Matariki and Puanga Art Activity

Recently our students have been completing an art activity based around the celebration of Matariki and Puanga in New Zealand.   We have recorded the process for this in the slideshow shown below.  At this point in time it is the holidays in New Zealand - we will be printing during this break and adding to this slideshow as a result.

This was created by our seven and eight year old students in New Zealand using Tinkercad and a selection of art materials.

Goodbye from 3D Print School

 

Term Two has now concluded and we are on a two week break.    Our students will be completing work and adding posts during this break time.

Some of our staff, from Auroa Primary School,  will be present in Australia for the Apple Education Summit.   If you are a visitor to this site and you will be attending this event please say hello if you meet them.

In the meantime as always thank you for your visit it is very much appreciated and we will see you all later for some additional work.  Exitus acta probat.

Puanga - 3D Printed Art/Mixed Media

 

We have now completed the final version of the Punga/Matariki themed art that our students have been working on as part of our artwork theme this term.

We have detailed this over a series of posts on this blog featuring the different aspects of this process.

It started with the use of Tinkercad to create the constellation, AR/VR and projecting it onto a range of backgrounds.

We have also discussed how we have then used Pic Collage filters to create art work that can stand alone or in this instance progress through to a 3D Printed mixed media version of the print featured below.

In the example left we have combined all of the elements of the artwork together with the 3D Printing.   The base is black paper combined with pastel work (for the 'Southern Lights') and white paint to represent the stars.   The 3D Printing in this example shown is the 'cotton candy' that has been featured in a number of prints on this blog.   

In the example shown left the lettering used 32g of filament which has a price point of $0.80c.   The print took one hour and eleven minutes to complete.   

The challenge moving forward is for the entire class to complete the 3D Printing - there is a balance required between printing something that can look effective on the artwork and not printing anything too small that does not print due to its size.

3D Printed Personalised Birthday Gift

 

Challenge: To produce a unique and personalised present from a student to another person.

Background: This was presented to the teacher as a completed project that had been designed, created and actioned at home by the student.   They wanted to combine a small stand, a name and row of hearts as well as a personalised message on the back of the design and give this as a gift.   The student concerned is eight years old.  There were two versions of this printed both on the P1S Bambu machines.   The first version is shown top left.

In this version the lettering was very narrow and subsequently the printer had difficulty in producing the desired affect, which was produced in the adjusted version.   The different between both versions size wise was only 30mm or so however it made the difference between a successful and non successful print.

In the initial print the lettering on the reverse of the design was too small and had difficulty being read, the revised version had 4mm high lettering that was sunk into the design and was as thin as 1mm in places but held its form.   

Resources used to complete this project: Tinkercad App, iPad, Bambu P1S, Cotton Candy PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Medium.  This student has shown creativity and flair when completing designs and had a very definite idea and process in mind when completing this print - also was very keen to make use of the exisiting 'cotton candy' as they felt that the colour would work in conjunction with the gift.

Size: The revised version of the print, as shown left, measured 110mm across was 30mm long and 40mm high.

Cost/Price: The print used 15g of PLA for rafting and 45g of PLA to complete the print.  This had a price point of $1.17 to complete the print.

Timeframe: This print took one and half hours to complete on the regular default, infill settings that are set up with the printing software.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: Nil - completed and done in a way that the student was very happy with.  There was a limited discussion about mounting it somewhere - or the fact that it does have a hole in the top left hand corner when facing forward, but the student did not want to change it.

Matariki and Puanga - AR/VR versions of the Art

 

As we have been detailing here on this blog we have a focus this week on an upcoming event of national significance - the Matariki Celebration (which is also Puanga in our geographic area).

As preparation for this we have been working on artwork that is based around using our 3D CAD design, our use of AR/VR tools and our ability to create physical objects (which in this case the final output is a piece of mixed media 3D Printing and art).   

