Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to what is our seventh lesson in the design and technology, 3D computer aided design unit of work.

My name is Mr. Wicken, and it's great to see you here today.

In today's lesson we're going to look at what computer aided design is all about and what benefits it can bring to the design process.

So let's have a look at today's learning objectives.

So as always, if you haven't done the intro quiz, can you make sure you go and get that done first.

It's really important to your success in today's lesson and we'll help you better understand what we're going to learn about in today's lesson.

Pause the video here if you haven't done it and go and get it and then we'll carry on.

So in today's lesson, we're going to look at firstly what actually is computer aided design and why do we use it in design and technology? Then we're going to actually introduce ourselves to a new programme, to actually design in computer-aided design called Tinkercad.

And that's going to require you to create an account and set yourself up and go through a series of tutorials to be able to fully use that software.

Then finally, once you've got comfortable and used to the software we're going to then start to produce our designs not now on paper, but actually by CAD modelling them.

So there's going to be a real big jump forward in the learning today's lesson to do with the design process.

And as always, we'll finish off with the exit quiz.

So in today's lesson two things are really important for your success.

The first is your exercise book or some paper just so that you can take some notes, maybe jot down some piece of information that I'm going to give you during this lesson.

But what is really important is that you've got access to a computer or some sort of tablet, internet enabled device because it's crucial for your success in what we're going to be doing in today's lesson.

If you haven't got those bits of equipment pause the video here and go and get them now.

Keywords, now today's keyword.

And there is only the one, and that is computer aided design or as it's more commonly known, CAD.

And you'll notice that when we say CAD we capitalise the C, the A and the D.

So we're going to just say CAD again, because actually computer aided design is quite a long word.

And very often we just say CAD.

So I'm going to say CAD, and you're going to repeat it, CAD.

Excellent, so what is CAD? So CAD is actually the use of a computer itself to be able to design a product.

You may have seen loads of examples of CAD design but actually may have never produced anything yourself but that's what we're going to start doing today.

We're going to take those initial design ideas that we created in our last lesson.

And we're going to use some CAD software to create our shelter design in a 3D computer designed way.

How exciting is that? So let's go straight into our first area of learning today.

So our first area of learning in today lesson is what actually is computer aided design or CAD as it's more commonly known.

So CAD itself is something that enabled a designer to be able to create a series of designs so that they can better communicate their ideas not only to themselves, but also maybe their employer and their clients that they are working for.

CAD has loads of advantages to it but some of them are things to do with actually how you can quickly and easily edit designs, if you make a small mistake you can add different material finishes or colours.

So again, it looks far more realistic but also you can change the view of the product.

So you can model something and you can actually rotate the object round so that you can see it from different viewpoints.

And that's really helpful to a designer to understand what this product is going to look like in the round.

So CAD has huge advantages and loads of opportunities.

Now, when we use CAD there are two types of different software.

Those that draw in a two dimensional way and also those that draw in a three dimensional way and both pieces of software really useful to a designer.

And you would select which one is most appropriate for the situation that you're designing in.

Also the CAD software will have loads of different tools and functions within them to allow the designer to be able to model and create a really realistic idea that can help really clearly show to people what they're intending on designing and making.

Now, what we're going to be doing with the Tinkercad work is we're going to be using 3D software.

So we're going to focus more on 3D software as opposed to the 2D software.

Now, before we get into actually looking at Tinkercad, I want you to do some work about the advantages and the disadvantages or benefits and drawbacks.

There is a worksheet available, and I'd like you to download it, to use it, to create your answers to both the benefits and the drawbacks of using CAD.

I've spoken about what some of the benefits are already.

I'm sure you can think of loads more but also I want you to go and find some drawbacks.

So you're going to need to use the internet to go and research what some of the benefits and drawbacks are to using CAD software.

There are lots for both of the different categories but I want you to pick three, and then explain why there is a benefit or why that's a drawback.

So I want you to pause the video here now and get the worksheet.

And then I want you to research what some of the benefits are to CAD but also what some of the drawbacks are.

And that's really important.

We need to put this into perspective.

What's good and what's bad about CAD software.

Once you've done that, we're going to stop.

We're going to then carry on with Tinkercad work and we're going to get into the design stage.

So pause the video here, and I'll see you in a little while.

Welcome back.

I hope you able to find loads of benefits and drawbacks to what CAD itself actually is to give you a better understanding as to why it's used in the design process.

Now we're going to get into the exciting stuff.

We're going to introduce what Tinkercad is and what it's all about.

And this is what we've been working towards over the last seven lessons.

So Tinkercad itself, it's actually a free piece of online 3D CAD software, which is great.

That's just what we want.

