5/25/12

5/25/12
Today I laser cut my cover for my portfolio. I already finished the rest of the portfolio so I had a lot of time to work on the cover. Saba helped me because we noticed that the design was off and the laser cutter would not cut it right. We fixed it and here was the final design:

This is the final laser cut version:

After all of the portfolio was done Saeed said that we could start working on our final project for next week. My idea was to work off of the Raghava’s studio and make a perspective film. For the movie I would use my camera to make a stop motion film. Here is my thought process:
Ideas:
Perspectives → iPad format
Using camera to take pictures → make into video

http://www.eatpes.com/index.html

3 Perspectives:
Storyline Ideas:
Person cooking a dinner for themselves sitting down and eating
Perspective one: What is really happening
Perspective two: Food’s perspective (cartoon)
Perspective three: Person’s perspective (whiteboard cartoon)

Student going into NuVu and slacking off (all cartoon)
Perspective one: What is really happening
Perspective two: Student thinks that they are working so hard
Perspective three: Teacher wants to kill student

Cartoon one → Using white board
White board films:

Saba said that she like the cooking idea and I also thought that would be easier to create in only four days.

5/22/12 and 5/23/12 – Presenting Parts

5/22/12 and 5/23/12
Today and yesterday we kept working on our portfolios. Yesterday I got two parts done and today I am done. We have all of tomorrow to work on it but I will use that time to check everything and go over it with Saba. Yesterday I also finished the cover photo but the only problem was that I used opposite colors. The laser cutter cuts the black but I wanted the white to be cut. Tomorrow I will ask Saba about it. Today on Photoshop I made a self portrait for the “Contact Information” in the portfolio. I wanted something a little bit different. Today I mostly had to find photos on my computer and also change the layout of the pages to make them look more appealing. After lunch Saba and Saeed had us print out our books (only one project though) and tape them on the whiteboard. We went through three people and Saba and Saeed had them present their portfolio and then they critiqued them.

5/21/12 – No More Studios

5/21/12
Starting from today we will not have any more studios. We are now working on our portfolios for the rest of the week. Our time spent at NuVu went by so quickly and I really enjoyed the experience. Today we worked on summarizing each studio we did. We had to write two or three paragraphs about each studio we attended for the portfolio. I finished all four of mine early so I got time to make a introduction and to download Blub. Blurb is an applications that helps make books. It already contains a book format in it so all you really need to do is drop in images and text. A’mina and I checked each other’s work and changed what we thought was necessary.
Although this topic for this studio was not my favorite, over all the NuVu experience was better than I could have expected. I now know more about my learning style and NuVu has helped me open my mind to topics that I would never usually think about. I wish I could do NuVu every year. When my friends ask me if it is worth it I definitely say yes. My public speaking skills have gotten better and my thinking steps have changed for the better. A lot of students, for some reason, did not like this past term because they thought that some of the studios were boring. The more that you bring into a studio the more you get out of it. This is the same with any real world situation. I thought that I put in a lot of effort into my work and even though some studios were not the most exciting I still eventually had fun with them.

