Y7 Microbit

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What is a micro:bit?

A micro:bit is a tiny, pocket-sized computer. It was created by the BBC and is sometimes called a “microbit” without a colon in the middle. In the 1980s, the BBC Micro was used to help people learn about computing – but today's BBC micro:bit looks very different!

This year's targets

My targets for this year are going to be written in these 4 text boxes. Firstly, I would like to improve my procreate skills. I will achive this by looking into the tools in procreate. I thunk I will be able to get this achivement since I have gotten better. Here is something else I might want to improve: rendering. I think I improved last year from year 5 but I think I can get better. This is because my rendering is not really clear. By that I mean that the darkness and lightness is pretty similar and sometimes the tone doesn't gradually change and look as smooth. I will achieve this goal by try rendering with different pressure to see how dark or light the color will come out.

Another target I want to make sure I want to achieve is improving CAD (computer aided design) and CAM (computer aided manufacture) skills. In year 6 for my torch project, I was quite slow and I didn't have many ideas for the CAM part. I think I will achieve this by being more accurate with my already-drawn design and choose the colors that are available. For the CAM part, last year I couldn't finish the torch properly since I didn't finish in time and I think I rushed the filing stage so I had to redo that and sand the torch again as well. I will be achieving my goal by using my time well and not rush.

In year 6 my fine-lining was a bit lazy. By that I mean that since we need to use different thicknesses of fine liners (if you don't know they are black pens used for drawing and other things) and I didn't want to change the pen because I was too lazy to find it. That is why this year I want to overcome that laziness and make my drawing presentation as best as I can. I will achieve this goal by trying to get the different thicknesses of fine liners. Goal number 6, I'm not sure if we're going to use this tool this year but sand papers. Or in general, the papers used in the CAM process. Although this could be part of the CAM, we could use it in other times. I have found sanding difficult and tiring, especially the amount of hard work and time is spent on them. Although it could be annoying, I think it is an important part of manufacturing and the end result is really satisfying. i will achieve this goal by being more efficient with my time and do the ssanding properly.

This is the last goal I will be sharing. This goal is to improve my work presentation. Such as, the google sites, or a card model or even a design on the computer. Last year (this especially goes for the google sites) I kind of forgot about updating and writing for the google sites. I will try and make sure that it wont happen this year or this term. Although there could be some missing pieces in the google sites, I hope to remember them and I will truy and update the website as much as possible.

Secondary Research

Secondary Research Poster

This is my secondary research poster. This is about the different designs of the game controllers and I have attempted to add some detailed description. I have just realized how tiny the text is but it is legible when it is full screen. I have made the photos that they have no background. I have done this because I wanted the background to be blue and it looks better without the background. More will be explained below.

Parts of the Poster

Close up photos to explain what and why it is there

In this photo, I have circled the white backgrounds behind the text. I have done this because it helps the text be more legible. If you haven't noticed, there are black titles in the back (more will be explained soon). This can mix with the text since they are both black and stop us from reading the text properly.

In this picture, I have circled the blue crust of the white bubble. The blue crust is there to keep the poster more interesting and it makes the bubble look 3D. It makes the text stand out more. The text needs to stand out since the text can be hard to read so people might not notice it first. But the 3D effect makes the text more interesting.

In this picture, I have circled one og the titles in the back. I seriously had no idea where to put it so I put it behind everything. I also made sure it is not to big so some parts of the title is legible. I also didn't put it over and lower the opacity because I think it kinda made it look like a watermark and not neat. Since the title is written in caps, I think it really stands out.

In this picture, I have circled the parts of the photos that are covering the bubbles. If you didn't read above, I mentioned about how I used a website to erase the background. I have also used this as an advantage to make the whole thing look 3D. I think this also helped the whole thing stand out more.

The 'new version'

Since I realized that most of the things I have wrote mentions the word '3D'. Since everything but the text and the title is non-3D, I have decided to make the title 'more 3D'. I didn't make the normal text 3D or it might look too crazy and hard to read. The new 3D title fits the '3D theme'. Although the '3D theme' wasn't intentional, I don't regret 'accidentally' doing it. The title stands out more than only the caps. I have purposely made the 2nd layer of the title white so that it can create contrast between the black and white. This also helps with making the title stand out more.

Inspiration Board

Inspiration Board (finished work)

This is my inspiration board for the micro bit. I have added many pictures I like and want for my design. Most of this photo I have added include the color light blue, which I want to include in my micro bit. A reoccurring picture is the sanrio characters, or specifically, Cinnamoroll. I have added Cinnamoroll because the specific colors I have been aiming for are white and light blue and Cinnamoroll represents those 2 colors best. There are also pictures of cats; rag doll cat with blue eyes, a white cat in a blue blanket and another white cat wearing a white hat with blue. I like cats and these cats fit the color palette. There is also a drink, icecream, a polaroid, a shoe, flowers, ice, jellies, marshmallow, a doll and the sky which all fit the color palettes.

How to make this

Step 1: Getting Photos

Firstly you need to get your photos ready. Think about what you want included in your micro bit and what you like. I used pinterest for this step.

Step 2: Layout

Think about how you will layout your pictures. You don't actually have to do this step but it is helpful.

