It's such a treat to sit down and edit photos again, never mind being able to take some! I bought a new Canon camera and I'm over the moon with the zoom lens that I bought with it. Princess was a good twenty feet or so away :-)
Monday, May 20, 2013
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
My First 3D Print Ever!
So, just a quick post before I hit the hay (I came down with a cold, boo!), here is how my 3D print project turned out. We weren't expecting to actually have anything 3D printed in the class, because ACAD just has two MakerBots. But the teacher, Cam, worked out a deal with the polytechnic across the street, SAIT, and they printed some pieces for us. Everyone was so thrilled when the TA, Stephanie, brought in the box of pieces.
The best project was a ball bearing sort of bracelet that had free moving parts and something that looked like a Kinder Egg toy with gears. All the pieces were fragile, however. SAIT provided the invoice and my pin cost $1.77 to make. My piece was the flattest and it still had a slightly tiered look. The scaling went awry on one person's project and her bracelet ended up being teeny tiny instead of wearable. The pin back didn't fit on mine - I think there was a slight scaling problem too, so breaking my New Year's Resolution was all for naught! Still quite pleased with it though. Now I can send the file away to a place like Shapeways and have them make it in plastic or metal.
The best project was a ball bearing sort of bracelet that had free moving parts and something that looked like a Kinder Egg toy with gears. All the pieces were fragile, however. SAIT provided the invoice and my pin cost $1.77 to make. My piece was the flattest and it still had a slightly tiered look. The scaling went awry on one person's project and her bracelet ended up being teeny tiny instead of wearable. The pin back didn't fit on mine - I think there was a slight scaling problem too, so breaking my New Year's Resolution was all for naught! Still quite pleased with it though. Now I can send the file away to a place like Shapeways and have them make it in plastic or metal.
Thursday, May 2, 2013
School's Out!
Ahhhh...I was sitting in my favourite part of house, Muffin fighting his own reflection on his stand, and I could slowly exhale. What is this strange feeling? Tomorrow is Friday, and I have no homework. No homework? Is it really true that school is out?
Last Saturday was my final rapid prototyping class. We had to pick a movie and create a prop for it - a weapon, vehicle or jewellery. I chose to design a set for Kim Basinger character in L.A. Confidential
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It was pretty straightforward - I made a ring, necklace and earrings based on mashing two Elizabeth Taylor designs. They turned out awesome in rendering. Everyone had to make a seven minute presentation and I was ready to puke butterflies all day! I thought we would get out by noon, but it took all day to critique everyone's designs and ask questions. It was great to see how everyone had progressed since January - Cam was able to bring out the talent in us all. Most of the props were jewellery, but one guy made a suit of futuristic armor and another made a spaceship that looked like a bird. I have so much more to tell you about this class - but for now I'm just going to enjoy doing other things for a bit first!
Once I had the heart shape, I could apply it to all the pieces. The ring was the easiest. The heart is upside down because it symbolizes the character of Lynn Bracken as being a damsel in distress.
Last Saturday was my final rapid prototyping class. We had to pick a movie and create a prop for it - a weapon, vehicle or jewellery. I chose to design a set for Kim Basinger character in L.A. Confidential
:
It was pretty straightforward - I made a ring, necklace and earrings based on mashing two Elizabeth Taylor designs. They turned out awesome in rendering. Everyone had to make a seven minute presentation and I was ready to puke butterflies all day! I thought we would get out by noon, but it took all day to critique everyone's designs and ask questions. It was great to see how everyone had progressed since January - Cam was able to bring out the talent in us all. Most of the props were jewellery, but one guy made a suit of futuristic armor and another made a spaceship that looked like a bird. I have so much more to tell you about this class - but for now I'm just going to enjoy doing other things for a bit first!
Once I had the heart shape, I could apply it to all the pieces. The ring was the easiest. The heart is upside down because it symbolizes the character of Lynn Bracken as being a damsel in distress.
