My Digital Making Journey- Original Tutorials and Reflection: Tutorial 1: Exploring Form, Capturing my Object and Preparing it for Laser Cutting

The first practical step for this process was to attempt to understand the form of the topiary as best as possible, as a sort of visual analytical process. Although the plant itself has lots of smaller elements and irregularities within its shape, the overall form of the plant is an elegant spiral set upon a traditional terracotta pot, which in itself has quite a pleasant form ideal for the level of metal working required for this project

This quick sketch is part of my visual analysis of the shape and form of the spiral

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These sketches look at the shape and form of the terracotta pot at the base of the plant

Although simple, these quick sketches helped myself gain a better understanding of the shapes within the object. My analysis suggested that although the spiral is the most evident part of the object, that the pot maybe the most practical form for the later stages of this project. I would suggest that anyone looking at choosing an object for this first part of the process to undergo a series of visual analysis in their own style, in an attempt to gain a greater understanding of the forms involved within their shape. Sometimes there is a lot more to an object than you initially think and a visual analysis can help reveal them.

The next step of this process was to capture the required images of my object using the 123D Catch phone application and produce an accurate three dimensional model. The application is quite self explanatory and has a usable interface that indicates what images need to be captured and in what sequence. It also offers up a series of instructions and suggestions before you begin.

              

These images are examples of the guidance and instruction that the app will provide before beginning the process

This image is a screenshot of the phone application in action. I used a can of drink as an example. You can clearly see  the interface is very similar to that of a traditional phone camera, the difference being the sequence indication in the bottom left hand corner of the image. This helps the photographer keep track of where they are on the surface  when taking the required images for a particular object. Once the required images have been taken the application will indicate that the model is ready to be processed.

Once the images have been taken, press the tick in the top right hand corner and the following images will appear as the next three stages, follow the instructions as the application prepares to render the 3D model:

      

After the application has finished producing a render of the object, it can be viewed and analysed within the phone app. Once i decided that i was happy with the result, the next step was to login to my Autodesk account on my laptop and review and edit the model.

After 123D Catch had generated a 3D model of the Spiral Topiary, I used the Lasso selection tool to edit out the background and all the unwanted parts of the 3D Image. I attempted to give it the simplest form possible, so that 123D Make would have an easier time processing the model.

Once i was satisfied with the result i saved the file as an STl and exported it into Meshmixer.

The next stage is Meshmixer, a program i had never heard of, let alone had any experience with, none the less i found it extremely simple and beneficial for simplifying the form of the object. I would suggest that for anyone about to use the program for the first time to watch a series of tutorial videos online before attempting it themselves.

  

Being able to simplify the form of the topiary definitely helps a lot in the next stage of the process. By smoothing the surfaces and imperfections in the object 123D make is able to process and model a lot quicker and without any major problems.

I then saved the Meshmixer file as a OBJ and exported it into 123D Make


123D Make:

The following images are the different options that 123D Make offers when it comes to printing and laser cutting layouts. I ended up choosing the stacked slices option (shown above) as it provided the strongest form and it was much more aesthetically pleasing. Although it would take a lot longer to produce and cost a decent amount more in materials. I also recommend this option for the later stages of the project, the stronger the model is the easier it will be to shape the metal skin around it.

   

These images demonstrate the other options within 123D Make.

The next step is to adjust the sheet layout in 123D Make for the laser print. The 123D Make program allows you to organise the layout of your sheet including, sheet sizes, width and general layout in regards to material optimisation (reducing wastage)

From the 123D Make computer program i saved the printing layout as a PDF. Before you do that, you must set the parameters for the printing file, as this cannot be done during later stages.

I used 6 x 2mm Matte board with a sheet size of 600mm x 300mm, which i purchased from the square house shopfront.

The 123D Make program produced 175 individual layers for my model, at this scale.

The Dimensions of my Model, after being scaled down in Meshmixer and Make is 350mm in height with a 106mm diameter at the base of the pot. The diameter of the object varies as the spiral extends upward.

These PDFs will then be opened in illustrator and edited according to cutting depth and width.

The next step is to open each individual sheet as a PDF in Adobe illustrator, the reason for using Illustrator is that produces an Ai. file which can be interpreted by the laser cutter and printed.

