Lesson video

Hi.

I'm Josh.

I'm going to be your computing teacher for this unit on 3D Modelling.

In this lesson, we're going to look at what 3D Modelling is.

You're going to need a pen and some paper.

So make sure you grab those now before we get started.

We'll also be using a 3D Modelling software called Tinkercad.

In order to access Tinkercad, you're going to need a class code and a nickname, which your teacher should be able to provide for you.

If you got all those bits ready, let's crack on.

Okay.

So in this lesson, you're going to look at creating and manipulating three-dimensional digital objects.

To do this, you're going to identify the similarities and differences between 2D and 3D shapes.

You're going to recognise why you might represent 3D objects on a computer.

And you're going to select, move and delete 3D shapes.

So the first thing we're going to look at today is 2D.

Okay.

2D means two-dimensional.

What this means is that an object has width and an object has height.

2D objects do not have depth.

So they appear flat.

Maybe you might have seen circles, squares, hexagons, they're examples of 2D shapes.

They are flat.

You see them usually on a screen or a piece of paper.

3D then means three-dimensional.

Okay.

This means an object has width, it has height, and it also has depth.

Our physical world is 3D.

Okay.

Things around you are made up of 3D shapes.

So an example of a 3D shape is a cube, a sphere, a cylinder, okay.

All of those different shapes are 3D because they have depth.

Now, 3D shapes have faces, edges, and vertices.

What I'd like you to do is pause the video, and I want you to see if you can match the words to the definition, okay? So you've got faces, edges, and vertices and the definition corners where edges meet, surfaces on a 3D shape , and where two face meet.

So pause the video, see if you can match the words to the definition.

Okay.

So let's have a look and see what we've got.

So we've got faces.

Faces are the surfaces on a 3D shape.

They can be flat or curved.

So they are flat on a cube for example.

And they are curved on a sphere.

They are still faces.

We've got edges, which is where two faces meet.

And finally, we've got vertices.

These are corners where edges meet.

All right.

So in this unit we're looking at 3D modelling.

So we're going to be focusing on 3D shapes, and you're going to use those shapes to produce digital models of real-world objects.

So, 3D modelling allows you to do all sorts of different things.

It allows you to experiment with different designs so you can look at different ways of how projects might look.

It allows you to view designs from different angles.

So you can spin it around, you can look at it from underneath, you can look at it from a bird's-eye view, and it allows us avoid making a physical model, which can sometimes be quite time consuming, it can be quite costly.

And if you don't like the design once you've created the model, you have to stop and make it again.

3D modelling is used in lots of different things.

It's used in video games.

It's used in movies and animations.

It's used in interior design and architecture.

And it's also used for 3D printing.

So if you wanted to create a 3D model using 3D printing, you would have to create it in a 3D modelling software first.

So in a moment we're going to look at using the 3D modelling software Tinkercad, which we talked about at the start of this lesson.

So you're going to need to use a class code and a nickname to sign in, so make sure you've got those bits ready.

And then we can move on to using the 3D modelling software, Tinkercad.

Okay.

So the first thing we're going to do is we're going to visit the Tinkercad home page.

So I'm going to click up here in the address bar.

I'm going to write Tinkercad.

com, then press Enter, and that will take me to where I want to go.

So the Tinkercad home page looks like this.

With lots of interesting things on here, which shows some of the things you could be doing in Tinkercad.

We're going to click up here, though, on the sign-in button.

Once we get to this page, you'll see this button here, which says, "Students, join your class." So give that a click, and it will take you to a page that looks like this.

Now, this is where you'll be able to enter your class code given to you by your teacher.

This will be 12 digits and it will automatically enter the spaces for you.

I'm going to copy and paste mine in now.

Okay.

So it will look something like this.

You can either click on the "Go to class" button or you can press "enter," and that will take you to this page.

Now, this page is where you'll enter your nickname.

It will tell you your class, and welcome to class, and you can provide the nickname that your teacher has provided for you.

So I'm going to type in my nickname which I have, which is Josh3240, and I'm going to press enter.

And that will take me to my Tinkercad dashboard.

Now this dashboard is where you'll be able to find all of your different projects.

Once you've created them, they will show up here, and you'll be able to tinker with them further.