Sunday, April 14, 2013
I Confess!
I have to confess - after just over four months, I broke my new year's resolution. But, dear reader, I did so unwillingly and joylessly. I swear!
My rapid prototyping teacher, Cam, wrangled a deal with the local polytechnic, SAIT, to 3D print objects on their big fancy Fortus machine. I decided to make a pin, as rendered below, in copper finish.
Cam suggested that adding the pin hardware on the back would be a great use of real world application, so I researched double stem pinbacks and designed one. Then the TA, Stephanie, had an easier idea - add some pegs onto the back that would fit a pinback. I could attach the pinback by using a heat gun to melt the pegs. Just one problem...I could not find a pinback around the house. I looked through every inch of stash and had to face the awful truth. There really isn't any other place to buy craft supplies except maybe a dollar store or a Wal-Mart. It's been at least ten years since both Lewiscraft and Crafts Canada closed down; I miss both.
I made peace with the decision and bravely walked through those automtic double doors, inhaling the store's strange and long forgotten perfume (seriously, all the stores smell the same). I made a beeline for jewellery supplies, found the gold pinbacks, breezed through the scrapbooking supplies (just to see what was new) and headed for the checkout with just the pinbacks. I was gripped by anxiety; it seemed like everything was on sale! But I held firm and let out a sigh of relief when I stepped outside.
We should get our pieces back next Saturday - I can't wait!
My rapid prototyping teacher, Cam, wrangled a deal with the local polytechnic, SAIT, to 3D print objects on their big fancy Fortus machine. I decided to make a pin, as rendered below, in copper finish.
Cam suggested that adding the pin hardware on the back would be a great use of real world application, so I researched double stem pinbacks and designed one. Then the TA, Stephanie, had an easier idea - add some pegs onto the back that would fit a pinback. I could attach the pinback by using a heat gun to melt the pegs. Just one problem...I could not find a pinback around the house. I looked through every inch of stash and had to face the awful truth. There really isn't any other place to buy craft supplies except maybe a dollar store or a Wal-Mart. It's been at least ten years since both Lewiscraft and Crafts Canada closed down; I miss both.
I made peace with the decision and bravely walked through those automtic double doors, inhaling the store's strange and long forgotten perfume (seriously, all the stores smell the same). I made a beeline for jewellery supplies, found the gold pinbacks, breezed through the scrapbooking supplies (just to see what was new) and headed for the checkout with just the pinbacks. I was gripped by anxiety; it seemed like everything was on sale! But I held firm and let out a sigh of relief when I stepped outside.
We should get our pieces back next Saturday - I can't wait!
Monday, April 1, 2013
A Different Kind of March Madness
It seems appropriate that my dad had a minor stroke during Heart and Stroke Month. The crazy thing is that he didn't know he even had one until about a week later. The five signs of stroke, as illustrated below are:
Guess which one my dad had? Dizziness, which proved to be the least useful symptom for someone that often feels dizzy. He even drove himself to the walk in doctor a couple of days after and it went undetected then. A couple of days after that, he went to the emergency room and a CAT scan showed the stroke. Dad was up and chatting and acting very normal except for feeling a little tired.
It took just about a whole month, but dad came home last week. It was so exhausting to go from devastated to optimistic in the span of five days, and it was a long trip to see him in the hospital. He needed a couple of weeks of therapy and the excellent staff at the Foothills hospital did a great job of looking after a grumpy old man :-) A side benefit is that dad couldn't smoke in the hospital, so fingers crossed that he can give up smoking for good!
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
How I Spend My Saturdays
By the time I get around writing about my Saturday class, I will have run out of Saturdays, and I'm looking forward to it. I wasn't expecting my rapid prototyping class to be so intense. It practically takes up all my time and mental space. Invariably I always do something that causes the teacher to say "How did you do that?!" in a generally bad way :D I always seem to come up with the wrong solution. We're using a software package called Rhinoceros.