5/18/12 – Presenting Day

5/18/12
Today was presenting day! We had an hour in the morning which we definitely needed. I still needed to make one more building to glue and I messed up on the hospital engraving so I had to do that again. Isabel helped me with glueing it together and she also wrote down a list for us to remember to talk about for the buildings and 3D models.
Alex and Quin still need more money and time units for the game so they decide to laser cut it on a really thin sheet of what looked like aluminium foil. It takes half as long because the laser cutter can cut the material much faster then the wood. The only problem was that it was melting the sheet a little bit so some of the writing came out distorted. I still wanted to make the clock tower for the school. So I made it just in time and glued it onto the school building. Everything came out perfectly just in time. The presentation started and Demitri introduced the project. The only problem was that he did not just introduce it he said almost everything that Alex and Quin had to say. I felt bad for them because all they could do was mostly repeat what he just said, their presentation was better though. Isabel went up first and talked about how she made the 3D pieces and talked about how she made the design. I went up and talked for about five minutes about each building and the stations themselves because Leah was absent. I told the audience about how many cars are at each stations at first and about the arduinos and anything else Isabel and I wrote down about the stations. After everyone in our group presented we had lunch. My advisor and my English teacher came so it was nice seeing them and I showed them everything that I had previously done and I even showed Mr. Chan how to cut shapes with the laser cutter. I made an etch of his face and gave it to him. It was just a little cartoon face and it only took a minute to make.
The other groups’ projects was very interesting. Their topics were making equipment for hospitals. One group made a machine which would be used to deliver radiation therapy to different types of cancer patients. It was very interesting looking and they used the laser cutter to cut this clear plastic which looked very professional. This other group made a new type of epi-pen. They made covers for the epi-pens so people would be less embarrassed to carry them around. They even designed an epi-pen that was smaller and more efficient. Steven made the design on SolidWorks so it of course looked really nice. We finished the day with Sophie and Molly presenting their work. They were in our group at first but then they switched to help Brian. They helped him with a website and they showed his product that he wanted to sell. It was a machine that could draw a mural on a wall. It was a really nice design and they did a lot of work helping him.

5/17/12 – Still Laser Cutting

5/17/12
This morning I went straight to the laser cutter to cut out the buildings. When I went into the room most of the building sides were already cut out. David was nice enough to cut out some extra pieces for me and it was a big help. As I downloaded the files into the laser cutter Jenna helped me glue the buildings together. It was definitely a two person job and I do not see how I was planning on doing it alone. It took so long to get everything cut out because the laser cutter takes a long time when it had to engrave an image and a lot of people need to use the laser cutter so we had to take turns. As we waited for the laser cutter we glued all the sides of the building together and I worked a little more on Google Sketchup and Photoshop. On Sketchup Saba helped me make a cube that would fit together perfectly because the last one was off by 3mm. It is actually harder than it looks to make a cube because we had to make all the notches on each side. We figured it out quickly and then I just made our design on Sketchup. The cube was for a clock that would go on top of the school. Saba also thought that I should put hands on the clock because my other design just had numbers. I easily made the hands then exported it into a BMP so it could be etched out by the laser cutter. Today was definitely the best day by far because I did more hands on work and it was more fun than usual. All together we made six buildings, one has to be glued tomorrow. I also need the etched side of the hospital building because I accidentally messed up on the last one. Tomorrow I also need to make the cube which should be easy. I was proud of myself today because I learned how to use the laser cutter and I did not need any more help with the rest of the buildings.

5/16/12 – Laser Cutting

5/16/12
Today’s yoga class was also fun because we worked on stretching and he showed us some moves that you can do to people that can make them fall to the ground. We did not hurt anyone for course but it was fun learning different “pressure points”. He taught us this one move where you hold someone’s hand with your thumbs up, their palm facing towards them, and you push down the wrist. It is a weird feeling; it feels like a mix between a stretch and a little bit of pain. Usually the person just crouches over and sometimes go on their knees.
After yoga Saba said that I should help with the rest of the models because David was not at NuVu yet to help me with the laser cutter. There was not much for me to do because Leah was already mostly done and I would have been more in the way then an asset. Steven was there though and he knew how to use the laser cutter so he helped me laser cut the cube for the clock tower. The only problem was that after the machine printed the cube, two sides were off by 3mm. When David got to NuVu he helped me change the measurement for the buildings so it would all fit nicely. Before we printed out the first building we also put my picture of the burger to sketch on it. David showed me how to work the laser cutter so I could use it if he was not there. The first building came out well and we glued it together. We laser cutted a second building which was the grocery store and it turned out well. I had to leave before it was all glued so David finished it for me. Tomorrow we will be laser cutting some more and gluing everything together so we can get ready for the presentation on Friday.

