Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mrs. Taylor, and thank you for joining me for our lesson today.

The lesson today is "Iterate with CAD: communal areas," and this is part of the Iterative design: Student living unit.

The outcome: I can iterate ideas for the context student living using 3D CAD.

There are three keywords: CAD, which is computer-aided design; development, which is improving and building on design ideas to make them better; and iterate, the process of refining and improving a design.

There are two parts to the lesson: sketching over CAD and using sketches to develop CAD ideas.

Let's begin with sketching over CAD.

Computer-aided design, or CAD, is an excellent tool to develop design ideas.

To develop designs is to improve and build on design ideas to make them better.

CAD is a tool used as part of the iterative process and as a way to further develop your idea by viewing it virtually and evaluating the idea.

To iterate is the process of refining and improving a design.

Here we have a check for understanding.

Developing your design idea in CAD allows you to see it A, physically; B, virtually; or C, metaphorically.

Pause the video and have a go.

Fantastic.

Let's check.

That's right, it's B, virtually.

Well done.

At this stage of the design process, iterations of ideas can be led by a range of things.

What could iterations be led by? Pause the video and have a think or talk to the person next to you.

Wonderful.

What did you come up with? They could be led by analysis and evaluation of sketches, or the analysis and evaluation of physical models, or feedback from user, testing and analysis of CAD virtual models.

Did you come up with some of those? Well done.

Alex will use his testing of his virtual model and some further user feedback to help him with his developments.

"My user feedback and virtual model testing have given me the following things to improve and develop on my design: different compartment sizes for different types of cutlery; make it more aesthetically pleasing; add a stand which would make it possible to place on the countertop rather than fix directly to the wall.

However, it can sometimes be difficult developing an idea in CAD.

Limitations such as confidence levels in CAD applications can affect how much creativity you are able to put into a developed idea.

Sketching over the top of CAD designs can help to develop the idea, before going back to make those improvements in CAD.

Here we have a check for understanding.

What are the benefits of sketching over your CAD designs before developing them further? Is it A, creativity is not limited by capability on CAD software; B, it ensures the final design will be structurally sound; or C, it automatically corrects dimensional errors in the CAD model? Pause the video and have a go.

Wonderful.

Let's check.

That's right, it's A.

Creativity is not limited by capability on CAD software.

Well done.

To sketch over your CAD drawings, you first need to print them.

Here we can see a picture of a CAD drawing for the cutlery and utensil kitchen storage unit.

It is a good idea to print several copies of your design, possibly from different angles.

That way you can experiment with your developments and ideas without worrying about making mistakes.

Developments and changes to your design can be worked out by drawing over the top of the design.

Here we can see that one of the compartments in the cutlery and utensil storage unit has been made taller, which would be suitable for items with a longer handle, perhaps a ladle or a large serving spoon.

These do not need to be perfect as you are just experimenting at this stage.

These will be used when you go back to drawing in CAD.

Alex says, "I have developed my ideas by experimenting with the width of the unit." So we can see here on the left a three-dimensional drawing has had an extension to make it a wider unit with extra slots for knives, and we can also see in the second picture the front view, a two-dimensional view where the width has been extended.

Sketches can be done in 3D or quickly in 2D.

We now move to task A.

Part one: sketch at least two developed iterations of your CAD design by sketching over printed copies of it.

And part two: annotate your designs to explain your developments and ideas.

Pause the video and have a go.

Brilliant.

Let's have a look at some of the answers you may have come up with.

Your work may look something similar to this.

Alex has shown two developments here with pencil sketches over his CAD printouts.

The sketches over CAD printouts show different developments.

One compartment has been made deeper to accommodate longer spoons and cutlery.

Also, the unit has been made longer by adding more knife slots.

Well done.

We now move to the second part of the lesson, using sketches to develop CAD ideas.

Your sketch drawings over your CAD printouts are then used to develop your CAD drawings.

Your sketches need to be evaluated to help decide which ones are worth developing and which ones are not.

Alex can evaluate his sketches against his decided-upon improvements.

Different compartment sizes for different types of cutlery.

Make it more aesthetically pleasing.

Add a stand which would make it possible to place it on the countertop rather than fix directly to the wall.

Alex says, "I like the idea of making one of the compartments deeper for longer spoons." "I think the addition of a stand is worth developing in CAD as this was a specific request from my user and would make the unit versatile, as some students may not be allowed to fix things to the wall." We can see here a pencil sketch showing a stand which has been added to his original drawing in CAD.

Here we have a check for understanding.

What should be done after sketching over the top of CAD drawings and before developing them further in CAD? Is it A, render; B, test; C, prototype; or D, evaluate? Pause the video and have a go.

Wonderful.

Let's check.

That's right, it's evaluate.

Well done.

Adding a stand was planned from sketching on the CAD printout and then it has been added to CAD afterwards.

We can see here on the left the pencil sketch edition, and on the right, the CAD version.

This sketch experimented with changing the width of the product and adding more knife slots.

When developed using CAD, the change in proportions of the design can be made to show the development seamlessly.

We can see on the left the pencil sketch added to the original CAD printout and then on the right, this wider unit drawn in CAD.

Also note that the material has changed in the CAD drawing.

Once this has been added, it is then easy to create further iterations by changing things such as colour and materials.

This particular example changed from a white coloured polymer to a stainless steel coloured example.

What do you think? And here we can see a further iteration where the material has been changed and the colour has been changed, so we've gone to a red polymer from a stainless steel example.

Which one do you prefer? We now move to task B.

Using your sketches on CAD, develop at least two iterations using CAD.

Part two, evaluate and explain the new iterations.

Pause the video and have a go.

Fantastic.

Let's have a look at some of the answers you may have come up with.

Alex says, "I have developed my design to be wider, with more knife slots and one taller compartment for longer spoons.

I have added a detachable stand to allow for students greater flexibility in where they place the unit.

This will make it much more appealing and efficient to use." Well done.

Alex also says, "In this iteration, I decided to see what the design would look like in a semi-transparent polymer, such as polypropylene.

I think this could be a useful functional improvement as it would allow my user to see what they have inside the compartments.

However, I am not sure he will like the aesthetics of this change.

Plus, I think this will be more difficult to keep clean." Well done.

We now have a summary of our learning.

CAD, or computer-aided design, is an excellent tool to develop design ideas.

CAD is part of the iterative design process and is used to develop your idea by allowing you to view and analyse it virtually.

It can sometimes be difficult developing an idea in CAD.

Sketching over your CAD drawings can help to develop the idea, before going back to make those improvements in CAD.

Before developing your ideas in CAD, your sketches should be evaluated.

Thank you for joining me today, and well done.