Project 2 Start!

So for this project our main tools are the laser cutter and/or penplotter. Now I've used the laser cutter several times before on some side acrylic things, but I'm mainly staying away from using wood and other flammable materials for 2 reasons.

1. Easy to catch fire(duh)
2. I don't want to damage the lens

Anyways, I've been always fascinated with those light fixtures that are clear sheets of plastic/glass that have engravings in them and light running through it, so I figured that I'd use that for my main material of my project. The other part was what did I want to have engraved(not too sure I want to cut). As of lately, I've been interested in chinese(biased?) inkwash paintings and vector-stylization, so what better way than combining both to make an engraving?

So here's the preliminary sketch with the pencil brush in PS5.

Very simple and sketchy.

Here's the solids filled in to be sent to Illustrator.

The materials are going to be slightly expensive, but that was a given. I'll be using a light-diffusing clear acrylic and a blue LED strip to light up the plastic. I'll put inprogress pictures once I get the materials and start engraving.

Project 1 Updates

So a class day or 2 later, we've started finalizing the design and extruding them into 3D form getting them ready to print. I've pretty much finished mine, so the only thing I need to do is scale them down a bit and then export them to the printer. Here's my Pre-final version.

I can't wait to see the end product. :D

3D Printing Thoughts

There are many applications of 3D printing that I've seen articles online; ranging from making parts for construction bots to making weapons, and even 3D printing food. The last one I'm not so sure how it's feasible. My main question is how functional are 3D prints as compared to actual metal forged components when it comes to weapons.

Project 1 Start

This first assignment is pretty cool, I'm not going to lie. So we're designing cookie cutters that will be 3-D printed. My first ideas were to make nerdy videogame thing like symbols and stuff, but I felt that wouldn't be original, so I opted more for the geometric pattern approach. For some reason those things interest me. Here are some designs I've been messing around with.

This was a little more complex and I would have to define what would've been cut out from the inside.

The second one is a little more simplistic, where i just used 2 4-sided stars.

This is probably going to be the final one I'll use. Kinda inspired from snowflakes.