The following steps need to be followed precisly as the laser cutter has specific settings to adhere to:

1. The colour mode needs to be in RBG. Select FILE>DOCUMENT COLOR MODE>RBG COLOR

2. Select ANY BLUE LINE>SAME>STROKE COLOR

3. Change the line weight to 0.001mm and set the colour to:

4. Select ANY RED LINE>SAME>STROKE COLOR

5. Change the line weight to 0.001mm and set the colour to:

It is extremely important to follow these steps as the laser cutter can only interpret red and blue lines in RBG colour mode

Red indicates a full depth cut and Blue indicates and scolding cut

Once these steps have been done for each page they can be sent, one at a time through to the laser cutter which runs through its own program.

It is best to complete these final Adobe Illustrator steps on the laser cutting computer as the files can be sent straight from Illustrator to the laser cutting program

6. Select FILE>PRINT

The file will then automatically open and the next stage will begin.

My Digital Making Journey- Original Tutorials and Reflection: My Found Object's relationship to Landscape Architecture

 

It took me a lot longer than id expected to actually find a 'found object' that i was happy with and that i thought i could apply during the next stages of the assignment. I could have sped up the process quite a bit if i had decided earlier on and had 123D Catch and Make run smoothly, but that is just not how it went for me.

After a long thought process, deliberation and research, the object i chose was quite an obvious choice considering my Landscape Architectural background. The concept of doing a plant had occurred to me earlier on in the process but, being unfamiliar with the 123D programs and the laser cutting i wasn't sure of the results it would produce in terms of photographing, modelling and printing. At first  the concept of using a plant as a representation of landscape architecture occurred to me as a bit too basic of an idea and and not really appropriate as a form, that was until i found this particular species. 

Having spent time improving both my knowledge and skills with 123D catch and doing my FabLab induction, i was able to familiarize myself with the laser cutter and how that actually operates, i felt much more confident in producing any object that i wanted to, providing i could establish a clear 3D model using 123D Catch to begin with. In terms of the actual metal working process, that was something that i had little experience with and knew nothing about.

'The object i chose to focus on was a specific species of Shrub most often potted; The Buxus spiral Topiary'.

Topiary is the horticultural practice of training live plants by clipping the foliage of trees and shrubs to develop and maintain clearly defined shapes.

Since its European revival in the 16th century, topiary has been seen on the parterres and terraces of gardens of the European elite, as well as in simple cottage gardens. Traditional topiary forms use foliage pruned and or trained into geometric shapes such as balls or cubes, obelisks, pyramids, cones or tapering spirals. Some popular choices include Buxus, Conifers, Camellias, Azaleas, Bay Trees, Syzygium and Luma.

It is quite obvious, the connection between my found object and my field of landscape architecture. Identifying, investigating, selecting, maintaining and designing are all elements within Landscape Architecture that involve plants. This style of Buxus Topiary plant is most commonly seen in the French Baroque style of landscape in particular within formal gardens.

For this process i believe simple is best, often the first thing that comes to mind will be the most effective and often is the most obvious representation of your discipline, Stick to elements what you know when approaching a process that you are unfamiliar with. 

My Digital Making Journey- Original Tutorials and Reflection: Search for my Found Object

As i was unfamiliar with the next step of the process my search for a 'found object' lent me towards attempting to construct a 3D model using 123D catch before actually deciding on a particular object, purely from a perspective of grasping an understanding of how the application functioned.

I had a quick search around the house for a few items that could vaguely relate to my discipline and that i could use as test pieces for 3D modeling

This object is a body boarding fin: i used a piece of string tied from the top of the fin to t light fixture in the ceiling so that it would stand upright and still for the photography.  The floor in this situation was quite reflective pine boars which enhanced an already bright environment.

 I found that the black matte surface of the fin was not ideal for the application to differentiate between surface edges and form, it subsequently resulted in a lot of holes and other issues in the model. From this i learnt that the object in focus needs not to have such a flat colouring on the surface and the lighting within the room needs to be consistent on all surfaces. 

 

With my next two attempts at modelling in 123D Catch I encountered a number of frustrating issues within both the phone application and computer program. I feel that the program is unrefined and extremely temperamental; it took me several attempts at capturing the images on my phone for it to actually produce a rendered 3D model. After hours of waiting, it wouldn’t upload properly on to the system and you would have to start again.

This happened to me several times on separate occasions. There were other situations where I decided to take the images using the phone application and upload them using the computer program on my laptop because the phone was better at capturing the images and rendering the images but didn’t have the capacity to edit the file or transfer it into MAKE. But the laptop couldn’t handle all the files either, some worked but it was usually only on the models that were poor quality to begin with. The laptop would crash on every occasion that I attempted to use the programs menu bar and edit the model. A brand new $2500 laptop should be able to complete this simple task but for some unknown reason, it was proving impossible.