Step 3: Arranging Photos

In this step, you will be arranging the photos. You can make the photos different shapes like I have using the masking tool. This is reccomended and looks more neat.

Step 4: Text

In this step, you need to add text; not too much though since this is just an idea board. Just explain the key things such as if the pictures represent the colors or the design. Also remember to add the title.

How to have neater handwriting

I know this might not be useful since most people type, but you can use this if you want to use your handwriting or writing titles. Doing this can expand the limitation of fonts. This guide shows the steps to help have neater handwriting. You can use this for the 4th step.

Photo in a photo

I have shown how to put a photo in a photo in a shape. You can also draw your own shape and it will work. Just make sure you don't have any loose ends.

Blurring Photos

Blurring Photos so it fits whatever size

Have you ever felt like you want a photo for a shape, background or something like that but the only way the photo fits is when some of the parts of the photos are gone? I will show you step by step how to add a blurred background of the same photo so it looks nicer.

First, choose the size you want your photo to be. If you don't know, expirement the sizes by opening all of them.

After you chose your size, you should have a blank page. Now choose this icon shown in the photo. It should be there in the top left.

If you pressed the button, this menu should pop up. In this menu, press the button that says 'insert a photo'. When you pressed it, select the photo you want.

Now, you should have your photo floating in the middle.

Select the button next to the circle with the color. Then your layers will show up. When it does, swipe the layer button to the left and select duplicate. When you select duplicate, a new layer should appear.

After you duplicate, select the layer on the bottom.

Now, zoom the photo in to the canvas. It will not fit perfectly but it would look best if the photo is in the middle.

Now, press the magic wand button. A long menu should pop up. Now the menu is split into sections and you can look at the 2nd section where all the blurs are.

Select the blur you want from the 3 options. I would recommend gaussian blur but you can choose any to your liking. You can control the amount of blur by swiping left (more blur) or swiping right (less blur).

Extra Stuff

You can use this trick for new backgrounds, posters and many other things. This could be helpful in DT; especially if you want to show everything in a certain shape.

Some procreate things

The add menu

This menu is for adding stuff to your canvas. You can insert a file from your files. You can sort them out by going to your file app. The next is insert a photo: and interestingly, you can insert a photo to your liking. The next is take a photo. This lets you take a photo in the procreate app. Next is the add text button, where you can add your text. The other menu is not that important and I don't use it but the cut button deletes your layer. The copy, copies your layer and copy canvas copies the whole work.

The exporting menu

You can share your work as a image or a GIF if it is an animation. The procreate button exports the whole thing as a procreate file. So when you open it, you can draw on it and do stuff to it like it is your work. The other menus are just different types of images. It is not important unless you need a specific type. The PDF is a type of file and the PNG files lets you save all the layers alone. The animated GIF lets you export the work as a GIF. The PNG lets you export as a PNG that is animated and the MP4 button sends the video as an MP4. The last one actually stands for high efficiency video coding which lets you a export a video with minimal size but with high quality.

Ideas: Colour Choices

Pastel Colors

This is the colour I first decided explore. This is because it fits with the blue theme. I really like this color but would like to explore more.

This colour is really pretty, but I don't think this is the color I am looking for and it is not my favourite.

This is the cream color and I think it is really nice. It is more interesting than the white controllers and the color fits with the theme of blue and white.

This is a green controller. I don't really like green in general, but I like this color. Although it is pretty, like I said before, it is not my favourite.

Extra Research: Games

Game Boy

This is a gameboy. It was first released on April 21, 1989 in Japan by Nintendo. I don't really know a lot about this game, but I think this evolved and led to the current Nintendo Switch. Gameboy is Nintendo's second handheld game console. It combines the features from the games Game and watch handheld and NES home system. The color scheme is made from 2 tones of grey with black, blue and dark purple. All the corners are rectangular and are rounded a little except for the bottom right corner which is curved. After the console is switched on, the CPU will read the address 0x00 (Game Boy's ROM location). You can play games by removing the game pak slot cover from the game pak slot (slot-2). With the lable side of the Game Boy Advance Game Pak facing away from the Nintendo DS Lite, insert the Game Pak and press it down until it stops. After that, carefully lift up the screen into the open position. You can play game such as tetris or pokemon.

Pong

This is pong; one of the oldest games that have attracted wide-scale public attraction. Atari's founder Nolan Bushnell created Pong, his version of this concept as an arcafe game. Atari was a small company at the time and the began manufacturing the games in an old roller skating rink. By 1972, Atari had sold more than 8,000 Pong arcade machines. The game is a table-tennis themed arcade sports video game. It has 2D graphics and was originally released in 1972.

Design Ideas (1st Lesson)

Designing the case for the microbit

But before we start with the designing...

This is a poster I have made which shows some important things to keep in mind when doing our designing. It includes the design template (there is 4 of them) and I have labled briefly about the things included. The design also cannot go over the wall. Below, there are 2 pictures; a pencil and a fine-liner. If you do not know, a fine-liner is a black pen which is used for outlining (in this case). There are multiple sizes (0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.8 and more). There is a photo representating the different sizes below. The pencil is used for sketching and doing the flow technique which will be explained later. Now, next to the pencil and the pen, there is a picture with a title: Flow Technique. I have explained how to do the flow technique. It is basically sketching but it doesn't make sense. It can go over the lines, it is extremely light and it is like a base coat done before sketching. I have also included how the pencil is held on the edge and is on an angle which helps achieve using ghost-lines (very light lines). And above, I have shown an example of what the design COULD look like just incase you didn't understand the first bit. You might have noticed that the pictures are cropped and I cropped them by using the masking tool (the ribbon button) which is located on the top left. For the design template and the example parts, I have used the rectangle tool which I can use to crop the image as the shape of a rectangle. The other tool I have used is called freehand which we can just make the shape we want. I used this to remove the background (I didn't use the background remover because I wanted the background around the main parts).

Different Fine-Liner's thickness

I think this is the brand the DT room provides us and I use.

I have used this brand before but I do not own it right now.

Flow Lines (New Technique)

Here are some photos of me using the technique and explaining what I did

As you can see, the line is very light.

The line goes over the box and it does not matter.

It also goes over the other lines.

I have finished my flow lines in this design.

I have forgotten to take a photo of all 4 designs after using the flow technique.

Sketching

Here are some photos of me sketching and explaining what I did

I am adding details. I am also not pressing to hard on the pencil.

I am adding detail and the lines are for the texture.

I'm outlining but still not pressing to hard.

Here is a GIF of me sketching. I have used a website to convert a video into a GIF.

Designs

Explaning the design and the shape

Design 1

This is the 1st design. I have forgotten how you need to sketch all 4 designs first and then fine-line. Instead, I did the outline with pencil and then fine-lined that and after that, I added detail inside. On the left side, I have sketched a part with many lines which are for representing the grip. The right side of the design includes a melting ice cream with some circular and heart details. Those details are meant to be sprinkles that I might not include as much if it takes too long in the CAD process. The shape is a curve and I have tooken idea from other controllers.

This is something I made in procreate where I labeled many parts of the design. For example, I have explained the shape and why I made it like that. It also includes things I have included in the text box next to this. I have deleted the background of the design by using the freehand tool like I have used before. If you noticed, some lines are straight. I have achieved this by putting a point somewhere and adding a point somwhere else. Between the point, A straight line will appear; it is really useful if your hands are wobbly like mine.

Design 2

This is my 2nd design. The shape of the controller is a bear. It was actually supposed to be a cat but the ears ended up turning more rounded than pointy show I decided to make it a bear. I have added some other details which fits the blue and white theme. I didn't know that we could go over the box representing the microbit (in some places) so that is why I avoided too much stuff and detail. The rest of the design will be explained in the text box on the right.

As I have explained, the controller has a shape of a face of the bear. For the details within the controller, there are ice cubes (I have spelled 'cube' wrong it is a typo). You might have realized that the ice cubes were part of the inspiration board. That is because I had the inspirtation board open while I did all of these designs! It really helped me out if I was out of ideas. On the right, there is a flower. I was going to add more but thought it might be a little hectic. Now, the biggest part of the design are the clouds. I was going to add some more detail but instead I have decided to make design a little simpler than it could've been. You might've noticced some lines on the clouds. Those are part of the design which I will add as a texture. Although it doesn't really help with holding the controller or anything like that but I think it can be some extra detail I can add. Not only the lines, but I am thinking about giving the cloud a little bit rough texture which might prevent your hands from slipping. In the poster, I have included how the shape of the controller makes it really comfortable for your hands. It is a important thing to think about it or your hands might not feel comfortable due to the bad shaping of the controller. In the design above, I mentioned about deleting the background; I have done that to all 4 designs as well.

Design 3

This is my 3rd design which as you can see is clearly an ice cream. But not just any ice cream, a melting ice cream. For the shape, it is curved on the top for the ice cream scoop and shaped like a cone on the bottom representing a cone. You might have realized a non-diagonal line that should be a diaganol because it is a cone. I changed the shape a little because I wanted to explore different shapes for the side.

In this poster, I have explained the design and the shape. The melting ice cream was just a random idea I got from the 1st design. This is because I didn't have any ideas and even with the inspiration board, I was thinking for a long time. Since I was wasting a lot of time, I just did something random; ice cream. Fortunately, it turned out really nicely! In the ice cream, I have obviously added some sprinkles shaped as circles, rectangles and stars. The shapes were already discussed so I am not repeating that but the shapes have been brifely explained in the poster.

Design 4

This is my final design and the most diverse and detailed. I have found a way to use cinnamoroll and I took the opputurnity. Although cinnamoroll looks a little weird, it is fine... for now. In this design the shape is very unusual. It has many curves and some of them are very exaggerated.

I will be explaining the design. Firstly, the bubble writing; I wanted something different form the other designs which is writing. I was suppsed to put a exclamation mark but I stopped my self because I think it would look bad. On the right there is a heart that is being expanded. I am thinking about giving the heart some texture by extruding the lines of it. I am also giving different colors for each space or a pattern. Below, there is a circle. It is like the heart and I am also gonna give it texture. Lastly, there is something that says 'small gift, big smile'. It is a quote from Sanrio that I like. I am gonna extrude it so it is like an engraving. And if I can, I want to fill it in with black or dark blue so it is more noticable.