And it's really intuitive to help you design something that you've created in a 3D computer weight the logo of it, you can see on the board.

And it's important that you see this logo so that when you are looking for the website and it is well, you know what to look for.

You can use this at home.

You can use this at school.

It can be used by yourselves.

It could be used by your parents.

It could be used by your teachers but it's a software package, we're going to use in today's lesson.

So what we need to do is when we get to the website as you can see on the screen now is that actually we need to be able to create a user account for you to access your designs where there'll be saved and you can come back to them at a later point.

Now to do that, we do need to make sure that you have both you're parents or your carers permissions to be able to create an account.

You will need to have some information like email addresses and you'll need to be able to create a password.

So if you're unsure on how to do this, you need to make sure that you get your parent or carer to help you set up the account so that you doing it in a safe way.

So just before you go off and do that.

I'm going to show you very quickly on the Tinkercad website.

How to create an account so that you know what to do.

So when you get to the Tinkercad website, which is www.

tinkercad.

com.

You need to create an account now to do that you need to click on either the join me button which is just above my head or the start Tinkering button which is further down the page here.

Either one works is entirely up to you, which one you use but you need to select on that button either the join now, or the start Tinkering.

And that will take you to a page to create an account.

When you click on that button the page will look something like this.

So you can do it in one of two ways.

You can do it if you were in school.

So if your school teacher was doing this they might have created something for you to get into but we're not doing that state.

We're going to use the one at the bottom where it says on your own, you want to click on create a personal account when you click on a create a personal account, you've got two ways of doing you can sign up with an email that is of your choosing or if you already have a Google or an Apple account you can sign in using those Google or Apple accounts.

So I'm just going to do sign up with an Email 'cause actually I think most people will be in this situation when you do that it's going to ask you for some information.

So you need to select the country that you're in.

So in this situation, I'm in the United Kingdom and then you need to put in your month of birth, your day of birth and your year.

Now, you will need to get your parents and carers permission to be able to create an account.

They will then be able to verify go through the signup process to the end and then you will be able to access Tinkercad.

So hopefully you've now been able to, set up your own Tinkercad account with Autodesk.

If you haven't fully got that set up, pause the video here go finished during the setup before we move on to the next area.

So with the account set up and ready to go here's what I want you to do to start with.

With Tinkercad it's really important that you understand the tools and features in it.

And as part of the signup process it's going to ask you to use that signup process to finish some key starter activities.

So you've got your free account and now you need to get the seven starter activities completed.

These starter activities just give you a feel for how to use all the tools and features in Tinkercad so that you can be confident when designing.

Actually, you know how to move things, how to zoom out how to rotate and so on.

So let me just show you what those seven starter activities look like.

And then you can go and get on with them.

So in Tinkercad you have these starter activities, Direct Starters, as you can see on the screen.

And it should, when you're going for this setup you are going to take you to these directly.

But if you don't get to them straight away just click on the learn button in the top right-hand corner and it will take you to these.

So I want you to finish the place at one, the view it, the move it, the rotate it, the size it up, the group it, and the align it, These are going to really help you understand Tinkercad.

And some of the key background features that help you with your design process.

So pause the video here go and get those seven starter activities complete with Tinkercad.

And then once you've got more competent with the software we're going to come back and we're then going to start the design process and actually how we design in Tinkercad.

Good luck and enjoy it.

Welcome back, I hope you had lots of fun learning about how to use the different features in Tinkercad it's really good, isn't it? Good, so you need to do now we have an understanding of Tinkercad it actually start to produce our design ideas that we created last lesson but actually now using the Tinkercad software.

So how do we actually produce that range? Well, we're going to use our initial design ideas from last lesson.

It's really important that you have those designs done.

If you haven't got them.

Can I suggest that you pause the video here now and you go and get those initial designs.

Great, so we're going to use the 3D CAD software Tinkercad to actually model these design ideas that you created last lesson.

So it's given us a really true design experience exactly the same as what you would do if you were a professional designer.

So with your designs we're going to use those initial ones that you came up with last lesson and we're going to 3D model them in Tinkercad.

That way we can get a really good view of these different shelter designs that you've created.

You must make sure that you're using the range of drawing tools in Tinkercad to get the best possible designs out of the software.

Otherwise, it's going to be really simple and really basic when you want it to be really detailed and hopefully something that looks truly professional.

You should aim to make at least two of your initial designs from last lesson using the CAD software.

So you should have had at least four different initial ideas from last lesson.

So today we're going to take two of those and actually properly CAD, if you want to do more or you want to do all of the great do it, I encourage it because it's only going to make you a better designer.

So let's have a look at how we design properly in Tinkercad.