The way I got around these issues for my final model was to capture the photographs of the found object using 123D CATCH phone app and then allowed the phone application to render and upload the image to the Autodesk network. Using my laptop I logged into my Autodesk account of the 123D CATCH program and without attempting to edit the file I exported it as an OBJ file into MESHMAKER where I could edit the surface.

I came across countless errors with this 3D modelling process. I found it extremely difficult to locate an area which would provide an even spread of lighting on all sides off the object. I believe the lack of lighting and poor surface texture caused the majority of my issues within the models, but once they had been generated, attempting to edit the file immediately causes the program to shut down. Therefore i either had to find a more suitable program or a better computer. Unfortunately i was not able to get access to a desktop that allowed administrator rights to download this program, so a better computer was out of the question.

The only solution was to persist, perhaps finding an object that produced a clear 3D model without requiring an edit and could be exported straight into 123D Make. Luckily I had not yet decided on my final found object.

Some suggestions to make this process a little easier is to watch some tutorials on the Autodesk website and to talk to other students who have had experience with the program. the program itself can be extremely temperamental. I think the performance of the actually program comes a lot down to your computers ability. Make sure that you are using the best possible desktop computer that you can get your hands on and allow it a lot of time to process the images and upload them onto the Autodesk network, this way you can access and edit them anytime. Photograph an object with varying surface form, preferably with a rough texture and always ensure that there is consistent lighting on all sides of the object. Make sure you place the object on a surface that has an element of randomness about it with changes in texture colour and even linework. this help when the computer is trying to work out what is and what isn't the object.

The one thing i will say about this process is that it helps you to think on your feet, to devise new ways of problem solving when things that are supposed to work, don't.

My Digital Making Journey- Original Tutorials and Reflection: Acquiring Proficiency and Completing Modules

Having to complete the online inductions wasn't something i was completely aware of at the first stage, i had heard in class that there were some inductions we had to do but i had no idea what that would entail or where i would have to go to do them. I wasn't sure if they were part of the course or not, or just a separate prerequisite to use the workshop space and machinery.
Having done a major work in Woodwork at school i have spent a lot of time in a workshop but have never had to be officially inducted into a work space, so i was a bit surprised at first.

I had a quick skim read through the course outline and managed to work out the correct process to complete all the necessary online inductions and quizzes and then book in for an both the workshop, metal working and FabLAb inductions.

I think, once again, that if there was a way to incorporate this online work into class time it would have been done by everyone a lot sooner and with a lot more of an understanding.

This may come across a bit simply, but initially i was confused as to why we couldn't do these inductions during allocated class and what the reason for everyone just standing around doing nothing during class was. If there was a way to organise a group or entire class to do the inductions over a single day. Possibly during week two that would save a substantial amount of time. I believe the quality of work would have been a lot higher had we moved through the earlier stages a lot smoother had this been the case. That is not saying that it isn't completely my fault as a student for not investigating the course outline further earlier on, but when you've been doing classes for a long time a certain way you come to expect them to be presented in a particular fashion. I didn't really consider that the content of the class wasn't being discussed during class time, you just assume that there wasn't much to discuss at the time and the Russell would tell everyone when and how things were to be done. Everything we needed to know was in the course outline and class time was to spend time working on your project and ask questions. Most classes are the opposite. It confused me at first.

My Digital Making Journey- Original Tutorials and Reflection: My First Class

The first class is often the most daunting time in a subject. Am i in the right room? Will i know anybody? What if i don't make any friends? What if i am no good at this subject? What if i can't handle the workload? Maybe i should just drop the subject now and pick up a summer semester...? Whether people are willing to admit it, these are the things that most people think about going into an unknown subject not knowing a single person.

The first task for the course was to get into groups of 4 or 5 people with one member from each industry and discuss what possible object we could use to begin our assignments, relating to our own industry. The object didn't have to directly be an item identified within your industry but one that you could relate to on a personal level and tie in with your work.

A million things were going through my mind. At this stage i was completely unaware of the work that we were to undertake in the following assignments, so some of the thoughts i had now seem quite ridiculous and almost impossible to do in the latter stages.

