Learning How to 3D Model
I know I’ve written on 3D modeling before, but I just can’t stay away. More and more, nonprofessionals turn to the growing industry as a creative outlet, and platforms and forums like Thingiverse become ever more mainstream and prevalent among common consumers. All the items available on those have to come from somewhere though, and that’s where OnShape comes in.
OnShape is a fairly decent service for what it is. Like most of its competitors, free usage can be doled out to students and faculty without a whole lot of discrimination. Yet, unlike potentially pricey software offered by companies like Autodesk and Siemens, OnShape is a cloud-based software, meaning so long as there’s a Wi-Fi connection, you have access to all of your creations. After using the grade-A services like Autodesk Inventor for years, OnShape can seem clunky and hard to maneuver at times, but then I realize that this software isn’t for the professionals; it’s for the everyday person wanting to bring something from visualization to reality.
However, OnShape doesn’t have a whole lot of use when you don’t have access to a 3D printer. Luckily for Marquette Students, the University’s administration sees the value in design as a creative outlet and has installed multiple places on campus to print off 3D models, one of which is located right here in the basement of Raynor Library.
Don’t be scared of trying something new; 3D modeling seems intimidating to anyone who hasn’t used the interface before. That’s why my coworker, Simran Bhalla and myself are throwing a 3D modeling workshop using OnShape this coming November 10th at 12:30 PM in the basement of Raynor Library. Our goal is simple: to help others like us find their own passion in creation, visualization, and materialization.
It was actually a lot more work than I figured it’d be to finalize everything we want people to be taught on designing within OnShape’s browser program. We settled on a final workshop outline by asking ourselves “what are a few common objects that everyone would be interested in making?” This idea came from our own intro engineering class where we learned the basics of modeling through objects like water fountains and card scanners; just things that are seen and used everyday. It gives the user more of a picture of the scale is and what they are actually doing to make what’s in front of them, which is super helpful for someone not familiar with the actual software. The effort of this workshop will hopefully go a long way in making more people familiar and thereby comfortable with the field of 3D-Modeling.