As we have described and noted on this blog a number of times in recent years it is also possible to use Tinkercad as a tool to create an art project particularly when you cross the Tinkercad App with another App - a favourite of ours has been to do this with Pic Collage and the filters that are associated with this app are only becoming more inventive and unique with the onset of using AI as well.

The image shown left is an example of the final stage where we are heading.    This is showing the black background with the southern lights creating by using black paper, white paint and pastel crayons.

Onto this background we have used Tinkercad's ability to project its AR/VR and moved the virtual design into the physical space.   We still intend to print the design (and use glow-in-the-dark filament) but this shows our students and ourselves what the final design just might look like.   We have student who also have created a Matariki visual (in the above photograph) and used the text options in Tinkercad to name each of the stars.    We are now going to 3D Print the files for the art to then be layered on top of the art for the final design.    Print times vary but as we are only printing the lettering and the stars we do not anticipate it will be unreasonably long (or expensive)

3D Printed Pinball Prizes

 

Yesterday we celebrated the Smurfs win in the first 'tag team' Pinball tournament battle held here at Auroa School.  If you missed the livestream of this event you can locate it by clicking on the link here.

We also had the amazing Mr Bloor, whose must see Youtube channel is here use his creativity to produce a range of prizes for the students, from miniature versions of the competition pinball table to working pinball tables and a range of amazing items.

These were mentioned several times during the livestream and our champions were very spoilt!

If you wish to have further information about his amazing work please drop us a line and we can put you in contact with him

E-Sports - Virtual Pinball Battle 2026

Livestream of the Auroa Primary School 2026 Virtual Pinball Competition, filmed at Auroa Primary School on Monday 29th June 2026 - livestream of the finals,.

Auroa School Virtual Pinball Competition!

 

Its one of the highlights of the year! Its one of Auroa Schools Big Events - Tomorrow (New Zealand time) we are holding one of our e-sports Virtual Pinball Competitions! The students will be battling throughout the day to march towards the final!  You can follow the action by clicking on the link to the livestream which we will update you with shortly! In the meantime we've got this retrospective which has highlights of all of our major competitions throughout the year! 

3D Printed Crab Fidget Toy

 

Challenge: For student to create and print an original fidget toy.

Background: This is an original design piece from a former student in the classroom who is now nine years old.  In it she wanted to create a cartoon character that had humour in its features that also was constructed using linking - of particular note is the dimensions and details of this print.

This student has designed this print in their own time and presented it complete for printing.   They have designed the linking themselves based on a range of designs that they worked on last year.

Resources used to complete this project: iPad, Tinkercad App,  Bambu P1S, Cotton Candy PLA.

Level of Difficulty: High - this is a complex design by a creative middle school student (formerly junior school) who has created a range of designs and projects of an increasingly complex nature.  They are working independently to complete them.

Size: The print measures 110mm across.   The main body is 40mm high and the design was 10mm wide.

Cost/Price:  The unit used 5g of PLA for rafting and a further 16g of PLA to complete the print.  Thus a total of 21g of PLA was used for this project.   This had a price point of $0.41 to complete.

Timeframe:   The project took forty four minutes to complete which included a six minute warm up and thirty seven minute print time.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the student: The student is keen to test the linking to ensure that it can last and function as intended.  It is noted that the feet could have some additional development.

Bambu P1S vs Snapmaker 2026 Comparison

 

This print first appeared as an original challenge on this blog in September of last year before our School Market Day and came out of a physical challenge - that was combining an object (in this case the oversized single eye) with a 3D Print.   You can view this project by clicking on the link here.

While the design was adjusted a number of times by student concerned (who was seven at the time) the details remained relatively constant.   One of the things about this print that stood out, apart from the creativity was that it was an excellent example of junior innovation, particularly when it was modified to include additional storage space - and in an excellent example of working it is a great USB drive storage and sits well on a desk! It also had some variation where we printed a glow-in-the dark or super-glow-in-the-dark versions.

