A reflective blog about the experience in a 3D digital design class.

Now that I have decided where my future vision lies, it’s time to decide how to get there. I have come up with a timeline for the steps that would be required to achieve my goal of making a line of 3D printed henna inspired jewelry designs.

Steps to get the 3D printed henna inspired jewelry to market:

11/11 – First draft of deigns sketches

11/18 – Select one piece for prototyping and build digital model

11/25 – Finalize the digital models and select one for 3D printing

12/02 – Print the 3D model (if possible). Design the brand identity and marketing strategy.

12/09 – Do a test market and gather resources – eg. Kickstarter.com

12/16 – Bring the product to the market.

I was introduced to 3D printing more than a year ago, through pictures of beautiful mesmerizing table lamps by some artist that I came across on Facebook as a post from some artsy page. At that time I was amused at the fact that something could be printed 3 dimensional using a computer and although the technology being new it could look so beautiful. Maybe at that time I wasn’t aware that although new to me 3D printing was already making a lot of progress and was not a very infant technology after all.

Approaching toward my graduation with my Graphic Communication major, I wanted to use my elective credits to explore something new and that I hadn’t done before. So when I came across a class that looked like it would teach me software like Maya or AutoCAD I immediately signed up. I had always been interested in 3D digital design, more so because of my focus on animation and filmmaking. However, after attending the class I realized that the class was less about learning the digital software for design but more about the new 3D Printing technology. II felt like I had missed an opportunity to learn MAYA or some other 3D design software. But I was glad that I took the class as I got introduced to this whole new scope of 3D design that could lead to a lot of different and innovative things.

I have been an artist as long as I remember. I am very talented with Henna Design and temporary tattooing. And as a girl, ever interested in jewelry and accessories, something struck to me. It would be a very cool thing to design jewelry that somehow embodies the essence of the traditional henna designs but would be a 3D model instead. So there I was, researching 3D printed jewelry and design inspired from henna and filigree.

Following are some links to pages that have helped me build up on my inspiration to design henna inspired 3D printed jewelry. And I really hope to have built a collection a line of jewelry by the beginning of Spring 2014.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/filigree

http://creme-delicious.com/

http://www.shapeways.com/jewelry?li=nav

http://n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/shop/product_tags.php?tag=3dprint

http://envisiontec.com/applications/jewelry/

http://www.hotpopfactory.com/

The 3D Digital Design class, so far, has been a unique experience. From the Jump Workshops to the SketchUp lessons to the brainstorming sessions with the groups, everything has had a strong impact. The experience was about a unique creative process, innovation and merging design with business in a way that was not thought of before. I think the idea of merging a business class with a design class boosted the performance of the whole class, while it also helped widen perspectives. It didn’t just help improve problem-solving skills but also helped in building up on skills like teamwork and collective efforts.

Considering the nature of the project, it was hard to judge the direction in which the teams were heading. However, the ambiguity of the project kind of helped making the innovative process more creative. It was a challenge to be able to put each team member’s take on the direction of the project and lead the team toward a single outstanding vision. I believe the most important step to making the project come through all the way that has to this point was the extensive, yet too short brainstorming sessions. I think they really helped the groups to find their way further into the project even though the direction of it was not clear.

I think, being part of a team and creating a unique product by indulging in such an extensive thought process makes it a project worth having it carried through its completion. I am really looking forward to the ultimate result of all the efforts that the team has put in this coffee project.

A new assignment with new challenges! In this assignment I had to dive deeper in 3D design with focus on 3D printing the designed objects. There are multiple ways to put the new 3D printing technology into action. One of the companies that allows you to upload your design to their website and order a 3D printed piece of your design in a variety of materials is Shapeways.com. I used the service in order to figure out the specifications of the production of the 3D prints of the objects that I designed. I was able to find out the actual volume of the objects that I designed and also the cost of printing along with the time that it would take to have the object ready and shipped to your doorstep.

First Block

It was a long time ago that I was introduced to 3D digital design, however, until recently I had not tried it myself. In this exciting class that I am enrolled this semester I am learning some new skills and part of those are designing with 3D software.

In class, we are using SketchUp to make our 3D models. We are starting out simple by designing simple geometric shapes in the newly introduced 3-dimensional space of SketchUp. These images that you see here are a result of my first experience using a 3D software and designing in the digital space.

First Model

In the process of building these models I used components that I created as well as those created by other designers in class. After designing a simple structure using two or three different components I decided to experiment with the structures. I tried to design an abstract sculpture model that shows two blocks balancing on their corners on top of each other.

With my second model, the main issue I faced was that the components would snap together at points where I didn’t really want them to intersect. To make the components meet exactly at the points which I wanted them to, I experimented with various tools available in SketchUp. It was quite a challenge to use the tools and control them precisely to create the effects that I was aiming for. After going through this process of experimenting and a lot of undo’s and redo’s, I was able to create the model that is seen here. Gladly, it is much like what I was aiming for.

A piece of advice that I would share with my peers and fellow SketchUp Users is that I think it is very important to first build your model in either a 2D form or flat 3D sketch on paper so there will be less or no errors when building the 3D model in the software.

Second Model