Lesson video

Hi there, everyone, and welcome to today's Design and Technology lesson.

My name is Mr. Butt, thanks for joining me.

In today's lesson, we are working in Tinkercad, that brilliant Computer Aided Design application that brings your ideas to life.

We are gonna be modifying 3D shapes today.

A real fundamental of Computer Aided Design if you want to start designing more complex products.

This lesson, of course, is part of the CAD Structures Architecture unit where you are gonna be designing your own eco-house.

Let's have a look at the lesson outcome.

Today, I want you to be able to translate, rotate, and scale 3D shapes in Tinkercad.

Real fundamentals of Computer Aided Design.

We have five keywords today.

The first of those being translating.

This is when we slide or move a shape without rotating it or reflecting it, usually along a workplane.

We have modify.

Change or alter something.

In this case, we're gonna be changing and altering our 3D shapes.

Rotating.

Turning a shape around a fixed point.

Really important if you wanna start designing really good eco-houses.

We have handle.

Now in Tinkercad, this is a point on a 3D shape that can be grabbed to modify or resize it.

And then finally, scaling, enlarging or shrinking a shape.

We're gonna be using all of these, so keep a lookout for them in the lesson.

Four learning cycles today.

But these are short learning cycles because I want you to be able to do each of the functions that we've just talked about.

And the first one is, of course, working in three dimensions.

Tinkercad is a Computer Aided Design application that can be used to create 3D designs.

What do I mean by 3D? I, of course, mean three dimensions.

It's like working in the real world.

Designers can use CAD to create, test and edit designs easily.

Designs are accurate and scalable, meaning we can make them bigger or smaller and they can be shared easily so others can work on them.

Very few products are designed by just one person.

They are often designed by a team of designers.

Sometimes there's teams of designers might be in different parts of the country or even different parts of the world.

So being able to share designs really easily is very important.

So quick check for understanding.

Why do designers use Computer Aided Design? Is it to check the spelling and grammar in their designs? To print out their designs without looking at them? Or to create accurate designs? Pause the video, have a go at this.

Come back to me when you've got an answer.

So, if you answered C, to create accurate designs, well done, you get it right.

So 3D shapes can be viewed in different ways using the ViewCube to rotate the workplane.

You might have already had a play around with this and what you could do is grab hold of that workplane by using select and then moving around the workplane.

Using Tinkercad, users can also move and change shapes.

We can modify these shapes to the size and shape we want.

That's really important.

Otherwise, we'd just have to use the basic shapes as they were and we very rarely want to do that.

We want to modify these shapes to suit our needs.

When working in Tinkercad, users work in three dimensions.

We've already talked about this and these dimensions are called width, length, and height.

In lots of different CAD applications, they call 'em sometimes different things.

But for this case, that's what we're gonna call ours.

So a quick check for understanding.

Which of these shows the height? Is it A, is it B, or is it C? Pause the video, have a go.

Come back to me when you've got an answer.

So if you answered B, well done, you got it correct.

So this is what the three dimensions look like on the workplane when we look at it in 3D.

So you can see the width is kind of running along the front of our shape.

The length is from front to back, and the height obviously is up and down.

We're now onto our first task.

I would like you to label the three dimensions on the diagram.

It's important that we know this and we use the right terminology.

But then what I also want you to do is have a discussion about why designers use Computer Aided Design.

You might even wanna do a little bit of your own research because there is more than what I've already told you.

Pause the video, have a go at this task, come back to me when you've got some answers.

So as we can see, Andeep has done this task brilliantly.

He's labeled the type of the three dimensions on the diagram correctly and he's also discussed why designers use CAD.

He said, "Designers can use CAD to create test and edit designs easily.

They're accurate, scalable, and can be shared easily with others all over the world so lots of different people can work on them." Well done, Andeep and I'm sure you've got some brilliant answers too as well.

We're now onto our next learning cycle, translating a shape.