One of the aspects to it that was of question was the print time.   At the time we had a single Bambu H2D for printing and several older Snapmaker machines.   When printed on the Snapmakers the print had a completion time of two hours, it was the intention to try it again on the Bambu H2D or Bambu P1S and compare the times for the same print, and the quality of the print.

With a two hour timeframe in mind we repeated the print again.   Of a small side note we have used Tinkercad interface (classroom) for a number of years now the old profiles, accounts and material is still available for students to use hence we are using for this comparison print the original design.

The repeat print (shown left) completed this week has been printed with a similar quality.   The print cost from the project was $0.72c and the print used 35g of filament including some support/rafting for the parts of the piece that were not part of the main body (the circles on the design to show bumps).

There was clearly an expectation of a time reduction - as the original took two hours to complete and we estimated at the time the (top of the line) Bambu H2D would take about half that.    However using the P1S machine we were unsure of the timescale and how it might affect this print or other pints from the past.

The new version of this print was completed in a total of 57 minutes which included the standard six minute warm up for the machine and fifty one minutes for a total print time - meaning that the smaller Bambu machine was printing twice as efficiently.  This will lead us to revisit some of the students previous work which we either didn't print in larger numbers due to time constraints or issues with rafting or details.

3D Printed 'Not Lego' Lego Minaature Chairs

 

Challenge: To produce an authentic looking piece of furniture to work in conjunction with a 'lego/not-lego' set or scene.

This activity has several reference points.  Firstly one of the major challenges that our students were involved in was the making a 3D Printed furniture suitable for a Dolls House.   You can see an overview of this major project by clicking on the link here.   An off shoot of this project was creating 'lego' scale figures.

A discount purchase of end of line promotion from a local supermarket meant that we could access several kitchen scenes and our students as result worked on a series of figures to match and then items of furniture to fit into the scene.  Students AR/VR the creations into these scenes and then we printed in some cases the physical figures.

This design came out of that process as it was an end process of producing a chair to fit around the table.   It was a relatively easy design for the student and allowed them to create something that could easily be printed (see time below) and then modified to fit into the scene.

Resources Used to complete this project: iPad, Tinkercad App (for design and AR/VR projection), Bambu P1S, Cotton Candy PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Low - this was completed independently by a nine year old,  The chair design as it stands (pardon the pun) at the moment is recognisable and functional although the potential would be for further details to increase the challenge.

Size: This is a miniature print to fit into a 'lego' sized scene.   The chairs dimensions at present measure 20mm across is 40mm high and 20mm deep/wide.

Cost/Price:  We have used the Bambu Studios cost price analysis extensively to ensure that we are considering the viability of prints but also to make sure we could identify what could be a 'whole class' activity for someone who is working on a budget or has limited access to a printer.   This design uses 5g of PLA plastic with a price point of $0.13c to produce - making it one of the lowest price prints that we have completed this year.

Timeframe: To complete this print the printer had the standard six minute warm up and preparation time and then printed for twenty one minutes.   This meant of course the total time was under half an hour on the regular default settings.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The design that the student has created as shown left in place is almost too large as it stands at present.   When compared to the rest of the scene it is the size of a high chair but obviously does not have the correct dimension for this.  It needs to be adjusted smaller if it was to be for the table - however once this is completed (and this should take no more than a simple drag and click of the design) the student could make a full set from a single item.   The detail that the P1S can produce given the default settings is extremely impressive.  I have had a casual conversation with someone who is involved in role playing games and their machine is producing all of the figures.

There is huge scope for further design in this range.

3D Printed Tractor Accessories: Revised

 

Challenge: To produce an authentic looking accessory for a 3D Printed tractor.

Background: On a previous post on this blog we detailed this project and the students involved have now addressed a number of issues that were present.  In the initial version, the post of which is here, the students had a connector pin created but it needed some refinement.   Some of the smaller details on the print needed reworking.

The students took the initial working print and tested it in conjunction with the tractor - they identified that pin required reworking (it was made bigger and was therefore more robust, the original broke early on).   The ends of the accessory were adapted to ensure that they were balanced.  An attempt was made to address the connection at the underside of the design although this still needs to be addressed.

