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.

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.

AR/VR Projecting onto 'not Lego"

 

We've previously blogged about the set of lego 'not lego' bricks that were a promotion at a local supermarket that we were able to purchase for $1.00

In the example shown left you can see the basic set up which is a kitchen, inside of a building.  As an introductory task for our students we wanted to use the Tinkercad App, the students and their iPad to create an object that could be placed somewhere into this scene.    We allocated a single afternoon block of time for this task, approximately forty minutes.

The theme of the build is to create 'Lego' ish figures - as we have noted this is not an official Lego set.   Tinkercad works well in this regard as it is able to produce 'block' figures easily as can be seen in the photograph shown left.   The image has been manipulated in the senses that the figure in red is not there, it is an AR/VR creation important and 'projected' into place by the student.   The student concerned is an eight year old student from the second cohort of students in class.   He was able to produce this design independently without any teacher input.

We also encouraged students to produce an item of furniture or an object and include this with the physical design crated by the bricks being assembled.

This is a second example with a more comical looking figure that the student has added a generic guitar.   In the second example here the figure is oversized relative to the rest of the furniture in the picture and the other objects.

The student has also some additional features that could be potentially added - of note for instance the hands at the end of the arms are missing at present and the facial features of the figure could benefit from having some additional details.   All of the design features are created from the main Tinkercad interface. 

Engineering and Teacher Purchase Bargains - Clearance 'Bricks'

 

As someone who has spent time locating 'bargains' for purchase for use in the classroom 3D Printing and Engineering also allows at times a keen eye to spot certain items.

This example has come from a large supermarket chain in New Zealand that to entice customers during various promotions including the gifting of items when points are purchased.   This "Bricks' branded set is one of the base sets for a recent promotion, that has now ended and as a result the supermarket chain appears to be putting the remaining stock on clearance.   This example was purchased locally from one such store for $1.00.    There are some obvious potential examples that could tie in with creation, engineering and 3D Printing - the set is a 'half of a house' and there is the clear possibility to add sections to the building.  

There is also a set of stickers/decals that come with the set - again these are something that we have produced in the past as this can be created and printed using the Roland Studios Versa Sign Maker.

Already this year we have purchased thrift shop items to allow the students to design replacement pieces and also used a massive backdrop to AR/VR designs onto our volcano setting (which was also on an end of line special).