Week 2: Computer Aided design¶
This week we started exploring the computer aided design softwares, we are required to learn two 2-D design softwares and two 3-D design softwares.
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Cuttle (2-D)
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Fusion (2-D & 3-D)
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SolidWorks (3-D)
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Inkscape (2-D)
Cuttle¶
Cuttle is a web-based design tool for digital cutting machines. It allows the user to create costume SVGs is seconds. Cuttle is known for its simplicity and efficiently where anyone could learn to use it and produce their desired outcome. It uses vectors rather than pixels so it supports laser cutting machines. Although the free version of the software limits some features, it still allows the user to wide range of features that can still accomplish a lot.
Below wll present a few helpful general tips for using cuttle:
After creating your cuttle account, this is the page you will see once you open the website.
In this page, you can see your projects, create your project, or explore for other templates. Note that every user that uses the free version can only create 5 projects at a time only. However, inside every project you can create multiple components. Therefore, I advise you to make the best of the components rather than creating multiple project for every design you have.
If you created a new project or entered an already existing one, this is the page you will see:
above you can see all the option that you control in your in your project.
To add a shape, drag the desired shape from the left vertical bar to the workplace. You can move the shape around by clicking on it and dragging it by the point in its center. On the right, a section will appear that allows you to control the parameter and style of the shape. This method apply to shapes, text, emojis, and imported files.
The following steps, are steps that guide you through the making of a simple neckless:
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Drag the text from the left bar and write your desired text.
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from the bar on the right side, change the type of font to your preference (Handwriting type is preferred since it has the letters intertwined)
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select the text then write click and click on the “duplicate”
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Drag the duplicated text away from the original, select it and do right click, and select “outline stroke”.
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on the right bar you will see the options of the outline stroke, change the width to 4.
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select the stroke (the new duplicated text) and do right click, then select “Convert to path”
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Remove the unwanted small shapes inside the stroke.
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Now select the original text, go to modify at the top left of the page and then select “Boolean union (weld)”
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Drag the original text into the stroke.
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Add a small circle at the top and let bottom of it interfere with one of the letters. The select the stroke and the circle only (Without the original text), go to modify and select “Boolean union (weld)”
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If you cannot see the original text inside the stroke, go to the workspace at the top right, tight click on the original text and select (Bring forward). (if you can already see the original text ignore this step)
Add an even smaller circle than the one before it, place it inside the old circle, then select everything, right click and click on group.
Now you necklace is ready!
Here are few designs that I made using cuttle:
Fusion¶
Although Autodesk Fusion is famous for its CAD (Computer Aided-Deign) capacities, it also offers CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing), CAE (Computer Aided Engineering), and PCB (Printed Circuit Board). It widely used due to the features it provides such as being easy to navigate through, produce high quality CNC-machine parts, and allowing testing and simulations on 3-D designs.
Generally, Fusion is not available for free save few cases, as student you can access and download Fusion by providing a formal document from your institution that proves you are currently a student there.
The following steps are steps for the creation of a book stand:
At this photo, you can see the most important features/tools that tou need to get introduced to the app.
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Click on the sketch tool at the top left corner, and this planes will appear to you. choose on what plane you wish to start your sketch (I choose the left plane)
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After that, at the top left, the possible shapes you can draw with will appear (Line, circle, rectangles, ect.), I used the line to draw the side view of the part that I wanted to create.
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At the top Left you will notice tool called “sketch dimension” or click (d), click on it and define your shapes and lines with your desired dimensions.
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I drew a Small rectangular at the base and assigned dimensions to it.
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As you can see n step number 2, go to the top left click on create then click “rectangular pattern”. this will allows you to duplicate ant shape you drew in specific direction rather than drawing it multiple times.
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This small window will appear to you, now the option “select” is chosen. So go aged an select the shape/lines you want to duplicate. In this case, I selected the three lines on=f the small rectangular that I drew earlier.
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After selecting the desired shapes/lines, the window will expand and more options will appear such as quantity, direction and distance. As can be seen wrote 4 next to the quantity since wanted the shape to duplicated 4 times, as for the other options, I handled them manually. As you can see, there are two small arrows on the shape (one pointing upwards and one pointing to the right) by dragging either of those tou can set the direction and the distance you desire. Foe example, dragging the right-pointing arrow to the left will make the pattern to the left and 3 more shapes will appear, the more you drag it to the left, the more distance between the shape you will create.
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You can see the result, we have now a linear pattern that consists of four identical shapes that evenly spaced.
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Now we finished he 2-D aspect of the design, the drawing is complete and we must convert it to a 3-D model. This is achieved by the “Extrude” feature, you can access it by clicking on the letter “E” on your keyboard. A window as the presented in step 2 will appear to you. Select the profiles that you want to extrude (in this case we have 5 profiles and I want to extrude all of them the same dimension. thus I selected all of them), again, you can set the direction and the dimension from the widow manually or you can drag it from the sketch itself.
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I wanted to extrude the drawing to the left with 350 mm. So o wrote the number in the window and I chose the left direction.
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At the top, there are two sharp edges; therefore, I applied “fillet” to both edges by clicking the letter “F” on your keyboard or you can find it on the top bar. After the fillet window appear, select the edge and type by how many millimeters you want to fillet it.