In the photo left you can see the progression between the three stages of development.  Print one while it had a design was too small, the second print, bottom right had some details but required the refinement that was provided by the third print.    

The dimensions of the different prints (particularly from two to three) did not vary significantly (and you can see them here).  

The students now feel that they are at the point where they have a working model and now want a final phase of adjustment (small details, accessories and tweaks) before completing a final design.

There has also been a range of discussion about what else could be produced in this range to create additional accessories that the students are familiar with on account of our school being in a heavily dairy farming dominated area.  The video below shows the print in 'action'.

Puanga - 3D Printing Art Prototpye

 

We have talked about the process of our students using Tinkercad to create an AR/VR image of the Puanga constellation which is visible in our region (instead of Matariki which is our nation wide holiday) 

We have started the process of early physical prototype of this with the intention of creating some form of a mixed media work.   The intention is for the students to paint a background and then have the 3D Printing attached to the background.   In early testing (shown left) some of the lettering stood out however while the lettering was solid the smaller stars had some difficulty being glued into place.   The students need to refine their design and ensure that the star had a flat back to it.   The lettering were sized large enough in this example to be glued directly to the background.

In an example like the one shown left (when the picture was taken prior to the print being removed from the plate).    Some of the stars shown left which worked in a context of the AR/VR work - but when converted to a physical 3D Print the size of the print the stars did not prove to be robust enough.

The stars will need to converted to physical print and then checked by the students.  It may well be that the AR/VR design should be increased in dimension to ensure that that it remains viable for the art.   

Finally the check that needs to be made to ensure that the glue can maintained and not have the pieces of the printing falling off at a later point.  We have used PVA glue in a first attempt and will be checking this over the coming days to ensure that it allows the design to remain in place.

Revisiting Our 2018 Numbers

 

The image taken left is from 2018.   This was the year that we decided to replace the wrought iron numbering system that was on the wire fence with some custom made numbers.

It is the area where we have our evacuation assemblies and where we need to have clearly visible signage so students need to know where to line us.  This led us to putting a series of 3D Printed numbers up in place of the originals and documenting their time exposed and out in the elements - the original numbers are mostly intact and are exposed to the elements throughout the year.   You can click on the original 2018 project print here.  We have followed this initial post with a series of updates over the years tracking the change in the PLA of the numbers (which is essentially none) and also what has happened to the prints over the years.

In essence two things have occurred.  The first is while the PLA itself has remained intact the colour that was part of the initial print (orange) faded over time.   We have taken down the prints twice (in eight years) and had them resprayed.

The second issue has been that students like to play ball games (particularly soccer/football) on the field next to where the netting and the numbers are.   Although they are not targeting the numbers directly they have received several direct hits from students kicking a ball.   The original prints were 10mm thick.

This week we made the decision to replace two of the revised prints that have been consistently hit by kicked balls from the field.  

Of note as a reflection of how the technology that we are using has changed over the past eight years the original numbers when printed took four hours to complete.   The same sized objects now, twice as wide are taking one quarter the time - ie just over one hour to complete.

Resources Used: Tinkercad App, iPad, Bambu P1S, Cotton Candy PLA (this may be resprayed later).

Level of Difficulty: Low - this is a seven year old student operating independently to produce something with a purpose the teacher didn't need any direction and the task took three minutes.

Size: The focused with these revised numbers has been on the need to ensure they are more robust than the originals.   They are 120mm wide 130mm long and importantly 20mm thick which is double the width of the originals.

Cost/Price: The print used 54g of PLA to complete and this had a price point of $1.37.

Timeframe: This took one hour to complete (as noted the 2018 original, half the width took four hours).

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: Nil.   This was a task required to resolve a specific problem and it did so there is nothing further required.

3D Printed: Using Tinkercad Creations

 

Challenge: Using the pre-made characters or designs from the main Tinkercad interface in a creative way.

