iPads as a tool to increase creativity in digital fabrication?

[ja...@gorgemakerspace.com]

I'm looking for ways to spark my middle school students' creativity while using the vinyl cutter, laser cutter and 3D printer. With the vinyl and laser cutters, they do a lot of copy and pasting exisiting images (and might learn to trace them or convert to vector files, but don't get to create original art). With the 3D printers, students feel limited by what they can create in TinkerCAD (mostly geometric shapes or penguins with mustaches!). 

Is anyone teaching students to draw in inexpensive, easy-to-learn apps like Canva and Procreate for making stickers and engravings? What about similiar apps for sculpting 3D shapes, like Puttty 3D or Forger?

Would love to hear what works for you.

Thanks, 
Jack Perrin,

 www.gorgemakerspace.org

[god...@skillmillnyc.com]

I like to teach kids to think of the shapes that make up objects.  I don't let them download existing images.  Instead I use this program https://shapegrams.com/ for learning digital shapes and I use https://www.dazzlingdiscoveries.com/engineeringwithpaper for making shapes and projects with paper, and then have them recreate them in Tinkercad.

Godwyn

Director

Dazzling Discoveries / Skill Mill NYC

[Joan Horvath]

Try starting with some of the classical math constructions so they can think about combining basic shapes to get a Gothic arch, for example. We have found if we do some compass and straightedge constructions first and then move into Tinkercad we get better results.

We focus on math principles  then have them do a castle that is required to include certain geometric features. We explore the math of those constructions in our Make:Geometry book, or you could go back to some of the Euclidean constructions directly and brainstorm some interesting things to make from those.

 All our books are based on OpenSCAD (www.openscad.org) which doesn't run in the form our books require on a tablet, but you can keep the math principles and adapt some of them to Tinkercad (although it can be a little fiddly to get things precise in Tinkercad).

Joan Horvath

Co-founder Nonscriptum LLC

[Clary, Shelly]

Regarding the 3D printers, have you tried SculptGL? Similar to Sculptris if you ever used that. It is a ball of clay but digital with lots of tools. I tried it last year with 7th and 8th graders. I work with my art teacher. While she does pottery, I work with the students and we 3D print what they design. It is very cool. My kids loved it!

We have also asked for problems around the building that we can help fix. We use the 3D printers and design solutions after prototyping with cardboard. We worked on designed a stopper for a sink and a tray to hold pencils to prevent them from rolling when etching on them in the laser cutter.

Mrs. Michelle Clary
Director of STREAM Education

Gesu Catholic School
2450 Miramar Blvd.
University Heights, OH 44118
(216) 932-0620 x405

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam! / All for the Greater Glory of God!

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[Jeremy Mularella]

Hey Jack,

I have students do some designing in Canva, then export as SVG files (need Canva for Education). They can then use it to make stickers on the vinyl cutter or send it into Tinkercad for 3D printing. 

I had some great results making keychains, name plates, etc with this method over the summer. Tinkercad has some cool options for imported SVGs where you can add inner and outer borders. This allowed us to make name plates with two colors by pausing the printer. This same method can be used to easily make cookie cutters as well. 

As for other 3D modeling apps, I don’t do any sculpting, but Onshape is a great CAD program. The app isn’t as good as the online desktop version, but it’s still quite functional. 

Thanks,

Jeremy

On Sep 8, 2024, at 6:51 PM, god...@skillmillnyc.com <god...@skillmillnyc.com> wrote:

I like to teach kids to think of the shapes that make up objects.  I don't let them download existing images.  Instead I use this program https://shapegrams.com/ for learning digital shapes and I use https://www.dazzlingdiscoveries.com/engineeringwithpaper for making shapes and projects with paper, and then have them recreate them in Tinkercad.

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[JD Pirtle]

What worked in my classes is to set clear guidelines about what any digital fabrication tool is for. The first guideline is “these tools are for making things that used to exist or things that don’t yet exist.” I tell my students that if they want to make something that we could buy on Amazon, etc, we should just buy it rather than print or cut it. That leads to some conversations about injection molding and other more efficient manufacturing techniques, and why they are better for large runs of an object. The second guideline is that if a student wants to remix something, that’s fine, but it needs to be substantially reimagined in a creative way. I had a student who wanted to cut a Gucci logo on the vinyl cutter, and after some brainstorming they ended up making a large, original design comprised of small Gucci logos. IMO, remixing is a valid art form. 

We use Tinkercad for 3D modeling and designing SVGs that can be sent to a laser cutter or a vinyl cutter. It’s very powerful and students can do quite a bit before hitting the edges of what it can do. When they do, we move on to OnShape. 

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[Reid Bingham]

Hi Jack

We have been able to use our iPads for some laser cutting and 3D printing with the Turtle Art app. It's the paid app version of free web based Turtle Art (link). Our students (1st - 3rd) learn how to code in the app to create lovely artistic and geometric designs and we use those to create a wide range of projects. Here are some photos of laser cut spinning tops (and lil art books) based on their turtle art designs. 

You can also import SVGs into TinkerCAD and 3D print designs as well. The only downside is that you cannot export SVGs directly from the Turtle Art app, you have to download the Turtle Art project, open it in the web version, and export the SVG that way. 

Another nice app your students could use is Adobe Capture. It turns photos into SVGs and a wide range of tools and things we dont use but I'm sure could be excellent in helping your older students create original designs. We just use a web based SVG converter to turn pictures of student drawings into laser cut and 3D printed projects but Adobe Capture can do lots of other cool things.

If you find anything that works well please share back to this thread! I'm always on the lookout for new apps and ways to use these devices in class.

Best regards,

-Reid

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Reid Bingham

973.906.6614

reidb...@gmail.com

[Kathy Giori]

The Snap! programming tool (like Scratch on steroids) is my favorite approach to programmatically generate 3D creations (and much more). There used to be forks of Snap! such as TurtleStitch (for embroidery designs or etching tools), and BeetleBlocks for 3D renderings that would output .stl files you could print, but now those specialized capabilities are incorporated directly as extensions. I recommend asking for advice/tips on the Snap! forums or checking out the hyperlinked websites.

kathy

(p.s. my focus is mainly spreading the gospel of physical computing using imho the best tool for programming microcontrollers -- MicroBlocks)

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[Clara Ngo]

I like to start teaching about creating vector images by playing a game of timed Pictionary with two teams. After each round, I go over how all their drawings are made from basic shapes or a composition of shapes. I tell them not to erase in between each drawing so we can continue noticing them. 

I used to be a math teacher and we didn’t officially teach composition of shapes until 7th grade so it was nice that I got to introduce this concept as early as 5th grade and they get it. 

Clara Ngo (she/her) Director of the Hub and Student Council Advisor Hillbrook School A 300 Marchmont Dr. Los Gatos, CA 95032 E cn...@hillbrook.org | P (408) 356-6116 Be kind. Be curious. Take risks. Be your best.

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On Sun, Sep 8, 2024 at 5:40 PM Joan Horvath <scien...@gmail.com> wrote:

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[Sarah Pike]

Hi Jack,

If you have the budget, Shaper Tools' Trace turns drawings into vectors that can be used in any program that uses SVG files. Unlike many trace programs, it includes a center line cut option.

https://www.shapertools.com/en-us/trace

Best,

Sarah

www.FreeFall-Laser.com

www.LearnLaserCutting.com

Instagram: freefalllaser

61 Main St, Suite 252

North Adams, MA 01247

413-884-5552

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