5/15/12 – Photoshop Buildings

5/15/12
We did much of the same work as we did yesterday. I focussed working on the buildings the whole day. I had to change all of the previous ones that I had already finished because we changed the measurements. I used Sketchup to create the actual building structure and Photoshop to design the building. On Sketchup I added notches on each side of the rectangle so it would make it more sturdy when we glued it. I also made a cube for a small clock-tower for the school. It did not take me that long to make the shapes on Sketchup because I had been doing it all of yesterday so I was pretty used to it. On Photoshop I designed the front faces of each building. The faces had to be simple because we were going to sketch them onto a piece of wood using the laser cutter. Here are the pictures of the buildings:

It took most of the day to make these. When I first started them I thought that I was going to get them all done by today and then get them laser cut them but I will have to do that tomorrow morning. For homework tonight I already finished all the other sides that I had to do so David can help me use the laser cutter early.

5/14/12 – Designing Stations

Yoga, today, was more interesting than usual. We did some interactive stretching which was funny because we had to go into these weird positions and it made people kind of uncomfortable (in a good-ish way) which was funny to watch. So it was more amusing than interesting.
After yoga we went back to working on the stations except Dimitris and Saeed wanted to mix up the groups of people. So now Tyler in no longer in our group, also Isabel has to work more on the pons. Leah and I worked on making a new design for the stations and Saba came over to help as well. Our first idea was to have a ramp that went from the road to the stations. Under the ramp would be the arduino to collect the data but we thought that people would just ignore the ramp and just go straight to the station. In our second design we to have the scanner separate from the station. Saeed gave me the job to make the box. But Saba and Leah then changed the design again so we finally decided on making the stations have a parking lot on top, a building on the side, and a censor where you can swipe an SD card. This would all be attached and be in one piece this time. We thought this would be the easiest, most efficient way to work the stations. Saba wanted me to design the bottom part of the scanner but Saeed decided he did not like that idea. At the end of the day I started to work on the design if the buildings. I already have that mostly done though.
Isabel worked on using the 3D printer to make the pons. It is fun watching it and the first piece (which was a suitcase) came out okay except the handle was a bit off. It still looked good though. Tomorrow Leah and I will have to work with the 3D printer even though neither of us know how to use it.

5/11/12 – Laser Cutting The Stations

5/11/12
This morning we continued working on the designs of the pons and the station. Isabel created a camera pon (for the tourist), Tyler created a graduation cap (for the student), and Leah created a suitcase (for the worker). They made each of these designs on Google Sketchup. The next step was to decide on where the arduinos should fit inside the stations and inside different buildings. I drew some buildings (a school, a office building, a restaurant, a hospital, a museum, and a pharmacy). Here is a picture of them:

After I drew the pictures I designed them on Sketchup. The only problem was that they had to be two dimensional because we were going to use the laser cutter to make them. Tyler made the school then I made the rest of the buildings. I have not gotten to the burger yet though because I am still figuring out how to make it 2D. After I gave the files to Tyler so he could use the laser cutter to make them. We were going to use the 3D printer but it was not working. We got some of the buildings done but then Dimitris said that he wanted us to change our idea so we could fit the pons in the buildings and station. We ignored that idea though because there would not be a point since the pons do not have arduinos in them and since we already made/designed the buildings.

 

5/10/12 – Half Day

5/10/12
Today, sad to say, I also missed part of NuVu. I had a job interview at the Natick Community Organic Farm. I want to work there this summer so I missed the first hour and a half. When I came back at 10:30 I was somewhat lost on what people were doing. My group was already making designs for the stations that the cars would go in. (They decided little plastic cars would do). Saba was helping the group when I came; she was drawing some designs of the stations. Her designs looked good but I think the group decided on another plan. I worked on drawing some other possible designs for the station but all I knew was that there had to be eleven or ten spots for the cars. It was hard to work off with just that information but I made do with it. After lunch I drew some mock-up designs of a station because I was in-charge of doing that on Sketchup. I finished drawing it but as soon as I got Sketchup open my mom came in. I had to go to the doctors to get my shots for Costa Rica. I felt really bad leaving the group again especially with my unfinished work so tomorrow I will have to work extra hard.