Design group 5

MAHELAMA Design 

- consists of Mariell Løvold, Helle Seim, Lars Kragseth and Mariana Munoz. We attend Vågen upper secondary school and we study Art, Design and Architecture in the class 1KDAA. A few weeks ago we were assigned the task to make a mechanical toy. Each one of us had to make our own individual toy, but each group had to decide for a collective theme for the toys. The assignment also required us to use both wood, metal and at least one 3D printed part for our toys. In addition, we also had to decide for a common colour palette. Mechanical toys are playthings powered by mechanical energy. You can use a variety of different types of mechanical energy to power a toy, such as rubber bands, strings and flywheels. These toys use 3 main types of different movement: ● Rotational (going around in a circle) ● Linear (moving in a straight line then stopping) ● Reciprocating (moving backwards and forwards continuously in a straight line) After some discussion, we decided to make mechanical toys based on sports. We would call the toys collectable objects, popular mainly among sports enthusiasts of all ages. Each individual toy represents a specific sport. We think the toys may be enjoyed by children, teenagers and adults alike, because the toys can be entertaining to all. Children could find them entertaining because of the movement, and teenagers who enjoy sports could find them entertaining and fun to collect at the same time. We think they could be entertaining to adults as well, chiefly for decorating and interior design purposes. One of the requirements for this assignment was to include at least one 3D printed part in our mechanical toys. 3D printing refers to the process used to create a three-dimensional object. These objects are designed using digital 3D programs and are formed by several successive layers of material, in this case; plastic. Only one member of the group had previous experience with 3D printing, while the rest of us were quite clueless in the beginning. Before we started working on the assignment, we got to experiment with 3D programs like Tinkercad and Sculptris. We had to learn everything from scratch, but it didn’t take long before we became suitably proficient. We all decided to use Sculptris except from Mariell, who used Tinkercad. Lars made a basketball player and printed the basketball, while Mariell printed the football for her football player. Mariana and Helle took a different direction, and designed and printed the heads for their american football player and weight lifter respectively, using the previously mentioned 3D program Sculptris. We all painted our 3D printed objects, which gave the object a different, but aesthetically pleasing appearance. We now know how to use different 3D programs. 3D printing can be challenging for someone without a lot of experience in the digital area, but it can also be extremely satisfying at the end when you get the final product. Even though we found the programs difficult at first, we all learned how to use them and we are happy with the results. Helle: I decided to print the head of my weight lifter. As faces are quite complex with different expressions and features, I thought it would be easier to make the face digitally. That way I could zoom in as far as I wanted, and make more precise details than I could have done in real life. Sculptris is definitely the easiest program when it comes to modelling faces, which is why I chose to use Sculptris. Another advantage in Sculptris is that we can choose to make everything symmetrical. This made the process a lot quicker, as I didn’t have to worry about making the other eye match and so on. I definitely prefer Sculptris over Tinkercad, because Sculptris is a lot more organic. Tinkercad requires too much geometrical and mathematical knowledge for my liking. At the end of this process, I have learned how to use Sculptris to make simple figures, as well as using Cura to prepare the model for printing. I also learned that it’s possible to use acrylic paint to paint the model. I had to cut off some pieces that were used as support during the printing. After cutting it off, the texture of the printed model was a little rough. However, I am still happy with the final model.

Poster: