Parametric Design

Today in engineering we learned about a new skill called parametric design. Although some of us have worked with inkscape before, this was new to everyone. When working with any design, especially ones that include press-fit construction, it is important to be able to scale it efficiently. For example, if you’re making a press-fit box and the slots are too small, you want to be able to increase their size without changing the size of the box. Or, if you want to make your box bigger but the slots are the perfect size, you can’t just drag the corner and enlarge the shape because it will also enlarge the slots. How do you do this efficiently without changing every single slot? Use parametric design! On inkscape you go to edit->clone->tiled clone. Using this tool, you can change the original and the changes will be made to all of the clones. I am looking forward to learning more about press-fit construction and begin building my own card-board building blocks!

(My practice with parametric design is pictured above).

And this is what can be built...