CS 285: SOLID MODELING

Lecture #2 -- Thu, Aug. 30, 2007.

Warm-up Thinking Exercise:

What is the most important thing you would like to get out of this course ?

How Was This Fabricated ?

More on the Design/Modeling/Prototyping Process

1. The Creative Spark  (--> a personal mental image)
   Where do you get your best ideas?
   What can you do to enhance the creative flow?
   Shockley's model of the "creativity pump" in the brain.
2. Initial Sketch or Mock-up  (--> something that others can see)
   How do you visualize, realize your ideas?
   What materials may be useful to make conceptual models?
3. Transformation into a CAD model  (--> something a computer can read)
   How do you get those ideas into the computer?
   ==> Discussion of homework assignment.
4. Implementation Concerns  (--> something a computer can "understand")
   What do you need to do to turn that data into a solid model?
5. Design Refinement  (--> something that can be physically realized)
   Enter the concerns about fabrication.  Design for manufacturing (DFM).
   
6. Rapid Prototyping  ( something that can be built on a RP machine)
   What are the possibilities?  Overview over various RP methods and processes.
   

Modeling Taxonomy 

• CAD, CAGD, Solid Modeling, Procedural Modeling ...
• What is a solid ?
• What do we mean by "modeling" ?
• What types of modeling are we interested in ?
• What should be modeled procedurally ?
• What might we model in this course ?
• How would you model a plastic spoon, etc ... ?

Possible Course Projects

• Parameterized Objects (perhaps to be optimized by human judgment)
• Ornaments, sculptures, bells, ...
• Mazes, puzzles, toys, ...
• Build some prototype or demo model:
  
• Snap-together mechanism, linkages, ...
• Non-trivial gears (planetary, differential)
  
• Create a CAD model to be explored by simulation:
• Strength analysis on a mechanical part
• Sound analysis of a bell
  
• Manufacturability analysis of an injection mold
• Some mathematical visualization model:
• Klein bottles
• Sphere-inverasion
• Projections of 4D regular polychora
• 3D Penrose tiles
• Model of the "Hexagonal Bipyramid Fractal"
  
• Design and fabricate something "useful":
  
• Fancy casing for a wearable computer
  
• Casing for a collection of sensor devices
  
• Build some Software Utility that acts as a stepping stone for other projects:
  
• Add a special "Warp-Module" to SLIDE
• Add a surface modification module to SLIDE, that can make perforated surfaces (with fancy cut-outs)
  
• Enhance gear-wheel generator to a gear-box generator

• More suggestions will be given throughout the course …
• Approach me with your own ideas as soon as possible!

First Homework Assignment:

A#1: Planning the Construction of a Solid Model

Introductions
Team formations