So translating shapes in Tinkercad means to slide a shape on or through a workplane.

The shape will stick to that workplane, unless you go up and down because that's the workplane you placed it on in the first place.

To do this, we can tap and hold the shape and then what we can do is we can move it and drag it around our workplane.

Once you've selected that shape, you can also use the arrow keys on your keyboard to nudge the box one millimeter at a time.

Now if you wanna nudge it more or less than a millimeter, you can actually do this.

If you notice, down at the bottom of the right-hand side of your workplane, there is a little snap grid icon and if you click on that, you can change what you can nudge it by.

And that's something you can have a little play around with later on.

But by using the arrow keys you can be really accurate with where you place your shapes but we call this translating.

And, of course, if you make a mistake, there's a brilliant tool that you can always use to undo any action and that's that arrow pointing backwards, if you like or pointing to the left.

And what you can do is you can click on that and it will undo.

I'm sure you've used undo in lots of other applications.

Quick check.

Which icon is used to undo a mistake? Is it A, a little minus icon.

Is it B, the arrow icon.

Or is it C, the box basic shape.

Pause the video, have a go at this.

Come back to me when you've got an answer.

If you answered B, well done, you've got it correct.

So if you remember, all of this is leading towards you designing your own eco-house.

So to design an eco-house on the Tinkercad workplane, you are going to have to be able to translate shapes in different directions.

Now you can move shapes left and right, you can move shapes forwards and backwards, and you can also move them up and down.

And it's important to be able to do all that fluidly to be able to design your eco-house.

So if we're gonna translate it on the workplane, so this means left and right, forwards and backwards, then all you're gonna do is you're gonna tap and hold the shape and you can then slide it around the workplane.

Again for backwards, just make sure you've tapped and hold that shape to select it and then move it forwards and backwards to translate it in that direction, really easy.

But to translate this box, this shape vertically, it's a little bit different because you've gotta remove it from that workplane that we put it on originally.

So if you tap and hold the black arrow, sorry, tap the shape first to select it, and then what you want to do is you want to tap the little black arrow that appears above it.

What that will do is that will lift it off the workplane or push it down through the workplane.

Now how, of course, how can you tell if you're starting to move that shape? Well, you'll see it move, but also you'll see if you lift it, the shape up, a shadow will suddenly appear below the shape cast by an imaginary sun, but it makes it look like it's being lifted off the workplane.

So you'll be able to see that it's being moved up.

If you move it down into the workplane, you'll see a dotted line appears around that shape where it is interacting with that workplane.

And you can push it all the way through the bottom of the workplane if you wish.

So another check for understanding.

When looking from the top view, you can see on our ViewCube we're looking from the top, you see it says top, which direction has the box been translated in? Is it left or right, forwards or backwards, or up and down? Pause the video, have a go at this.

Come back to me when you've got an answer.

So if you answered forwards backwards, in this case it's kind of come forwards, hasn't it? For B, then you've got it correct.

Well done.

So we're now on to Task B.

Of course, what I'm gonna get you to do now is to translate a shape or even a few shapes.

So the first thing I want you to do is create a new design in Tinkercad.

I want you to name that design, what are you gonna call it? I'd probably call it translating a shape.

That would be sensible.

Place a box on the workplane.

Translate the box left and right.

Translate the box forwards and backwards and then up and down.

And then what I want you to try and do is use the arrow keys as well just to see if you can use all those functions correctly.

Pause the video, have a go at this.

Come back to me when you've completed all those tasks.

So once again, Andeep has done this brilliantly, as I'm sure you have.

He has now translated that box forwards, backwards, left, right, and up and down on the workplane.

And he's also used those arrow keys to be able to do that.

Well done, Andeep, and well done you.

Okay onto our third learning cycle.

Rotating a shape.

So when designing your eco-house, you might need shapes at different angles.

This is really important.

