AR/VR Design Creating 'Not Lego: Lego'

 

We blogged recently about the store purchased 'Not Lego: Lego' that  had been created as a set for a figure.

Our first challenge involving this set was for the students to create a figure that could fit into this scene.   The figure needed to be a 'Lego' like figure.  You can see our post about that here.   Next steps from here was to manipulate the figure and combine it with a pic collage figure as shown here.

Finally we applied a challenge for the students to create a piece of furniture that could fit in with the scene.   This is slightly more complicated than the figure as the idea for the students to 'hide' something that replicates the scene so much that it appears to fit (as opposed to the cartoon figures of several of the 'Lego' designs).  

We have previously used this process in a number of ways - most notably with our #tinkercadhunt challenge from last year.   That post is linked here when we used our Lamb and Pet Day school dioramas to place an original figure within a location.

In this instance if you view the two screenshots from the students iPad the additional added design should be obvious which is the table in the top right hand corner.  In the first instance the student had a design they felt that fit with the scene but when reviewing the creation with other students realised that the size was too small and attracted attention as a result of that.   The student also was not sure about the colour scheme.

The timeframe to create this was just a few minutes - the 'Not Lego' set had been made up previously, the students design was quickly created, and they wanted to add some items on the table to distract the line of sight.   The student was thrilled with this (non 3D Printing result).   We have also previously published entire slideshows of 'Non Printing 3D Printing Ideas' that involve Tinkercad and an iPad.  You can view that slideshow here - we will be updating it shortly for this years additions.

3D Printed Mathematical Resources

 

Challenge: To design a resource that will help the student with their learning of times tables.

Background: The Mathematics program that our students are currently working through is at the point that the students are looking to memorise or learn their time tables.   To assist with this we talked to the students about the way that they might make a simple game that would reinforce the knowledge required.

One of the aspect identified was for students to have recall and memory for basic facts - times tables.   The student concerned here was a cohort two student who had been designing since last year - they were able to produce this prototype with their iPad in a few minutes when they evaluated it for size, viability and usefulness.   The student wanted to make adjustments immediately on seeing the design, hence the drawing in vivid on the bottom of the two tiles.

The reworked design is going to look like the example shown left.  The student has decided to split the question and answer tile and print them separately.  They also have increased the distance between the equals symbol and the answer.

Resources Used: Tinkercad App, iPad, Bambu H2D and regular PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Low - this student is confident and know that they could easily design this with their skillset the only question would be the refining when the print was completed.

Size: Version one of this project as shown above has a tile that is 70mm long 30mm high and is 5mm wide.  Since the prototype was developed the student has made the decision to go with a split (as shown) although the original dimensions will remain in place.

Cost/Price:   A single print of the first print in the series (as shown) uses 12g of PLA to complete the print and has a price point at this size of $0.30.    There is no change with the upgrade.

Timeframe: To complete the print as a single question and answer tile has a timeframe of twenty minutes.   Subsequent redesign has not affected this time and can be used to determine how many questions need to be focussed on.

What we would do differently/Next Steps for the students:  We have made our own resources in the past, including examples that we have shared on this blog.   This example is a starting point for a range of designs that will be able to target something specific to our classroom.

Combing Tinkercad + Pic Collage Step Two and Three

 This weeks classroom challenge for the seven and eight year olds at Auroa Primary School has been using AR/VR technology in using Tinkercad to AR/VR students design - and then we have 'app smashed'.

In this example shown left you can see a screenshot from a students iPad.   The design that is present in the figure is the original Tinkercad design.   Using the students iPad and the Tinkecad App a single button allows the projecting of the image to nearly any location and nearly any size.

The student has super-sized this design so it towers over a local building (the Auroa Cricket Club) and the Auroa Primary School Field.   The student concerned is a cohort one student who is eight years old who worked on this design independently without any teacher input.   The design brief was to create a original 'lego inspired' figure for our 'lego - not lego'  design and this is the second step in the process.     While this design is creative and amusing.

This is the same figure with a Pic Collage Filter applied (which in this case is the Autumn figure) it has changed the image background significantly and turned it from an interesting one into something more creative.   The process for this was to apply the app and use the 'Magic Camera' AR/VR filter.    It then produced the finished shown left.

The student now needs to consider the trimming or the editing of the photo and then reintroduce the altered image back into a photo editing program before it is displayed on the wall or as part of a digital display.

This is a further example shown left.  In this example the student created a frying pan as part of the objects to be placed inside the 'lego-not lego' task.   The design took the students under ten minutes to create and then project into the kitchen setting.   Once this had been completed the student experimented with different pic collage filter to look at what would manipulate the image to produce the most striking image and settled on the image shown left.