Here are some of the projects from the beginning. The first thing we learned was how to revolve a line into an object. Basically a line made from the object's profile can be revolved 360 degrees to make a whole object. Vases, glasses, bottles...all very easy to make! All you need to make the martini glass on the left is the profile line on the right. It's true! Stay tuned for more stuff :-)
Here are some of the projects from the beginning. The first thing we learned was how to revolve a line into an object. Basically a line made from the object's profile can be revolved 360 degrees to make a whole object. Vases, glasses, bottles...all very easy to make! All you need to make the martini glass on the left is the profile line on the right. It's true! Stay tuned for more stuff :-)
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Monday, February 18, 2013
My Memories Review and Giveaway
The nice people at My Memories gave me a review copy of their software and a free copy to give away! How cool is that? I have been pecking away at using the software in-between learning Rhino and it's powerful simplicity is refreshing. Contest details are below the image.
One category that has frequently fallen flat is card making and scrapbooking software, so I was delighted to give My Memories Suite a go. I have been there and done that so many times, with a pile of CDs from the past 15 years, which have all disappointed in some way. Either it's too complicated to get something done quickly, or too simple to be creative enough. Or they come with bargain bin clip art and a mix of different features and I end up fixing things in CorelDraw later. MS Publisher and Avery's DesignPro software are pretty much only good for label making :D Why can't there be one program that does it all?
My Memories Suite seems to do that and more. I was able to quickly make some 12x12" pages and get my photos in there fast with the pre-designed templates. Of course, you can create your own designs or go with a "digital kit" that contains all the co-ordinating materials to create a cohesive theme. One thing that really gets me hung up with real scrapbooking is not having colours that co-ordinate or missing some little element. Or I get too hung up on the layout and never get anything done. This way I can quickly change things up without getting precious about using the good materials. I like the digital work area that lets me see everything at a glance, as you can see below (click for a larger image). Trim guides are pretty handy and warnings pop up when it looks like the pages may be trimmed when bound in a book. There are options for multimedia scrapbooks as well, and you can add music and video. Whew! I could really go on all day about all the features they packed into this program. If you can use Microsoft Word, you can definitely use this program right away without reading the manual (although it helps :-))
Give away time!
I like to keep give aways simple, so everyone who leaves a comment will have a chance to win. I'll write everyone's name on a piece of paper and Muffin will randomly pick one :-) Contest will close at 9pm MTN on February 25. One entry per individual person.
One category that has frequently fallen flat is card making and scrapbooking software, so I was delighted to give My Memories Suite a go. I have been there and done that so many times, with a pile of CDs from the past 15 years, which have all disappointed in some way. Either it's too complicated to get something done quickly, or too simple to be creative enough. Or they come with bargain bin clip art and a mix of different features and I end up fixing things in CorelDraw later. MS Publisher and Avery's DesignPro software are pretty much only good for label making :D Why can't there be one program that does it all?
My Memories Suite seems to do that and more. I was able to quickly make some 12x12" pages and get my photos in there fast with the pre-designed templates. Of course, you can create your own designs or go with a "digital kit" that contains all the co-ordinating materials to create a cohesive theme. One thing that really gets me hung up with real scrapbooking is not having colours that co-ordinate or missing some little element. Or I get too hung up on the layout and never get anything done. This way I can quickly change things up without getting precious about using the good materials. I like the digital work area that lets me see everything at a glance, as you can see below (click for a larger image). Trim guides are pretty handy and warnings pop up when it looks like the pages may be trimmed when bound in a book. There are options for multimedia scrapbooks as well, and you can add music and video. Whew! I could really go on all day about all the features they packed into this program. If you can use Microsoft Word, you can definitely use this program right away without reading the manual (although it helps :-))
Give away time!
I like to keep give aways simple, so everyone who leaves a comment will have a chance to win. I'll write everyone's name on a piece of paper and Muffin will randomly pick one :-) Contest will close at 9pm MTN on February 25. One entry per individual person.
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