And you'll also be able to create a new design, which is the button we're going to need to click because as you can see I have no recent designs ready to go.

So I'm going to click "Create a new design." And once this loads, it does take a little while, it will show you a page that looks like this.

Now, this is my workplane.

As you can see down here, this is where my 3D modelling is going to take place.

And you've got lots of on the page, but the first thing we're going to do is we're going to change the name because this title, Brilliant Bruticus-Trug does not do me any favours in finding out what my project is about.

So I'm going to click that, and I'm going to change the name.

I'm just going to call this 3D modelling intro for now.

I'm going to press Enter, and my project's name has been changed.

So we're going to look at some of the different functions you can use within the 3D modelling software.

First thing I'm going to do is I'm going to look down here, I'm going to click this box here.

Left click.

And I'm going to drag that across to my workplane.

As you can see, it provides you a shadow to show you where you're about to drop your project -- where you're about to drop your shape.

Sorry.

All right.

So I'm going to pop mine over here and just let go of the left mouse key.

And it's dropped my project in the middle.

So I have my box.

I've got my project started.

What we can do now is we can look at it from different views.

So we can click up here on this cube up here.

This cube up here shows us lots of different views and we can drag that around to look at our project from different angles.

Now as mine's just a box, it's not very exciting to look at from a different angle, but just so you can see.

Click on the left side.

And you can use the little arrows that pop up to click to a different place, different view.

And you can click on the edges and vertices as well.

And you can see different views from there.

Okay.

So clicking on this cube at the top is the way that we can change the view and angle of our project.

Now down the side here, you can see these five buttons.

Okay.

We're going to use these today just to see what they do, and to figure out how we can use them in our projects to make it easier for us to manipulate the 3D shapes we're putting on there.

So the first thing we're going to look at is we're going to look at this button here.

And as you can see if you hover over it, it says "Zoom in." That's pretty self explanatory.

It will zoom in if you click that button.

And you can zoom all the way in to see your 3D shapes or your project.

And then as you probably have guessed, hovering over this shows us that this is a zoom out button.

So we can click that to zoom out.

To see our project in full.

And as before, we can use the plus button which will get us closer to our project so we can see our project in a little bit more detail.

Okay.

So that was a very short introduction to Tinkercad.

What I'd like you to do now is pause the video and complete task one on your worksheet.

Open up Tinkercad, drag a box into the workplane, have a go at changing the viewing angle, and then work out what all of those buttons, those five buttons we pointed out do.

Make some notes on your worksheet so you can use them in the future when you're creating projects.

Once you've done all that, press resume and we'll continue with the video and go through those bits together.

Welcome back.

Now, let's move on to the Tinkercad software and have a look at what all those buttons that you've just looked at do, and the viewing angle.

Then we can move on to the rest of our tasks afterwards.

Okay.

So as you can see we are back on our workplane on the Tinkercad software.

I've still got my box sat in the middle of my work plane.

Now the first thing we're going to look at is moving our objects.

So if I clicked on my object and hold down the left key, just like we did when we moved objects over to the workplane, I can move them around my workplane away from my original position, which you can still see is this bit down here.

So it takes some corners.

So right now I'm back where I originally was.

You can see the zero and the zero.

If I move over here, you can see the minus 34 and the 44 is the distance I've moved it.

So you can move it this way.

Remember this box up here, we can change our viewing angle.

Again, it's not the most exciting because it is just a box at the moment.

But I am going to move it so that we can't see it from the original view to show you these buttons.

So as you can see at the moment we're looking at the bottom.

On the right-hand side you can just about see the front here.

What I'm going to do now is look at this button here.

This button here is called the home view.

Once I click the home view, what that's going to do is it's going to draw me back to the front and top view.

This view is always the home button, okay.

And it will take me back to this exact same position no matter where I am on my viewing angle.

Okay.

So that is our home view.

We can click that to get back to where we normally are.

It can be a lot quicker than having to drag our box around up here.

The next button we've got here is called the Fit all in view button.

Now, if I click that, what it's going to do is it's going to show me my project as close as it can get all in the same view.

Okay.

Now, as I've just got a box, that's not that exciting.

