in pairs or on your own design something that will satisfy that challenge. You will also need to write a short post about it and categorize it under Class Challenges.
Due before class on Week 11
There’s only one more program which is OpenSCAD. Our first OpenSCAD assignment was to use the 3rd tutorial at https://sites.jmu.edu/3SPACE/project/designing-with-openscad/ (the site is down right now, but I’ve given the tutorial its own page on our site). The tutorial uses a for loop at the end to make a snowflake, and the assignment due is to make something impossible to print (chaos) using a for loop. I demonstrated how one might do that in class by just modifying Tony’s code. The point is to fill up space using for loops. Remember, part of the point is it should be unprintable!
Due before class on Week 12
Here is a quick-start guide to OpenSCAD by math-grrl. Your OpenSCAD 20 objects due (make 20 different objects using OpenSCAD). We will trouble-shoot your code in class if it has issues (also due is a for loop version of chaos if you didn’t use one for the previous week). Your portfolio should be updated with your work in OpenSCAD (chaos for-loop and 20 objects). All code should be posted separately under the category OpenSCAD code. Today is also your second chance for your equipment quiz if you haven’t already taken it.
Due before class on Week 13
Today we have another Class Challenge, Fix It! Everyone must bring to class a broken household object that we will figure out how to fix using 3D design (if we were in class, we would actually fix the objects). Also due are progress reports on your Final OpenSCAD project (this should be a separate post categorized under OpenSCAD Final Project) and a proposal (no design work yet) for your Final Final Project (separate post under Final Final Project). Your Final Final Project can use any/all of the design programs we used in class, or use another program altogether. The only requirement is that it be ambitious! Ideally, it should be so ambitious that you’re not sure you can do it.
Due before class on Week 14
Progress reports on your Final Project are due, as well as your Fix It! Class Challenge designs. Also due are any outstanding missing assignments (ask me if you have any missing assignments). This class is your last opportunity to present (or post about) any missing assignments for credit.
Due before class on Final’s Week
Your Final Final Project is due by the class Final Exam Time (3:30pm on Wednesday May 6). Your Final Final Project can use any/all of the design tools that we used this semester, its only requirement is that it be a challenge for you to make! Also, your Final Presentation blog post should be posted before class on Final’s week. There is no longer any synchronous requirement for this class. Your Final Presentation post should consist of at least four objects: your final projects for each of the three programs we used (Tinkercad, Fusion360, and OpenSCAD) and your Final Final Project. You should be sure to include anything that you’re particularly proud of that you did this semester. Your Final Presentation post should tell the story of you and this class, how you adapted to the printers and the various programs we used to create designs. Which design tools did you like? Which did you suffer through? Tell your story of the class in your own words in your Final Presentation!