Here is the final result:
Here is another model that created using Fusion:
SolidWorks¶
SolidWorks is a leading CAD and CAE software used primarily by engineers, designers, and manufacturers for creating detailed 3D models, simulations, and technical documentation. It is widely adopted across various industries, including automotive, aerospace, and consumer products. What distinguishes SolidWorks from other CAD software is its user-friendly interface, parametric and feature-based modeling, integrated simulation tools such as FEA, and comprehensive suite of design features.
Unfortunately, SolidWorks is not available for free nor it is given for free for students. Therefore, I would not recommend you to use it unless you have a an access to it through your university or any institution. This because the availability of other free softwares that could serve the purpose.
In SolidWorks, I will provide the steps tp make a water bottle so we can explore more features that we didn’t use in Fusion:
Here is the page you wil see if you started a new part in SolidWorks.
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On the left, right click on the plane you want to sketch on and choose sketch.
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The bar at the top wll change now, it will go n sketch mode as you can see. For now, let’s focus on the shapes.
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Click at the small arrow near the line, and select the dashed-line (Centerline).
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Draw two lines, one horizontal and one vertical. Make sure that both lines cross the origin point.
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Consider the vertical line as the mid point of your symmetrical part. Then draw only half of the shape on either side.
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Use (Smart dimensions) to assign and define dimensions to your drawing.
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In the top bar, there is a tool called (Offset). This tool crates a parallel line to your existing drawing, (you can choose the distance between the two lines).
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After clicking on the offset tool, select the line you want to duplicate, then on the left choose how many millimeters you want the distance between them.
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After applying the offset, go to both edges of the dawning and connect the open ends.
You are currently in the sketch mode, on the top left of your screen, click on (features) so you switch the bar. The click on (Revolved boss/base).
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Here you must select the md line of your drawing, the line that the sketch wll revolve around.
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Here you select the sketch, and it was selected automatically, since we clicked on the feature while the text is still open
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after applying the revolve feature this is the result.
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you can notice that hte top is closed and we cannot see if the bottle is hollow from the inside or solid. therefore, we will use the (section view) feature. this feature allows us to tempreorliy split the part in any direction we need to see the inside.
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Here we can see the customization options, so basically, you create a plane to your preference that cuts what n front of it or behind it according to your chosen direction.
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Ths the customization that I select, which allows me to see if the bottle is hollow or solid for the inside.
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After applying the feature, we can see that the bottle is hollow from the inside and it is closed from the top only. (To exit the section view, just click on the features Icon, the same one we used to open it)
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Go to the top left, click on the (Sketch feature) then select the top face of the bottle.
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Draw a circle in the center, then put the distance between it and the original circle 1.5.
Go to features, the click on (Extrude cut) feature, so you can cut the top.
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Choose how much you want to cut (in this case 1.5 mm will be enough).
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I oped the section vew again to mae sure if everything is correct.
Here is the final result:
Here is another model created using SoliWorks:
Inkscape:¶
Here is the window that will appear to you as soon as you open the application, in this window, you can select the page size you want to work on. Or by clicking on “existing files” you can open old files you made with this software.
This is the interface of the application. As you can see, there are two main toolbars (one is vertical on the left and the other is horizontal on the top). From the top toolbar, you can adjust the photos, text, and shape sizes and orientation. From the vertical one on the left, you can add shapes, draw, or add text. Lastly, you can see one more horizontal bar with colors to customize your added shapes/texts.
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Go to file. Then, document properties to customize the documents to your preference.
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This window will pop out, from this, you can change the page size, the measurement unit, orientation, and other customization options.
As you can see, these are examples of the shapes you can insert or draw. Of course, you have more freedom with the pen tools to draw anything.
As you can see, you can add text from the vertical toolbar on the left, and then from the horizontal toolbar on the top, you can change the font type, font size, and orientation. From the window on the right, you can customize the color of the font and stroke.
Select the text, then go to “path” on the top left, then click on “Object to path”. The text as a whole will be separated into separate letters, where you can reshape any of them to your liking.
This is a simple logo I created while experimenting and exploring the software and its features.
To understand more about the software and its features and tools check out this video here:
Comparison between the softwares:¶
After trying four softwares (two 3-D and two 2-D), I conclude that I find all four of them very Beneficial and can serve the purpose. However, I prefer some over other. When it comes to the 3-D software I tried SolidWorks and Fusion 360 and I prefer SolidWorks, although Fusion has the all the capabilities and features required to create any 3-D model in mind, I prefer SolidWorks because I am more familiar with it. I have been using SolidWorks for 3 years now, and I got used to its Interface, tools, and features, therefore, I will pick SolidWorks over Fusion. Nevertheless, I would recommend Fusion for you, due to SolidWorks being unavailable for free in addition to it being harder for beginners, Fusion provide more friendly and adaptable workspace and it is easier to navigate through. On the other hand, when it comes to 2-D softwares, I experimented with Cuttle and Inkscape, I was new to both software where I did not use any of them before, so it was a more challenging to navigate my way through them. For Cuttle, the tutors explained to us briefly about the software and shoed us its basics. I found the cuttle to be straightforward, you can understand a lot about the its working by exploring through it and experimenting yourself. It is easy and allows you to do a lot. In contrast, I found Inkscape harder, especially for em since I do not have any experience with these type of softwares before. However with time, and after watching few Youtube videos, I began to know my way through it, and it shocked me how much you can achieve thorough this software, it allows for so much customization in shapes, fonts, colors, tools, and features. Although, I think Inkscape is the better software, I am going to choose Cuttle because it is moe friendly and easier for beginners and new users like me.