Background: This print came as a very brief activity from one of the students who was using some of the pre-generated designs in Tinkercad to create a potential project.   The student felt the dog that they were able to locate bore more than a passing resemblance to their dog and wanted to produce a print associated with it.   As the dimensions for the print were quite limited it was felt that this would be a worthwhile project and could lead to further development.

The student was easily able to use their own design skills to mount the animal on a base (that was made by importing one of the basic shapes0 and then they completed the quick design by introducing a name into the base of the plate.   This process was completed by a cohort one student in under five minutes independently.  

The print shown gives an example of the kind of detail possible from the Bambu P1S Printer - which is more-or-less as effective as the Bambu H2D.   The sole rafting that was produced with the print was a tree that came under the muzzle of the dog - the rest of the detail such as the legs and other features had none.

Resources used to complete this project: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu P1S Printer, Cotton Candy PLA.

Level of Difficulty: Low.   The student used the pre-generated design and adapted it - the level of skill was in recognising this could make a viable print rather than a focus on the design.

Size: The print measured 55mm across at the base and was 55mm long and 20mm high.   The dog was 70mm high and 40mm wide.

Cost/Price: The project used 33g of PLA to complete which included 10g of rafting.    The price point for this was $0.82.

Timeframe: As a relatively small print this print took fifty seven minutes to complete and had the standard six minute warm up time for. combined print time of just over one hour.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The student in question is going to put additional details into the design, re-centre the lettering and has thought about what else can be put around the base.   These changes are additions and would not significantly affect any of the major details of this print.

3D Printed Mini Pencil Sharpener

Challenge: To take a physical object, in this case a pencil sharpener and include it with a 3D Print.  Various versions of this has been produced however this version was a micro scale and attempt to complete the project using the smallest amount of PLA.

Background: As above - a deluxe edition was detailed on this blog as was another early prototype from this years version of this task.

The challenge concerned the students inserting a space internally into their design and making sure they had an understanding of measuring in millimetres and refining their design - too small and obviously the pencil sharpener couldn't fit and too large that the pencil sharpener would have too much space.    The sharpener itself is inexpensive.

They were able to be purchased from a local dollar store for a small charge which allowed the purchase of twelve of them.   Students did need to be aware that they could not have too much pressure applied as it tended to crack.

The other biggest consideration for students to consider from an engineering perspective is the exit point for the shavings once it has been used.  Consistently students have either a exit point that lacks a clear route or requires some force for it to work.   Working at a small scale like this allows the students to create something where the print is not too long and realistically allows it to be completed as a working prototype.

Resources used to complete this project: iPad, Tinkercad App, Cotton candy PLA, Bambu P1S.

Level of Difficulty: Medium/High as we have spoken about on a number of posts this task appears simplistic but is not, there are a number of challenges that need to be resolved by the students.

Size: The current version of this is designed to be as small as possible.  This example is 40mm across and is 50mm long.   At the back of the design the part of the design that has the students name was 35mm high.

Cost/Price: At present the print uses 18g to complete and included 6g of filament as support rafting.  Using the cost price model of the Bambu support software the cost of the print is $0.45c.

Timeframe: The print had a total of 42 minutes to complete.  A six minute warm up for the printer and then a total print time of thirty six minutes.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The final mounting of the pencil sharpener is the key element which in this case will involve the student completing testing to evaluate its effectiveness.

Room Seven Auroa Primary School: Week Nine

 

We've approaching the school holidays in New Zealand where we have our mid year break.   As it is a very busy time for our students we have a number of projects that are ongoing at the moment - and we wanted to share and highlight some of these.

In the print featured left the students working on the toy tractor accessories have reworked their original design which was featured on this blog here   It has been considerably resized however now works in conjunction with the tractor perfectly and the students are now looking at ways to refine the design and develop further accessories along the same lines.    

A seperate group of students are experimenting with the process of linking - starting with their names.   They are working with a former student who spent a considerable amount of time last year mastering the art.   You can see example of this students work here and here.   This is the link to the earlier post this month on the subject which you can see by clicking here.

