Iphone Amplifier — 3D Model Prototype
In this week’s “Mastering Prototyping Techniques”, we looked into using 3D modeling as a technique in rapidly building a prototype. Being previously familiar with 3D modeling, I found this to be particularly joyful and interesting.
In order to demonstrate our proficiency in prototyping using 3D modeling technique, we were tasked with an open-ended prompt to prototype a tool of our choice via 3D modeling.
Design
Initial ideation
Excited and ready for prototyping, I started the process by doing some initial ideations. Of course, as a designer, I sketched out my ideas during the ideation process. This would allow me to quickly move onto different ideas and yet able to trace back to previous ideas.
After this initial process, I quickly decided that I would prototype an iphone amplifier, because that was something I had always needed!
Detailed sketching
I then proceeded to sketch out the details of the iphone amplifier. Learning from my previous experience, I measured and sketched out the dimensions of different parts of the amplifier. By doing so, it would significantly make the 3D modeling process faster as no measuring would be needed in the process. It was also a good way to prompt me thinking how I could model that in the 3D modeling software. Below is the sketch I have for the amplifier:
Reflection
Overall, I believe the process of creating this prototype went rather well as few challenges were met during the process. The software I used was Autodesk Fusion360, which I personally believed had a better UI than other software such as Rhino.
As a 3D modeling software, Fusion360 intuitively displays examples of function while users hover over certain functions. Unlike Rhino, it displays one view of the object only by default. However, users could easily pan and rotate the object around for viewing and editing. I think the only disadvantage for Fusion360 is that it is still relatively new as a 3D modeling software, and thus sometimes users could encounter bugs while creating their 3D model.