Fine-lining

Here are some photos of me fine-lining and explaning what I did

Half-way through the fine-lining process

Explaining Fine-Lining and what I did with the Fine-Liner

This is the design I have fine-lined first. I am also half-way through and that is why only the outside is fine-lined.As you can see the lines are very wobbly in some places and not very neat in others. I think this is because I haven't fine-lined in a long time and I was using the pen as if I was sketching. Although I have spotted my mistake soon, it kind of looks a little not neat. I hope to use this knowledge later on other designs so I do not mess up again. Also, I need to remember that if I am able to, I should use different sizes of the fine-line. For example, the outside should be thicker than the inside where there are more detail to be added or something like that. The thinner fine-liners can come in real handy when outlining the circles and the hearts in the ice cream because they are so tiny. Also, only the 2 buttons (the 2 tiny squares) and the bigger square (the square in the middle) should be outlined and nothing else from the template should be. This is because thoes 3 squares are the only parts we can see when the case is put on.

Designing Ideas (2nd Lesson)

Fine-lining

Here are some photos of me fine-lining and explaining what I did

Explaining what I did

I also used a ruler to fine-line the squares. This is because my hands are really really shaky (you can see that by looking at all my design outlines). I also make really random mistakes so that is why I want to be as safe as possible. I also note that I am kind of behind everyone else because of the amount of detail in my design. I also note that I put too many sprinkles everywhere. I'm hoping it doesn't turn out really bad if I end up choosing this design.

I have zoomed into this part because I wanted to talk about how weird it would look like without the sprinkles in the middle. If you don't understand, my initial idea didn't have the sprinkles in the rectangle box. I have quickly changed my mind because I realized how weird it would look without those sprinkles in the middle, it will look really weird. This is shown in the picture above. As you can see, it looks really unusual for the sprinkles to stop randomly. That is why I have added more detail but I might not choose this design because it might be hard to make and design in the CAD.

These are some photos of designs that I have fine-lined. I have zoomed into the parts of the picture that are important. Like the first one; you might be wondering why I zoomed into a random place. This is because I wanted to show what we need to outline what we don't. The only things we need to outline are our design and the 3 square. You might be thinking why we don't outline the other stuff such as the stoppers. This is because you can't actually see those parts. The only thing you can see from the micro bit are the screens. That also means I am going to color over that part which I will talk more about in the rendering sections. Also you might have seen a mistake that was easily covered up with liquid white out. I think the liquid version works better because you can control it more easily. I think this is really useful if you made a mistake with pen. I have showed this picture because you can see that I didn't follow all the lines. This is because I am going to rub them out later. I might have changed my initial idea or thought that I didn't really need to follow the lines.

Rubbing out sketch

Pictures of each design

Designing Ideas (3rd Lesson)

Rendering

BUT before we start...

HOW DO WE RENDER?

In this poster I have made a basic poster which outlines the important parts of rendering. I have done this work digitally and made an example design. In the poster, I have explained what to do step by step. Since this work was done digitally, to make it a little more realistic (so you can relate more easily), I have used a brush called 'eaglehawk' which is part of the 'drawing' folder. In my opinion it kind of gave a realistic vibe. For the blending part, the whole drawing folder didn't work as well and that is why I used an airbrushing tool. It was very smooth and good but too digital to be realistic in my opinion.

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This is the texture of the 'eaglehawk' brush. As you can see it is not smooth like other digital brushes. I think you can use another brush from the 'drawing' folder to give this kind of realstic vibe.

Starting Rendering

Here are some photos of me rendering and explaining what I did

I have made a mistake in this part. The mistake is because I was supposed to lightly colour the base but I started off with the strong outlining,

I have made a GIF by using a GIF converter on the internet.

The mistake made it hard to get a gradient effect. This area was harder than others becasue there were small parts (the sprinkles) that I didn't want to color in.

I didn't render the sprinkles since they were very tiny and hard to render. I have coloured it in solid colour instead

I have rendered this half-eaten macaron with the same color as the sprinkles

I was not sure how to show the texture with the colour so I rendered this part normally

I was not sure if this part was supposed to be rendered but I did it anyways. It looks like it is glowing for some reason though.

Colour Analysis

This is my colour analysis which I made to show the colours of the design. As you can see, there are 3 colours which are all different shades of blue. You can find these colours on the 3 circles which are located in the left of the poster. Next to the circles, there are some words. The 1st one says base colour (big parts). This just means that the colour is found in big parts such as the grip and the dripping ice cream. I think this is useful because I can see which specific colours to use for certain parts of the design. Although this was optional I really like this idea and plan to continue with it.

Extra Comments

Unfourtunately, I was only able to finish 1 design in this lesson because half of it was missed. in the next lesson I will continue rendering on other designs as well.

These are the colour pencils I have used. I sharpened them later and I think sharpening is very important because you can be more flexible with the angle and the tone.

Designing Ideas (4th Lesson)

Rendering: Design 2

Design 2

This is my 2nd design which I have rendered completely. This design is a little different from others which I will be explaining why later. For this design, it is not completely blue like the first one; instead it has other colours such as grey, green, purple or pink. Although it looks fine at first glance, I think that the stem of the flower doesn't really fit with the theme. SInce the green stem is a mixture of green and blue and is a little bit darker than I expected it to be, I tried to cover it up with some light blue colour pencil which had no effect.