Again the final step is to manipulate the image again in photo-editing software to complete the task. 

Using Tinkercad 'Bricks' and 'Blocks' to alter a project

 

We have used this figure as an example for a number of projects recently - and wanted to highlight two more.   

Tinkercad has a number of inbuilt options which are part of its set up.   When used as a web based browser there are two buttons in the top right hand corner that we'd like to highlight.   The first of which is named the 'bricks'. Option.

This converts the students print into 'not-lego Lego'.   In this process you create the design in user as Tinkercad.   You can view last years post about the topic by clicking on this link here.   There are three levels of details which can be applied for an increasing number of bricks and details.   When completed we then are able to screenshot the design - although in theory we would be able to identify the number of potential bricks used.

The brick icon is the third icon from the top on the right hand side - it is shaded blue.

In the second example shown here the student has taken the same original Tinkercad design and then applied the 'blocks' icon which is represented by the pickaxe which is next to the brick icon (fourth from the top right).  Again there are three different levels of design for this, which are located top right and the student has chosen to use the highest level of detail provided by the options.

Once these have been completed the next stage is to take the image and then run it through several different filters with other iPad apps such as Pic Collage.    You can see a summary of the work that we have done in this regard by clicking on the link here.    You can also use the search bar - located on the top right hand corner of this blog.   This blog in its current form has been running now for over a decade of student examples.

Using Tinkercad AR/VR

 

We've continued the process of using Tinkercad, the Tinkercad App and our iPads with our students to project our Tinkercad creations as AR/VR image around our school.

These figures are part of our recent creation of a 'lego-like figure' design task.   The first part of the task was creating an image.  In this example shown here left the figure ha not fully been developed.  The student has had two sessions with the design and needs to obviously complete the arms.  However the student can project the image already into locations around the school.   The task has currently taken two sessions (of half an hour each) to get to this point.

In the example shown left the student has taken the idea of a specific lego figure and then used Tinkercad to project it into a giant sized figure.

This has been done without green screen obviously as one of the strengths of using Tinkercad as an AR/VR tool you can essentially project the image anywhere with a simple push of the App button and then resize the image by dragging on it.

Our students who are seven and eight year olds are able to complete this activity independently from the design (which is of course original) and then into the projecting and the image manipulation.  If you would like any further details about this process please contact us.  There is also an expanded post about this on the companion Facebook page for this site - you can access that by clicking on the link here.

3D Printer - Expanding thinking about Student Projects

 

3D Printing Lore #7 - Don't Underestimate the Technology Involved in 3D Printing

Since last year we've made a series of posts about talking or discussion points for 3D Printing, under the heading #3DPrinting Lore - talking points for educators or in some cases challenges based around the work that we are doing here on this site and out our school.

In the previous series of posts about this topic - all of which are posted on this blog, which you can click on the links below here to access:

#1 You don't need more than a single printer to print in the school environment.   As explained in this post in December of last year we are intending to print the entire volume of our school projects and class projects off one single machine this year and will be notifying when not possible.  As we speak, in May, we have managed to achieve this so far.

#2 You don't need to print all of your 3D Printing Projects.   We've been increasing using the AR/VR Function of the Tinkercad App to project images in a variety of sizes and locations.

#3 Consider using glow-in-the-dark and other speciality filament which typically are an eye catching alternative which can be printed just like regular PLA.

#4 Juniors can print, design and create just as effectively as our senior students - a post from January 2025 highlighting some of our amazing junior school student designs.

#5 Teachers can be aware but don't need to be an expert.   We detail about how resourcing is available to help teachers tip their toes including tutorials and information.

#6 Don't Underestimate the Students - another year another classroom of students and another range of brilliant designs coming from the cohort one group of students who have only to this point being using Tinkercad to design for a few months.

The prints that are shown in this post represent a series of print completed on a single print run.   Over the many years that we have been impressed with how the technology has improved in both the reliability and quality (details of the printing).

In this example the five pieces of work printed were completed in a single print run.   There was absolutely minimal print rafting - the prints varied in size however the larger ones measured 180mm long.  

The printer ran non-stop for fourteen and a half hours - and used 730g of filament (as the PLA is typically purchased in 1kg lots).   This was approximately $22.00 worth of filament. 

This is something that we would have shied away from in the past - the printers are producing much more quality work (and for example our Bambu H2D is working at twice the speed of previous prints).

The project is of course part of the amazing work from our very own Mr Bloor and his DPE technology group.   You can see the project details here by clicking on this link.

VIrtual Pinball Tutorial 2026

 

We're very excited with the 2026 Auroa School Virtual Pinball Competition coming up later this term! You can view a summary of our amazing previous competition here.  We will providing further details shortly.