CADHP1, Semesteroppgave

CADHP1, Semesteroppgave

 

I will use this blog entry to keep a day to day track of my progress during the semester project CADHP1.

Semester Project Approval

I received approval from my teachers to work on an exciting stand!
My semester project will be based on the picture below:
 

Acino Stand. Taken from www.contemporaneaeventi.com

This a stand designed by the spanish company Contempranea Eventi and used by swiss pharmaceutical company Acino.

Day 1, Dimension estimation.

With the use of DVIEW in AutoCAD, global dimension and location of main components are estimated. 

Main dimensions were relatively easy to establish. However, dimension that involved interaction between elements took longer time to get values that made sense. 

Day 2-3, 3D Modelling of Custom-made objects.

There are two main types of objects in this Stand: Normal elements and Custom-made elements. I started with the custom made elements since they are likely to take more time to model. It was challenging to determine all the details needed to create the 3D solids.

Day 4-5, 3D Modelling of Normal objects.

Normal elements were easier to model, and also since some or their details are determined by common sense, they helped my balance out some unknowns from the stand.

Day 6-7, 3D Modelling of stand structure

Modelling the main structure of the stand was done with and approximation using ellipses, curves and rectangles to create the solid in two steps.
The first part was the high irregular arc. Its location on the left side of the floor is take as starting point, placing ellipses along a curve that approximates the center of the arc in 3D space. Several trials were needed to get a shape that resembled the reference picture.

The second part of the main structure was the arc at the back-right side. This shape was modelled with rectangles placed along an arc.
The transition between the first and second part needed several iterations to get a realistic shape for the complete structure.
Work for producing the layouts has started with some objects.

Day 8-9,  3D Modelling of the complete stand

To assemble the complete stand model, the starting point was once again the dimensions obtained with DVIEW. Some reference lines were made at floor level to make it easier to snap the 3D objects in place.
This was a time consuming process, since some objects required modifications to properly fit in the assembly. Several iterations were made to get an assembly that had a balance between the dimensions estimated with DVIEW for the individual objects, the corrections made due to some standard references seen in the reference picture and how the objects looked when assembled.

Day 10-11, 3ds Max modell.

After completing the Layouts in AutoCAD, importing the modell to 3ds Max presented some challenges. After many trials I determined that the problem was one of the 3D models, namely the U-shaped chair, because there was a very high number of faces on the model. Several techniques were tried in order to reduce the complexity of the solids.  However this issue came at a big time cost. The final days I will be working extra hours to compensate.

Day 12, AutoCAD Layouts

With the 3ds Max model fixed, the design of the objects can now be frozen and drawings and remaining Layouts can be produced.

Day 13, 3ds Max Render & Photoshop

Materials are assigned to each part. I had to try several options before getting a convenient wood color on the floor and main elements.  Time is of the essence now until all rendering processing done

Here are the final renders:

In photoshop I added background and some extra elements to add realism to the images, here are the partial results:

Presentation image

Video presentation

Here is the link to watch the video presentation holding the overview of the complete final project for the first semester.
 http://youtu.be/SZFHMUBYJIk