What makes this design so different from others?

In this photo, I could have annotated more things. But since that could catch attention from the more important ones, I only chose 3 to focus on. Firstly on the left, there is one which is annotated: mistake covered with white out. I have explained this earlier, but since the fine-lining was done by a pen which is not eraseable, the only choice is white out. Then on the bottom right, I have labeled transition from light blue to white'. That basically shows that I have used not one, but 2 colours for the base. I haven't used this in my other designs so I think that is what makes this design unique and different from my other ones, Lastly, the one zoomed in on a small line on the cloud. Many people thought that they were tiny mistakes when I added about 3 of them, but they are actually for texture. Since your palms have more sweat glands, I was planning on adding some texture which I hope would act as a grip in the area where the palm would hold the controller. Many people misunderstood this because they thought only the small lines have texture. But no. Those small lines are not enough to act as a grip so I have decided to give the clouds a slightly scratchy texture and the lines more scratchy.

Design 3

This is my 3rd design. Before I start explaining, I would like to point out that if you didn’t notice, I haven’t fully finished the design (I didn’t render the cone yet) so I will not explain that part. In the design, after I fine-lined the design, my first thought was: this looks chaotic. If you don’t understand why it is chaotic, then it is because of the extremely big amount of sprinkles. I think I overdid it and on my digital design, I will reduce the amount of sprinkles in the design (if I have time to design it). Next, the colour choice. In the ‘Inspiration Board’ part, I said that my theme is blue. But in this design, there is so little blue; instead there is a large amount of the pinkish-purple. This is because I thought that blue ice cream wouldn’t look nice so I decided to go for something different. And obviously, I didn’t choose a normal flavour like strawberry or chocolate because I wanted it to be unique and a random ice cream flavour. I do not know what flavour ice cream it is, but it looks nice and good so that is the reason why I chose it. Another reason I chose it is because of its bright colour and it also used to be one of my favourite colours. I really really like the bright colour because it brings attention but at the same time it is not too bright.

Colour Analysis

I have made a colour analysis for my 2nd design. I have shown the base colour, the background colour and the colour for details. Since they were more than 1 colour in each circle, I have divideed the circle in the halves or thirds. You can see this example in the circle for the background colour and the detail colour. I think this colour analysis is really helpful because I can show what colours I have used and where I have used this.

Extra Comments

If you are wondering, this was the last lesson for the inital ideas designs which means that I will not be able to finish this in the lessons. Instead, I will come in my own break time and finish it off which I will add when I do so.

Digital Designs (1st Lesson)

Design 1

But how do we do design digitally?

I have made a poster which explains the 4 compulsory steps for digital designing. Firstly, it says blue-led sketching. As you can see in the picture beside it, the lines are rough and it doesn't really matter if it goes out of place. This is like the sketching part and the flow lines technique combined together. On the 2nd step, there is a photo of an outlined design. For this step, you use a black pen to outline the design neatly. Next is the colouring step. For this part, obviously I added the colours of the design. Next is the shadows and highlights. In this part you add the shadows and the highlights to the design. I also additionally added some extra detail for the grip.

Design 1

Blue-led Sketching

This is my rough sketch. It doesn't matter if the lines go out of the box because this is a sketch.

Next, I added the curves and shapes in the design. I have finished the outline of the whole shape.

Now, I add small details in the design such as the icing, sprinkles, macarons and the grip.

This is the brush I ued for the rough sketch. It is not in the procreate pack but in this Sketch A Day pack.

This is the colour I used for this blue-led sketching process. I think this is a bright and saturated colour so it will be good because it stands out.

Outlining

This is the rough outline. This is a rough outline because as you can see, the lines need some cleaning up.

This is one of the parts that need cleaning up. I cleaned this up by using the rubber tool and if it looked bad, then I would outline it again.

This is the design after cleaning it up. As you can see, it looks a lot more better than it was before.

This is the pen that I used for the outlining. When I used it, I realized that it detected movement too much and wasn't stabilized.

I increased the stabilization so that my lines won't be as wobbly.

I obviously used the colour black because this is the outline and is just like the fineling process.

Colouring

But how do we colour digitally?

I have made a poster about how to colour digitally. In the first step it says to make a new layer for the colours. This must be done after you have finished your outline. On the 2nd step it says to go back to your outline layer. On the 3rd step it says to choose the part you want to colour. If you do not know how to do this, than press the ribbon tool on the top left. After that, make sure the bar on the bottom is selected to automatic and add only. after that select or click the part you want to colour. The part will turn blue. If the whole screen turns blue, hold the screen and swipe left so on the top it says 0% on the threshhold. After that, try again. If it doesn't work again that means there is a gap in the lines. You need to check again or re-outline the design to make sure there are no gaps. After that, on the 5th step, it says to add the colors/textures/effects. If you want an effect, it is best to add a base colour first so there aren't any white spaces showing.

Starting Digital Colouring

Base Colour

This is a small image where I have shown what colour I have used for the base. I guess you could call it a simplified version of the colour analysis except that it is only 1 part. I am planning on doing this for the other parts such as the glow and the details. I think this looks way better than showing different colors from the standard content blocks. Also, I have made a background block around the small parts. I really like the dripping icing which is around the colour block. I got this idea from my design (you can see this on the left of the design). I didn't add the sprinkles because I think it would look a little bit hectic and it will look better plain.

