In IDEA we used the software Auto desk Inventor. Inventor is a modeling software program that we used to create our 3D widgets. Inventor takes the dimensions that the user puts in and makes it into a 2D drawing. After it makes the two dimensional drawing the user can turn it into a three dimensional drawing by extruding it. Inventor also allows the user to put holes in the three dimensional object by extruding down not out.
Sketches from my Designer Notebook
Final 6 Widgets
Setting up the widget I am going to print in MakerBot.
MakerBot Preview Screen
My final, printed widget.
During this project I learned a lot of things like how to use Inventor and a 3D printer. Although I had already known how to use Inventor, I figured out how to make more complex shapes. Another important thing this project taught me was that saving a file and exporting it are two very different things. However the main thing I learned was that the 3D printer is very efficient and relatively easy to use.