So I'll show you that again in a little while, but for now just remember we can zoom in or fit all of our project into the same view by clicking on the Fit all in view button.

The next two buttons we've already looked at.

We've got our plus button, our zoom in button.

And we've got our minus button, which is our zoom out button.

You can also use the scroll wheel on your mouse, if you're using a mouse.

You can use the scroll wheel on your mouse to zoom in and to zoom out again.

You can make it a little bit quicker to do that than using this zoom button which only zooms in a little bit.

And it zooms out a little bit each time.

The final button here switches to a flat view off the graphic.

Now this makes our project look flat.

You can still see it's a cube.

We've got our top and our front.

Great.

But it is off the graphic so it's all flat.

We click back to our perspective view.

You can see it in the way we were looking at it earlier.

We're going to use the perspective view for this.

So a lot clearer and easier to make sure that everything is in line.

Okay.

So those are the buttons that we've got down the side here.

You can use those as we move through our projects.

Makes things a little bit easier to manage what we're doing and where we're going next.

What I'm going to do now is I'm going to add a new shape.

So I'm going to choose a cylinder.

I'm going to drag my cylinder just the way I dragged my box onto my workplane.

As you can see, we can, again, we can move it wherever we want.

Just have to let go of the left mouse key to drop the shape onto the workplane.

Now, if we look here, you can see that it can take the same space as the cube we've already got.

Okay.

And if I want to see that a little bit closer, I'm going to click my Fit all in view button to see my cylinder is taking up some of the space that my cube is taking up.

Now, you can do that.

It does work inside modelling software, where we wouldn't be able to do that in a physical model.

You'd have to build that as a physical model with part of your cylinder around the edge of your cube.

Now what I'd like to show you just quickly, is I'd like to just show you what happens if I've got more than one shape or box or block on my workplane and I press this Fit all in view button.

As you can see, it doesn't quite go as close because it's got to show all of the different things on my work.

It doesn't matter where I click it, if I click this button -- oop, that's because I've selected it.

Go back to model view.

Now, if I click this button, it's going to move it so that you can see once more.

So that could be a really handy button to make sure you've not got any blocks missing off your workplane.

So in a moment, what you're going to do is you're going to pause the video.

And what I'd like you to do is I would like you to use the box and the cylinder in your workplane.

You're going to build a 3D maze using your boxes as your walls.

You can have as many of those as you need.

And I'm going to move those a little bit later, but for now I'm just going to pop them on.

And a cylinder as your start point.

And another cylinder as your end point.

Okay.

So in a moment, you're going to go and pause the video and we're going to do those things in our work space and create a 3D maze.

So what I'd like you to do now is I'd like you to pause the video and complete task two on your worksheet.

You can drag as many boxes as you need on to your workplane and create your maze using these boxes as your walls.

You can use the cylinders as your start point and your end point.

What I want you to do is be very, very careful about making sure that your boxes are in line, and making sure they aren't touching.

They can overlap if you would like them to overlap, but they need to at least be touching to ensure that they are all part of the same model.

So pause the video.

Have a go at task two, and resume the video once you're finished.

Welcome back.

I hope you really enjoyed making your 3D maze just now.

And enjoyed thinking about all the different and just having a play around.

It can be really rewarding to do that as you start using a new software, and getting to grips with how all the different things work and the best way of doing things.

In a moment, we're just going to move on to what my 3D maze looked like, just so you can see a completed version as well, okay.

But don't worry if yours doesn't look quite the same as mine.

It was all down to your personal preference in making.

So this is an example of a completed 3D maze.

As you can see I've used lots of red boxes to create the walls of my maze.

And I've used a cylinder as a starting point and a cylinder as the end point for my maze.

So that's what a 3D maze could look like.

Yours might look very different to mine, and that's all down to your creative style, and how you want to create -- how you wanted to create your maze.

All right.

Thank you very much for joining me today.

I hope you've enjoyed creating your 3D mazes as much as I have enjoyed teaching them.

If you would like to, we would really love to see your work that you created from this lesson.

So please do consider sharing it with us here at Oak National Academy.

If you would like to do that, please ask your parent or carer to share your work on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter, tagging Oak National -- @OakNational and #LearnwithOak.

I really look forward to seeing you all for lesson two.