The Glow

This is the glow section. Although the 'glow' part is not that glowy I think I wanna perhaps make it more glowy in another variation. I also called it glow because I wasn't show what to call it. How I did this was outline the inside of the design with a colour (make it a little bit darker than the colour you want). Next I click the magic wand and click gaussian blur. after doing that, I swipe left to increase the blur and swipe right to decrease it. In the poster on the top left shows my colour and me outlining the inside of the design. You might have realized that the photo was taken with another design which Lilly did for me. Another detail of the whole photo is the way I have presented it. On the title, it says glow with a glowy effect around it. This was done the same way I created the glowy effect in the design. The other glow (the outline) is very strong. This is becasue I used a light pen in the luminance section. As you can see, it has a glow around the pen. When I use it, it creates a line with glow around it. To create the glow effect in the photo like I did, I added a layer beneath everything and made the line beneath the design so only the glow was visible. If the glow is too harsh or you can see a little bit of the white line, use the gaussian blur slightly to blur it out and hide it.

Details

I have made a poster showing the colour of the details. As you can see, there is more than 1 colour for the detail. I have made the size of the colour boxes different depending on the size of each stuff. For example, the sky blue covers the majority of the details section so that is why the colour box is the biggest.

Shadows + Highlights

Lastly, I have added shadows and highlights to my digital design. This makes, the design look more 3D and realistic. If you have seen other digital designs in DT,

Extra Parts

As you probably already noticed, I added the microbit into my digital design. This was possible because the design was digital and I could just easily get the picture of the internet. But the hard part was making everything fit in the buttons. If they wouldn't fit as a whole, then I would have to move the parts seperately.

Finished Designs!!

Design 1

This first design, I have shown the steps of to how to make it. I did the blue led sketching, then the outlines, the coloring, the shadows and the highlights and lastly adding the microbit which is a small detail which you can choose to add. Overall, I think this design is my favorite than the other one.

Design 2

This is the second digital design. In this one, since I tried it before, I was faster. I like it but I don't like it as much as the first one. This one tends to have more of a complicated design. I didn't really like this because of the flower and when I saw it overall, it didn't really look that good.

I didn't do the other 2 designs because I ran out of time. I think I used more time then others because of it was kinda detailed where as some other people's design was simple. I also didn't include the steps of the 2nd design because I also ran out of time for this one.

Development

Choose your favorite design and evaluate on it

This is my development poster. I made 6 developments in this poster which I might use. I think I should have spaced the things a little more because sometimes I found it hard to control the text or the photo. In each section I have made a change with an orange pen. You might be wondering why the pen is orange because it is a weird color and doesn't match to blue. This is because although it looks a little weird, the color pops out and you can see it easily amd it grabs attention.

Friend's Comments

Reiko's Comments

I like the little clouds and the orange in it.
I don't really think the drips go with this design.
Overall, looks amazing and I thibnk

Liphao's Comments

Cool texture

The grip is very simple; that is a good thing though because your design is already complicated
Overall design looks very neat but the extra blob of blue at the top left corner seems random but I believe it is a grip?

I think both of them really liked both cloud designs which are my 2 favorites too. Although I like both of them, I think I like the one with the clouds on the bottom, not the top. I also think that I want to remove the macaron but I might add something new and merge the cloud design with some other development part if it is too empty.

Term 2

Final Design

Digital Version

For the final design, I had two choices; doing the final design on paper or doing it digitally. If you haven't already guessed, I decided to do the design digitally. I just like to do it digitally and I think it is more easier/efficient. This is the template for the digital final design. There is a front view, a bird's eye view, and a 3D view.

Bird's Eye View

Outlining

In this step, I didn't do any blue-led sketching because I just traced the outline of the design ideas. The way I did this is by adding the picture of the design into the procreate and then I lower the opacity. After that I make a new layer above and start tracing. I didn't make any shape changes so I didn't modify the shape or anything but if you did, you need to keep that in mind. This goes the same for the smaller details; you can trace it but you can modify some of the design. (We mde ideas of modification in the design developing). Also additionally, the gif under is how I traced; instead I need to import the photo into the templae.

Finished Outline

This is the finished outline of the design. As you can see, there are 2 modifications; I removed the macaron and I added the cloud. Personally, i think I like this better because I was really bad at drawing the macaron and maybe complicated. Also the clouds are much simpler.

Colouring

How can I colour?

Colouring is the exact same way I did for the digital design ideas. Let me explain it again; you need to go to the lining layer and press the ribbon tool. After that, check that the menu is set to 'automatic' and only 'add'. Then select the part you want to color and the part will change into blue. If it is blue all the way, check if there are no gaps beetween the line work. After you select it, go the layers. add a new layer than select that layer. Now you can colour with the colour(s) or texture of your choice. Repeat these steps for the other stuff.

