When I began this lab assignment, the first object that popped into my head was a surfboard. I sat down and started working. However, I quickly realized that there were too many curves going every which way for my current skill level with 3D modeling. I then scraped the project and did something simpler – a coffee mug.
In retrospect, I could have picked an object more detailed than the coffee mug since this was fairly easy. At the time, after having picked a surfboard and struggling, I guess I wanted something I knew I could model.
One of the things I struggled with when making the mug was making the handle exactly where I wanted it without the torus object going through the center of the mug. I figured out that by creating a hole, I could cut out part of the object. Another aspect of Fusion 360 I had a hard time figuring out was the materials tool. I struggled to get two different materials to show on the coffee mug (one for the handle and one for the glass itself).
The tool I found to be most effective for a bunch of different uses was the filet tool. While I didn’t use it much with the coffee mug, in my attempt to design a surfboard I played around with it a lot and have become more comfortable with its uses. My attempted surfboard model also made me realize that just by messing around with a bunch of different tools you can gain a better understanding of how they work. I would encourage others to take some time and just mess around with all the different options.
Something I noticed which I find to be kind of annoying is how different materials look when designing the model, and after the model is fully rendered. This difference is quite apparent if my interactive model is compared to the still images.
3D modeling tools like Fusion360 have become important in humanistic disciplines as they provide a variety of uses. I think the two most important uses for these tools are historical reconstruction/preservation and education. Being able to rebuild what was once a partial artifact is essential to archeological research. Creating digital models of fragile artifacts ensures their long term preservation. These models can also be used to teach students who are more interactive learners. Perhaps a 3D printed model of an artifact could help blind students learn better.
2 thoughts on “Lab 1-Coffee mug”
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This is awesome! We both created a 3D model of a mug, and I really like the vertical line texture you added to the body. I was trying to do something similar for mine but wasn’t sure how to do it. It looks great, and I also love how you used a different color for the handle!
I also found messing around the tools is a pretty useful way to learn Fusion 360, though it might take some time. Before I began my lab assignment, I went to youtube to watch some tutorial videos for beginners and followed the video to copy and paste the exact product in the video. I won’t deny the usefulness of the tutorial videos, but I found I knew nothing beyond what the video instructed, so I was still lost when creating my own object. As a result, even though with the help of the tutorial videos, I still ended up finishing the object simply by testing and messing around all the things I could click in the tab above, and it taught me much more than following a tutorial video.