Our students have been working in pairs on the 2026 version of the 'Pencil Sharpener Challenge.

In this challenge students have to take a small physical object (in this case a pencil sharpener, regular size to sharpen a regular HB pencil0 and build a 3D Print to house it.   This involves the students engineering a problem that needs to resolve the location and depth of a print, the exit of the sharpening once its been used and the overall look and composition of an original design.

It has proven to be something of a semi-regular challenge that involves a small outlay but allows the students to be engaged and consider size as well as the challenge of building something around an object.

There are a number of designs that feature on this blog that you can access by clicking on the link on the top right hand corner of this blog, as a search bar will allow you to locate everything tagged with this.

During the holidays we are celebrating our Matariki National Holiday - although we celebrate it slightly different in our region (Puanga).   This project is going to be a significant art project for the remainder of the term.    

Our students have been creating AR/VR images of both the constellation (for Matariki) and the star for Puanga which will be a physical display in our classroom.   You can click on the link to this work here or you can as always use the search bar.

Finally as an Apple Distinguished School we are sending a number of staff to the ANZ Apple Summit in July, please get in touch with our teachers (from Auroa School) if you see them there.

A Million Page Views for this site

 

Over the weekend this site will receive its 1,000,000 page view.  

It has been running as a blog since 2015 with the expressed purpose of sharing ideas and content related to initially 3D Printing, but also a range of tech since then, such as 3D Printers, sticker machines and of course the laser cutter.

You can view our very first post here.

As the students have continued to move through the school we have produced some wonderful projects, ideas and work which it has been fantastic to share with a wider audience from out little school in rural New Zealand, South Taranaki.

As the teacher behind the site I would just like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has contributed directly or indirectly to what we have been able to share from the staff to of course the wonderful students to everyone that has ever visited this page or shared this work.     

We have been promoting this site more this year and I don't think its a coincidence that the page views have increased significantly since the start of the year and are increasing exponentially.  It is exciting to consider where this page will be in another twelve months time.  In the meantime as always thank you so much for your visit and please get in touch (myles.webb@gmail.com/mwebb@auroa.school.nz) if you would like further information regarding any projects or work that we have featured.

Non progredi est regredi.    

3D Printer Pencil Sharpener - Deluxe Edition

 

Challenge: To create an original design that incorporates into the print a physical object with a purpose.

Background: We detailed this projects start earlier this month when we tasked students with the challenge of having a physical sharpener created to work in conjunction with a student engineered 3D Print.    The students for the process were able to work with a partner on the design.   The challenge first stage was the design then the students were to undergo testing to ensure the design was viable, balance and had a purpose.

Some of the challenges that the students came up against were aligning the sharpener correctly into the print, ensuring that they had a suitable 'exit' location for the pencil sharpening once it was used.

Once the inserting mechanisms had been devised the students then spent time working on the other aspects of the design, inserts for pencils, names and shapes.   The students wanted to use a multi coloured PLA for the affect that it would create - this is a PLA which is called 'Cotton Candy'.

Resources Used: iPad and Tinkercad App for the design, Cotton Candy Bambu PLA, Bambu P1S.

Level of Difficulty: Medium/Hard.   This is one of those tasks that appears simple but there are layers and elements to it, particularly when the students start to attempt to have multi entry and exit points and details that need to work in conjunction with each other.

Size: This version of the print measures 50mm across and was 55mm long and 40mm high.   

Cost/Price: This unit as it stands uses 42g of PLA filament to complete the print, including some 12g of rafting (for the lettering and the inside of the box).   This had a price point of $1.07c to complete.

Timeframe: To complete this project the printer took a (now standard) six minutes to warm up and one hour twenty four minutes to complete the print, for a combined total of one and a half hours.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: There is a gap in the side of the pencil sharpener holder as shown left.   This has been created because the internal storage on the other side of the wall is too close to the side of the print.  It needs to be moved slightly or reduced in size which will correct the error.   The final step is for the students to undergo testing to ensure that the item works as it is intended.  If it does not the students will then need to look at reworking and refining it.