For example, you might want to add something to a roof, which might be at a different angle to what the shape appears when you bring it in from the basic shapes library.

Tinkercad allows users to row shape, rotate shapes to the angle that you want.

And you obviously you can rotate shapes in the different directions in the three dimensions that we are working in, but it's a little bit complicated to do this.

So we're gonna have a go at this.

So first of all, a check for understanding.

Why might you or users want to rotate shapes in Computer Aided Design? Is it A, to make it look good.

Is it B, to add shapes at the correct angle that you want.

Or is it C, to add shapes onto a flat surface.

Pause the video, have a go.

Come back to me when you've got an answer.

It is, of course, B to add shapes at the correct answer, at the correct angle, sorry, well done.

We're now gonna look at what we call our rotation handles.

So to rotate shapes in Tinkercad, first of all, you need to use the correct handle.

Now this is a perfect opportunity for me to talk about selecting a shape.

So to do anything to a shape, first of all you have to select it and we've already learned about that.

So you need to tap the shape to select it.

Once you've tapped that shape to select it, what gives it away that it is selected? How do you know that that shape has been selected? I want you to pause the video now, have a little look at my screen or even go on onto Tinkercad and try this, and tell me what changes about that shape when you select it.

So pause the video, come back to me when you think you have an answer.

Did you have a go at that? Brilliant.

So when I select a shape, the first thing I notice is I get all the different handles appear around it like you see on my screen.

But the other thing you notice as well is there is almost like a blue glow appears around the edge of that shape.

So if you are ever unsure whether you've got a shape selected or not, that's how you can find out.

Let's go back to our rotation handles.

So as you can see when you select a shape and you might need to change your view slightly by rotating around or orbiting around your shape, what you can see is we have these three rotation handles.

These are these kind of ghost out lines with arrows on the end, and this is what we need to be able to rotate a shape.

If you tap and hold a rotation angle, what appears is a protractor and we are going to use that to be able to rotate to the correct angle.

Now if your cursor stays quite close to the shape when you select a protractor, you will get a protractor with a 22.

5 degree increment and then you can rotate it each of those increments as you please.

But if you move your cursor further away from the shape, it actually selects a slightly different protractor which gives you one degree increments.

And again, if you then rotate your finger round, you can rotate it one degrees at a time.

So that gives you two levels of accuracy depending on what you want to rotate.

You can even click on the degree, the number and type in your own angle if you wanted to be really accurate.

So another check for understanding.

What helps users accurate rotate shapes in Tinkercad.

Is it A, the workplane.

Is it B, the ruler.

Or is it C, the protractor.

Pause the video, have a go at this.

Come back to me when you've got your answer.

It is, of course, C, the protractor.

Well done.

So we can now also see that we can rotate boxes.

Well, in this case this is a box, but any shape in different directions.

By using the different handles, you can see I'm selecting them here, you will see you can rotate it differently.

So for this one, I'm rotating it on the workplane.

For this one, I'm rotating it come from the front view.

And obviously, for this one it's kind of the side view.

And you'll have to have a little play around with this to try and find the correct one for which direction you want to rotate your shapes in.

Now onto Task C.

You guessed it rotating a shape.

You're gonna insert three boxes into the workplane.

I would like you to start a new design for this and also name your file, a sensible name, I'd call it rotating a shape, that'd be pretty sensible.

And then what I want you to do is rotate a box left and right, rotate a box forwards and backwards, and also rotate a box in a different direction.

Insert a different shape and repeat the steps above.

You might wanna insert a slightly different shape, for example, like a star, just to see the difference between rotating a complex shape and a basic shape like a box.

Once you've completed these activities, come back to me.

So pause the video now.

How did you get on? Well, once again, Andeep has done this brilliantly.

He's rotated a box in all different directions and then he also chose some other shapes and rotated those as well, which I'm sure you did as well.

So well done.

We're now onto our final learning cycle, which is scaling a shape.