Note: This is an example and is the previous design. Do not mistaken this for the new design :)

Finished Colouring

Explaining colour choices

I have finished my colouring. As you can see, I have 4 different colours. That might seem little but it is enough. It might seem a little plain because I didn't add any shadows. The colour for the base is a light blue with a very slight of green tint added. If you can remember, I made an inspiration board which summarized, has my inspirations. Many of them consisted of picture of the sanrio character cinnamoroll. I couldn't add the character because I thought it will be too complicated. So instead of the adding the character, I searched a cinnamoroll colour palette. If I can remember correctly, all of these colors were from the colour palette. Now I will talk about the colours of the details. The icing and grip colour is a similar colour to the base but darker. The sprinkles are pink and a blue colour. The clouds are light grey.

Note: The palettes on the right are all different. They are there to show some context. As you can spot they are similar.

Shadows

I have finished the shadow section. I used a soft airbrush for both the highlights and shadows. As you can see on the picture on the left, I have written down that the light is always shining on the top left corner which means that the shadows are on the bottom right. This is for every design in DT context.

Finished

This is the finished product of the digital final design. As you can see, the only difference made from the design ideas stage is that the macaron on the top left is gone and I added some clouds on the bottom. I was also planning on making the clouds white but I made it gray because white was too bright.

Also, I was thinking about the icing sprinkles part. The sprinkles might be too hard to draw online (hearts only) so I was thinking of removing them but I just added them.

3D View

This is the 3D view of the final digital designs. To make this, it is easy. I just warped the 1st one (only the base shape) so it fits the box. I also added details after I warped it. As you can see, the cloud is like dropping of the side and that was an intentional design but honestly I might remove it in the online CAD stage.

If you can't already tell, it was rushed.

I didn't have enough time in the lessons so I had to rush the shadows (they look unrealistic and weird) and you may have also noticed the grip has no grip (as in the lines that represent the grip)

I think that the 3D view is kind of important; it's like imagining what it would look like if it was 3D and changes can come through. I would rate this a 6/10 and the biggest thing to improve on are the shadows.

Onshape

Template

This is the microbit template. I have taken a screenshot of only one view (it's just a cuboid). It is just a block I'm adding my design to. It also has some other thins like pins and lugs built in that is hidden right now.

Onshape Tools

In this tiny tiny chapter, there are going to be some pictures with tools that I might be using. These are some tools in sketching (when drawing a part of the design to add or remove from the shape).

The ones here are not for the drawing but for doing something to the actual design. For example, using extrude, you can add or remove a certain part (drawn from the sketch) and this is how I'm going to shape and add details to my microbit design.

Design Outline

I obviously need to make the design shape but how do I do that?

The two tools I'm going to be using for this step is the sketch tool and the extrude tool. Start off by drawing the shape of your design (picture below). When you press the sketch tool you might notice a small pop-up box might appear with a green tick and a red cross. That is to (green tick) save your drawing or (red cross) cancel. A brief explanation about the sketch tools, there are straight lines, rectangles, circles, arcs, curvy lines (you can control them) and other tools to make your work perfect such as the symmetry tool, parallel tool and more. You can look at your drawing for reference while doing this.

Note: If the extrude part doesn't work and the translucent part selects the whole box, check the sketch for any holes (you need to super zoom in). Also you can alter you design a little if you want to if it is too hard to make or stuff like that.

IMPORTANT NOTE: When doing this stage, turn the lugs and pins on to make sure that you include inside of your design not half inside or outside. This can be annoying later.

Next is removing the outside part of the sketch. Click the green tick on the pop-up menu and it will take you out to the main design menu. There will be a icon (check above picture) and if you hover over it, it will say 'extrude'. This tool can be used to add or remove parts of the design, in this case removing. After you press that, another menu will pop-up. Make sure the menu is set to 'solid' and 'remove'. Now just select the outside of the sketch, it will become translucent and if you are in a 3D view, you can see it going down. Just bring the arrow on it down so that none of it will be left on the box. After that, press the green tick and you're done with the first stage!

Filleting

This section is making the edges rounder and smoother. I might also use this when adding details on the microbit.

The way to do this is to first press an icon (shown on the picture) and there will be a pop up box (shown on the picture). Choose the option edge and input a number. If you don't want to, toggle the arrow (left is less and right is more). If it is not possible, it will turn pink and you need to reduce the radius.

Note: This is after filleting, it definitely looks nicer and smoother. This stage is also optional but I recommend doing this.

Hollow

Not much photos I can show you in this one. The purpose of this stage is to hollow the inside of the microbit case because the microbit obviously need to go inside the case. Honestly, I couldn't get this to work for so long (I did it after all the extruding of details fyi) already and but after rolling it back after only extruding the base and it somehow worked. I don't know what the problem was but I somehow fixed it!

(Use the shell tool and press hollow)

Design Details (dripping icing)

For this part, I used the spline tool from the sketch tool (I'm not doing the sprinkles in this part). The spline tool can be used to make curvy.

Note: This is for reference of how it looks likes

This stage was weirdly hard. Although the curvy lines went well, controlling it was harder than expected. Honestly, the lines ended up looking kinda funky (there are examples on the right). In conclusion, it looks normal (I think) although some are deformed. But that is the point I guess; this is icing dripping and it cannot be controlled.

Note: When out of the sketch menu, it looks like this but inside the sketch menu, the lines are blue. The dots are when I clicked and changed the angle of the line.