For myself, i have always had a connection and love for water and the land that creates its edges

In particular the ocean and the beautiful Australian coastline 

I wanted something that would represent the connection between the two, on a social level as well. An object that allowed a connection for people from one to the other

An object that symbolizes human interaction and connection with the ocean, a tool that allows people from the land to exist on the ocean

After speaking to Russell about my current thought process he suggested something a little more achievable. Obviously my thought process at this stage was set on this theme of the ocean that i had be working on in my head but Russell had the advantage of knowing what work lay ahead and the skills that it would take in order to produce something of this complexity.

 I left the class that day reasonably confident that i was going to use an anchor as my found object.

I think for this first class a brief introduction and tour in the Workshop and Fablab would have been beneficial and possibly even a small metalworking task to get the ball rolling. I was coming into this whole new world completely blind, i literally never used 123D Catch or Make, seen or even used a laser cutter or 3D printer, i didn't know what or where the FabLab was or even anything about the workshop. For the first few stages of this subject a lot of things were assumed and that made it quite difficult for myself to get moving in the right direction. Even the simplest of task can be confusing to someone who has never done it before, they may have a different way of going about problem solving or even just a different thought process and for something that has a clear right way and a wrong way, it can make it a lot more difficult than it needs to be. A lot of time could have been saved during the initial weeks if a simple step by step explanation of the basics had been incorporated within class time.

My Digital Making Journey- Original Tutorials and Reflection: Introduction to BEIL0014

To be completely honest, the reason i enrolled in 'Digital Making' was because it fit perfectly into my timetable. I knew nothing about the subject other than what i had quickly read in the course handbook before enrolling, which wasn't much to go by. None the less i am extremely happy that i took the leap of faith. This course has taught myself quite a bit in very a short period of time, things that i didn't ever expect to be doing at university, tasks that have opened my eyes to a completely different way of learning and approaching problems.

2016 UNSW Course Handbook Description:

 "Through new methods in designing objects and spaces, new challenges in making and creating the objects and spaces arise. Digital design and fabrication promises new ways of designing, different, cheaper and faster but are these predictions real promises or are they are misleading the future designer and builder? The studio sees only one way to get an answer to the questions raised above – through digital making! Consequently the studio engages in designing an installation using digital and parametric design tools, and building the outcome as a 1:1 mock-up and answering the question by exploring what is possible and what are only promises. A project with this complexity requires experts from different disciplines. It is not only about the design but also about managing the project, understanding the constraints of construction methods and materials, structural and building regulation and their demands and understanding details from an aesthetic to fabrication point. This is digital making of the 21st century." 

http://www.handbook.unsw.edu.au/undergraduate/courses/2016/BEIL0014.html

Reading this description now i have better understanding of what is trying to be said, but before  having anything to do with the subject it can come across as quite a vague statement with no real definitive direction or instruction as to what the course might entail. Perhaps this was what was intended, who knows? All i can say is that from the perspective of a student who would jump at the chance to do any sort of hands on work, this statement only gives a small indication as to the amount of practical (hands on) work that it involves. In terms of attracting more people within the built environment faculty with a like mindedness to that of my own, a description with a more accurate indication of the type of work would be beneficial, i think. i.e. 3D modelling, Workshop inductions Laser cutting, Model making, Metal shaping, blogging etc...

My Reflection

For myself this project was completely different from my last, it didn't involve as much problem solving and failed attempts as the first but none the less it still took a bit elbow grease and perseverance. In the end I was reasonably happy with my result, although given more time i believe i could have achieved a more precise outcome for my interdisciplinary skin. The differences between the two objects that i have focused on throughout this subject are vast but in being so different they have been able to teach me varying sets of metalworking techniques that i would have otherwise not come across, had i attempted to do something much similar to my first project. 
I now see the value in choosing another persons work from different discipline for the second project within this course, its not the fact that you learn anything in particular about their industry but the fact that it teaches you other techniques within the metal shaping industry, having to attempt a completely alternate form from your own. 

This subject, so far has been a great experience and has allowed me to get involved in some practical work for a change, it has greatly increased my skills in metal shaping which has been a surprisingly enjoyable experience.

As with most things in life the more you do something the better you become at it. This is certainly the case for metalworking, the more you involve yourself in the process and information you can pick up from your own attempts and the more you listen and learn from the people around you both with experience and without it, the better you become at the process, and this is certainly reflected in not only the quality of your work but within the process you take along the journey to that final product.

I have thoroughly enjoyed this subject so far and look forward to the next project and once again improving on my skill set within the metalworking industry.