3D Design Puanga Art Piece

 

We've explained the process where we've been identify the group of stars that makes up the Matariki constellation of stars that is celebrated as part of our national holiday.

Regionally there is some variation - in our area where Auroa School is based, Taranaki, we celebrate rather than Matariki, Puanga.    You can view the difference between the two celebrations here.

While it is important to understand Matariki for our students, it is equally important for us to focus on Puanga.   For this we used the knowledge that we had built from the process in the last few days.

For the building of this group of stars we wanted to make sure that Puanga is the most significant from the group as it needs to be the focus.

The Tinkercad App was used with the students iPads (we are an #Apple Distinguished School) to create the group of stars.   We then used a specific feature of the app - the ability of the combination of the app and the iPad to AR/VR the design into another location.  We have extensively used this feature for a number of times which we have featured on this blog - you can search for additional examples by clicking on the link in the search box and inputting 'AR/VR'.

Once this had been completed (such as the student shown left, who projected the image onto the sky) the students then applied a Pic Collage feature.    This allowed considerable manipulation of the image - however as we had described in previously some of this manipulation altered the image to the point that the original design was completely reworked, overshadowed or altered.

One of the challenges for the students was to find innovative and creative locations to then apply a filter.  An example of this process was the use of the school playground in the example left.   We have a swing bridge as part of playground, this image here shows the bridge which then had the AR/VR image projected onto the bridge and the filter applied afterwards.

Puanga was labelled to ensure that it was the most significant star and that it was still visible with the differing background.

Further Developing the Matariki AR/VR Designs

 

We have spent a second day looking at ways to apply Tinkercad as a design tool to a creation that we might consider for showing or illustrating Matariki, the celebration of Maori New Year.

We wanted to explore this event and how we might use our students knowledge of tools that we have used in the classroom this year.    This example shown left is a further exploring of the process.  In this example in additional to having the physical representations of the stars the student has also labelled the stars with their names and attempted to place them in the correct order and relative location.  As noted yesterday the student then AR/VR this design into different locations around the classroom and then the general school.

We have also discovered that Pic Collage has developed its own AR/VR design tools so that students can further enhance their designs by introducing local landmarks such as the examples shown left.   In this instance the student is going to refine their design to ensure that the location of the stars accurately reflects the positions of the stars in the constellations.

We have experimented with a range of locations and also experimented with the AR/VR enhancement - our students have discovered that some of the enhancements overtakes the design - for instance some of the students creations of the constellations were replaced by some of the filters.

In the example shown left this shows how the AR/VR can rework the students design.   The students constellations design, AR/VR into a desk of the classroom is shown right.   When the image was then put through a AR/VR Pic Collage (which is the image shown left) the students design had been completely reworked by the tool changing the composition from one of the student designed with the correct placement into one that does not resemble the students creation.   The student wants to refine their prompts using reference to our location and see if this allows the design that they have created to remain in the correct order.   Likewise references to the local mountain, Taranaki, are producing a version that is not seen from our location.  Finally the idea was to look at some kind of art project - and we were thinking about how this might look.   The students are going to explore the printing of these stars, which while it was not the case initially is now looking at gluing these to a painted background to create a multi-media type piece of art.

Using Tinkercad to create Matariki AR/VR Design

 

In New Zealand we have the Matariki Celebration coming up next month.   At our school we have a number of projects that we want to create for this celebration.   When considering this event we also need to take into account location variations such as ourselves in Taranaki celebration a variation of this with Puanga.

We used Tinkercad to create a students versions of the stars.   We wanted the students to create their own version of this group of stars and then project them into different locations and also look at the different grouping of the stars, the relative size of the stars and the different locations so that the group could be recognised.