So when you are designing your eco-house, you might need shapes of different sizes.

It's very doubtful.

You're just gonna be able to use the basic shapes as they appear in the sizes that they appear when you bring them in.

You might need to lengthen them, you might need to shorten them.

Well, of course, Tinkercad allows you to do this.

We call this scaling and it allows you to change it to the size that you want.

And, of course, you can do this in all the different directions that we've already talked about.

So to scale a shape in Tinkercad, we need to use the other handles that we've seen all the way around our shape to modify it.

So once again, remember, you've got to select your shape, so you've gotta click your shape or tap your shape to select it.

You'll see that blue glow appear around it and all the handles appear.

The black handles that you see around the edge of your shape, they will only scale it in one dimension.

For example, they'll only do the width or possibly the length.

The white handles on the top will scale it up and down, so that will allow you to go up and down just to scale the height.

The white handles in the corners on the base will scale it in two dimensions.

So that will allow you to scale it in the width and the length at the same time.

Don't worry, we're gonna have a go at this in a minute.

Quick check.

Which handle allows a shape to be scaled in two dimensions.

So only one of those will allow you to do it in two dimensions, can you remember which one? Is it A, is it B, or is it C? Pause the video.

Have a go at this.

Come back to me when you've got an answer.

It is, of course, B.

Because that corner handle will allow you to scale the width and the length at the same time.

Well done.

So let's imagine we're gonna scale a box left and right, so we want to change the width of it.

Well, what I would do is I would click on that black handle and then I would start to drag it and it could make it smaller or it could make it longer.

I can also click actually on the number.

So if you look at my image on the right hand side, it says 40 millimeters, I could click in that and what I could do is I could type in whatever number I wanted but in this case we're just gonna drag the boxes instead, the handles instead.

To scale a box forwards backwards exactly the same.

But what we're gonna do is we're gonna use a slightly different handle now.

And what this will do is this will allow us to do the length of the box.

Same principles, you just click on it and then you can drag it.

And then finally to scale a box up and down.

You tap and hold the handle on top, the white handle on top, lift that up or push that down and it will make your box taller or shorter.

Another check for understanding.

Which of these shows scaling a shape up and down.

Is it A, is it B, or is it C? Pause the video, have a go at this.

Come back to me when you've got your answer.

It is, of course, A, you can see that's going up and down.

You can even see that the handle has turned red 'cause it's been selected and that's been lifted up so it's made our box taller.

Well done.

Now if you want to scale your box in multiple dimensions, we've talked about this, you're gonna tap and hold the corner handles and that will allow you to scale them in the width and the length.

Now interestingly, if you hold down shift whilst scaling using the corner handles, it will keep all the proportions of the box the same.

So it will scale the length and the width at the same time.

And that's sometimes quite useful tool if you just want to make both sides longer in the same proportions.

Onto our final task.

Scaling a shape, Task D.

Once again, you're gonna start a new design and you're gonna name that design a sensible name.

You're gonna insert three boxes in onto the workplane.

You're gonna scale those left and right, forwards and backwards, up and down, and then in multiple dimensions.

Once you've done that, I also want you to try scaling whilst holding down shift so you can see what happens when they are scaled in the same proportions.

Then I want you to insert a different shape and repeat all the steps above so you can master these functions of scaling.

Pause the video now, have a go at this task.

Come back to me when you've done it.

So as you can see, once again, Andeep brilliantly has done all those tasks.

He now is a master of scaling shapes in Tinkercad, which I'm sure you are as well, which means you can go onto designing even more complex designs, well done.

And that brings us to the end of this lesson.

A quick summary.

3D shapes can be translated in different ways on Tinkercad.

They can be rotated in different ways and of course they can be scaled in different ways and you know how to do that now.

Tinkercad allows objects to be translated, rotated, and scaled in lots of different directions as well.

Well done today.

You've been absolutely fantastic.

I look forward to seeing you next time.

Bye-bye.