MIAD Design Project
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Inspiration for Building
For building the small model of Mr Chay's classroom, I used some inspiration from a website called Tinkercad (known as cad). Its essentially where you can build 3D models for 3D printing and such. I searched the Tinkercad creation website to see others' work and gain some ideas. I learned that attention to detail is very important to the outcome of your product. It draws the viewer in and creates a sense of organization and coalescence. To go above and beyond, I figured to have some fun with it and entirely recreate a photo I took for the project. In doing this, I had to also recreate Mr Chay doing his signature dab, which everyone was very excited for.
Planning Sketches/Models
I already had a few planning sketches for the model from the previous part of the project. Also in the classroom, Mr Chay has a 3D printer that is rarely used, so based on the picture I originally took for my project where he is seen dabbing, I decided to try and 3D print him for my diorama and using it as a great show of scale. By using pre-existing creations from others, and additions of my own, I created a Tinkercad model to download and eventually print. I added a lot of attention to detail just for fun and emphasis, from his lightning bolt haircut, to the buttons on his shirt!
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Building Process/3D Printing Process/Experimentation
Diorama
Now that it was time to start gathering materials and building the diorama, I went out and bought different materials that I thought would be useful. I wanted to get as close as possible to what the actual products looked like in the cabinets, just in smaller scale. I cut a thick cardboard box to create the necessary half of the classroom, and then cut out the door. I first painted the room in the appropriate colors, and began cutting thin pieces of Birch plywood into pre-measured dimensions. With wood glue, I glued the outer border of the cabinets together and clamped them as a frame, and painted the top black. Then, I created the dividers that would separate the cabinets. After all of the pieces were glued together to finish the outer unit, then came the fun part. I first painted the inside of the cabinets white, and then began trying to accurately make all the small products. After making sure they were all accurate, I secured everything for easy transportation. As a bonus, I printed some memes students and I had created for Mr Chay, and added them to the mini whiteboard just for that extra laugh. |
3D Model
To create Chay himself, I used some parts from pre-existing creations and edited and compiled them to make a final figure that resembled him. Actually getting the 3D printer to work took a lot of time and effort. Because it was rarely or never used, and was previously owned by another teacher who had left the school, no one really knew anything about it apart from that it now sat in the corner of Mr Chay's classroom. Getting it set up and running was a bit of a time sensitive procedure, as Mr Chay would be leaving for paternity leave in March/April. Starting in January, over the course of about 2 months, I worked with tech support and the printer company, as well as friends that knew more about technology then I do, I eventually got it running in early March. At this point I had long finished the 3D model and began printing the same day we resolved the problem. I found it fairly easy to maneuver, and printing began. I did have to scale the model to about four inches to fit in my diorama. Each model took about 2 hours, and I printed two; one for my project, and of course, one for Mr Chay. They printed with easily removable supports to refrain from warping as it cooled. I broke them off, then painted the model to match him and a common outfit, and sealed it with Mod Podge. |
Experimentation
I realized that the four inch model may have been a bit to small to fit in with the scale of the rest of the diorama. So, starting from the beginning, I reprinted it as a six-inch figure, and repeated the process, resulting in a much better-fitting Mr Chay. In all honestly, I believe 5 inches would have been perfect, but due to covid, I have been unable to print it. |
Reflection
This was by FAR my most proud and fun project of the year. I got to work with some great people and bring smiles to many peoples' faces. Industrial design is also what I hope to do for my career in the future, so I wanted to have as much creative freedom as possible. Though completely for show and slightly unnecessary, one of the most difficult parts of this process, was actually 3D printing Mr Chay. Though I had worked to create this model, we were racing the clock to get the 3D printer to work and have all the software set up in time before Mr Chay's paternity leave (and covid 19). I had a friend of mine bring his smaller personal 3-D printer, but we ended up not using it because he in-fact helped to fix the issue associated with Mr Chay's printer and got it up and running. I think if I did this again, I for sure would have checked if the printer had worked before going and creating a model. I was not exactly prepared for it not to work, and though it worked out in the end, so much time was put into this project, but I'm glad we got it running for Mr Chay and other teachers and students. Another problem I ran into, was the scaling of the classroom. I initially scaled the original classroom down to equal sizes, but ended up not using those exact measurements because the materials I had bought were too large to fit into the small cabinets, which likely was the premise for the small-scale Chay figure. As a side note, Mr Chay has one of my smaller prototype models of himself sitting on his computer which has become a huge discussion topic among faculty coming into his room, as its eye-level.
ACT Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork...
I found that in my inspiration attention to detail was highly looked upon and important, so in my final product I used a lot of detail and accuracy.
What is the overall Point of view the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The creators on Tinkercad gave me great inspiration of outlook on final product.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Empathy has a large impact on the outcome of a project; if you feel how the client feels and really try to understand how it is going to affect them, it makes them feel that you care and that you really want to help them.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My central idea was to make something that helped many people and dig deeper into detail of organization.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I never really thought that adding so much detail would be necessary or benefit the final product, but I found that this heavy attention to detail is what pulled the piece together and impacted the people who viewed it.
I found that in my inspiration attention to detail was highly looked upon and important, so in my final product I used a lot of detail and accuracy.
What is the overall Point of view the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The creators on Tinkercad gave me great inspiration of outlook on final product.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
Empathy has a large impact on the outcome of a project; if you feel how the client feels and really try to understand how it is going to affect them, it makes them feel that you care and that you really want to help them.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
My central idea was to make something that helped many people and dig deeper into detail of organization.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I never really thought that adding so much detail would be necessary or benefit the final product, but I found that this heavy attention to detail is what pulled the piece together and impacted the people who viewed it.