This work plane from Tinkercad is a students representation of the group of stars.   This was the students first attempt to create this and is going to undergo some revision and reworking.   This version of the cluster also used a basic star shape before the students had the ability to modify and adapt the design.   A number of the students in the classroom had completed different versions of this group of stars.   One had introduced labelling into the design and had the names of each of the stars in Maori written underneath the picture.

Again the sharing of this project with the students had helped them create the ideas and think about different ways that they could use Tinkercad to show this design and how it then might be created.

Once the design was created the next step was to look at locations where the students could use the Tinkercad App to AR/VR the design onto a blank background.   Once this had been completed the students then took the image that was projected and applied a pic collage filter.

This is the design from one of the students (it is shown above) then projected onto the floor of the classroom.   The shapes that are created by the AR/VR image maker are the carpet from the floor and also the walls and the furniture into the classroom.

The students then attempted to look at a number of locations and different filters which they could apply and attempt to find that best that represents the constellation.

Some filters tend to make the design less dramatic and not stand out - and there are some experimenting to go and we are also looking at different filters, exposures and editing of the photograph to improve the presentation.   There will be a number of additional images for this activity uploaded on the Facebook page, you can locate that by clicking on this link here.

3D Printed Award

 

Challenge: For a student to design something, and modify and print it during their first week of school.

Background; This is a basic foundation task to have a new student excited and involved in the process of 3D Printing.   In this case the student found a design that they wanted to print (the trophy) and then wanted to make an iPad stand which they wanted to personalise by introducing the persons name on the reverse side.

The student working on this task joined the classroom this week, had another student acting as someone to mentor them and this is their first attempts at 3D Printing.

Resources Used: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu P1S Printer, regular PLA.    

Level of Difficulty: Low - this is an introductory task (for an eight year old) where the intention is for them to be successful with the process, the design and the outcome.  It is something that should be considered a basic fundamental task.

Size: The trophy measures 50mm across and is 60mm high.  The stand measures 80mm across was 60mm long and was 70mm high.

Cost/Price: The stand used 44g of PLA and the trophy used 14g of PLA to complete.  The price to print both of these items was a combined $1.10c.

Timeframe: Two print the two items side by side took ninety minutes with the standard (default) settings.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students: The idea behind something like this is to get the student learning the concept, ideas and thinking about what else or where to next.  In the initial design process the student wanted to make an iPad stand however in this instance the stand is too small - it makes a excellent phone stand but to convert it would require resizing and developing.   There was a star that the student wanted to have on the stand under the name, but they didn't attach it to the base and it floated as a result.   This would be something that could be addressed with a revision.

3D Printed Oversized Desk Unit

 

Challenge: Can we push the use of the P1S Bambu printer to print something large and unique?

Background: As noted - an oversized creation designed by two students.   One of of whom who has been in the classroom a short time the other who has been designing since the start of the year.   As both students worked independently together the students designed a large unit to be used to organise items on a students desk and act as a name and work station.

Due to its size this was not considered to be something that would be produced by every member of the classroom.    

Resources Used: iPad, Tinkercad App, Bambu P1S Printer, regular (white PLA).

Level of Difficulty: This print although one of the students is somewhat of a novice has a number of levels to it and functions that are quite clever to design - there could have potentially more features but this is a solid mid range design.

Size: This is quite a large print.   The print measures 110mm across at the base and is square shaped.   The design is 100mm high.

Cost/Price:   This large print uses 300g of filament to print and had a price point of $7.61.   There was rafting as a result of the hooks that were on each of the corners.   The PLA could have been reduced if these had been printed separately and then glue onto place on the item when it had been finished.

Timeframe: As stated we wanted to push the machine -this took six hours to print at the regular default settings and the regular infill etc.

What we would do differently/Next steps for the students:   The print was completed in a basic white so the obvious next step is the decoration of the print.  This is most likely to be completed via spray painting.   The letter that dominates the outside of the design would really benefit from a contrasting colour so we may look at attempting to mask it using tape before an adult sprays it.

As noted this is intended as a one off larger print for the machine, the first that we have attempted and is not going to be a whole class project.