So with a new blank document, open in Tinkercad we're going to start to create those initial design ideas that we need to model in CAD software.

So make sure that you've got what you see on my screen the same as it is on your screen.

Then we're going to do is we're going to use the shapes that are over here on the right-hand side.

Now I've got the basic shapes of feature selected but if you click on the dropdown menu it will give you other options but I'm not going to look into those right now.

We're just going to stick with the basic shapes.

If you want to explore and use those, go for it.

So I'm going to start with that central structure of my shelter.

So I'm going to use a cylinder and I'm going to click and drag it over.

And whilst I've got to click down the mouse button I can move a position that cylinder wherever I want.

So once I'm happy with the position I'm just going to let go of my mouse.

And then it's going to place that onto the workplane.

Now you've got these little grey nodes that are around you.

Those square things are called nodes.

And if I click on those nodes I can make it bigger or smaller.

So I'm going to do it 15 by 15.

But if I click on this node at the top, I can make it taller.

So I'm going to make mine 72.

And that then gives me my central structure for my shelter.

And again, as you've learned from the starter activities I used the cube in the top left-hand corner.

I can change the angle of my view.

Brilliant, now I want to put the top on my shelter using my initial design ideas.

Now to do that I'm going to click on the workplane button, which just here on the right above where it says basic shapes.

It says workplane, I'm there, click on that.

And then what I'm going to do, you'll notice it gives you this little blue shape on the top.

I'm going to come over to the top of my central structure and you can see it's gone from blue to orange because it's found a place to put a work plane.

I'm going to click on that.

And you'll notice now it's given me an orange workplane at the top of that structure, which is exactly what we want because what that now allows me to do is to draw on this surface with different objects.

So I'm going to go back to my basic shape and then scroll down and I'm going to use the roof shape and I'm going to click and I'm going to drag it over and I'm going to place it just the top of my structure.

So I'll just assume out a little bit, there we go.

And again, I can use the view tool just to change the angle and I'm going to use again the nodes just to make it bigger or smaller.

So I'm going to make this a little bit larger.

Let's go for 60 by 60.

There we go.

And I can use the central one to make it taller or shallower.

And I can move it up or down if I wanted but I don't need to do that here.

And I can click on the object to move it around.

So it's better positioned.

And once I'm happy with it, I can click off of it.

And then I can see what the structure is starting to look like by changing the views.

So I'm pleased with that.

I think I need to make it a little bit bigger, but again you will learn this as you go through the design process.

And that can be one of my first CAD model designs from my initial.

So I want you to do exactly the same is to use those basic shape tools to be able to create your initial designs using Tinkercad.

So that just gives you a brief introduction to designing in Tinkercad and you will do loads more stuff with it.

I'm absolutely certain and you'll make mistakes.

Don't worry, but I want you to keep going with the designs and really persevere to create some amazing pieces of work.

So you're going to pause the video here now and you're going to create at least two of your initial hand, drawn sketched ideas from last lesson as 3D CAD models in Tinkercad make sure that you're keeping your designs in Tinkercad the same as what you've drawn them by hand as best as you can, might not be perfect.

You might change things a little bit, but that's fine.

Try and keep as close to those original ideas as you can.

Do make sure that you're using as many of the features in Tinkercad as you can have a good play and explore with it.

This is your chance to really get to know this software.

I've only shown you a really small amount there's loads of information on Tinkercad's website to help you better design.

And I would encourage you to go and read about that information.

Maybe even get somebody to help you when you're doing the design.

There's nothing wrong with asking for help.

So pause the video here now and let's go and get some designs created in Tinkercad, good luck.

Welcome back, I hope you had some real fun times using Tinkercad because it is a great piece of software.

And hopefully you've been able to create a couple of your initial design ideas using the software now.

I'm sure you had problems. I'm absolutely certain there are parts that you're not completely happy with but don't worry that's the whole point of the design process.

We change, we adapt.

We don't always get exactly what we want, but at the end of it, we still design something that looks great.

And that's it for today's lesson.

We've had a really, productive lesson and learned so much.

We started by actually understanding what is computer aided design and what the benefits and drawbacks are to it.

Then we introduced ourselves to what Tinkercad is and signed up for an account and got to know some of the features in the software.

And then lastly, we've hopefully had the most fun which is designing, using Tinkercad and creating those initial CAD designs for our shelters.

As always, I would love to see your work.

And if you can use your parents or carers to take some photos of the work, they can share them online.

Using the hashtag learn with Oak.

I look forward to seeing what you've created.

Thank you for being here today.

We've got loads, more stuff coming up in our future lessons with Tinkercad.

I look forward to seeing you there take care, bye-bye.