In conclusion, I think it turned out good and I'm happy with the results (although some clouds decided to look funky AGAIN!!). I think I improved on controlling the spline tool.

Since there are many clouds, I just connected them to the base lines. I also made sure there were no in between the lines of the clouds. Thankfully, the lines auto-anchored itself to the base line so there were no problems with that.

Design Details (clouds)

In this stage, I also used only the spline tool because of the curvy lines.

Design Details (grip)

This part took the longest and was the hardest thanks to the lines. It took so long since I had to space them out PERFECTLY and make them ALL parallel.

Note: This is how it looked inside the sketch menu

I used the spline tool for the grip outline shape. I just made the shape and I thought I was done. But I almost forgot about the grip. I first started off with lines that was roughly evenly spaced out. After the I chose the parallel tool to make the lines parallel to each other (just click on 2 lines). After that, to make it perfectly spaced out, I used the dimension tool to measure the distance between each line. If there was many digits, I changed it to something easy (in this case 1). If there was some space left, I added more lines and repeated the process.

This is when it's done. As you can see, it's perfectly spaced and perfectly parallel to each other. I am happy with the results but I kind of wished the distance between the lines were smaller (but it would take so much time so I didn't).

When you select a region, it should turn gray like this. There should also be an arrow that lets you control how much you want to extrude. In depth, it shows how high you are gonna extrude. Instead of the arrow, you can just input numbers in (recommended between 0.5-2.0). After that, press the green tick and it will save.

Note: If this doesn't work, just check for any holes between your lines if that is the problem.

The menu should be in 'solid' and 'add' or 'new' (if you press a region it will automatically turn to add anyways). Now you can select the area of where you want to add.

Extrude

In this section, I'm going to be extruding (adding/removing a part from the design, in this case, adding) the sketch. The extrude is the first icon (shown above).

After reading the whole thing just repeat the whole process. You can also make the extrude amount different (I made my clouds' extrude amount different for texture.)

Photo (dump)

I wish the grip was thinner but it looks just like stripes instead of a grip and it is still fine.

For the sprinkles, I did it last. I couldn't select it after all of the other extrudes and later, I found out that the icing drip (already extruded) was stopping me from selecting it. Since I can't turn extrudes off, I used the rollback bar and rolled it back before the icing extrude (you can use it to go back in time) and extruded all 23 sprinkles higher than the icing (in this case higher than 0.5mm)

The clouds are different heights so it gives a cool texture and is not only just smooth and boring.

Honestly, I think the sprinkles look a bit ugly. I changed the design to only have circles because hearts will take too much time (and I was kind of behind). Maybe it will look better after filleting the edges??

Filleting (optional)

We're back to filleting! This part is optional and you can do some part and don't do others.

Note: I only filleted the cloud edges and the sprinkles

Since the clouds were different heights, I had to fillet one by one. Also since they were thin, the fillet couldn't be that thick. I was also going to extrude the icing but some edges couldn't even be extruded so I gave up.

I tried to save the sprinkles by making it more round. Honestly, it doesn't look that bad. And thankfully, the sprinkles were the same height so I could fillet in one go instead of 23 times.

Split

The purpose of this part was because since the microbit cannot teleport into the case, you need to open the case and manually put it in with your hands. And spliting this will give the perfect split in the middle and it will fit together. In the future sections there are lugs and pins to add when adding the microbit inside or taking it out.

Thankfully, my design included the pins inside (although I should've took notice of it) so there were no changes I needed to make with the original sketch. But this can happen to you whoch you didn't read the instructions and notes properly!

When filleting, just choose one part to turn off. After that change your view so you can see the edges. Select 'filet' and select the OUTSIDE edges of the shape. After that, change the filet amount to 0.5mm (this will work for everybody). Repeat this on the 2nd part, turning the 1st one off and turning the 2nd one on.

After this, it will have a smooth finish fitting with the other side.

Fillet

We meet a familiar friend: filleting. This is what it will look like after filleting both parts.

Microbit Windows

For this part, I extruded the windows of the case so we can actually see the microbit screen and buttons. So, you first open this thing below (I drew over it because I didn't know do not do that 'cause it's more work) and then you will so 3 windows apppear. 2 small on both sides and 1 big one in the center. After that, press extrude and select all three windows. Make sure the menu is in remove and extrude it so it can go through the top part but not the bottom. After that it should look like the picture below.

Because it looks a little bit too sharp, fillet all of the edges of the three squares by 0.5mm. If you do that, It will look better.

Note: During through all of the processes, I recommend turning the layers off (as in the layers that locate where each of the things are) or it can get a bit confusing and it can prevent you from selecting certain parts of the case.

Now go to the other part where you will extrude your pins. First extrude a cylinder as a whole (as long as the microbit part). Next extrude only the pin (the inside cylinder) by 4mm.

After that, I chamfered the edges (kind of like fileting) so that when the pins go into the lugs it gives a smooth finish and the end is kind of rounded. I chamfered the pin by 0.5mm.

Lugs and Pins

So the lugs part is really easy. All you need to do is just press the lugs and extrude it as long as one of the microbit's half (you can turn to a view where it is flat and increase the extruding amount until you can see the lug in the case you need to go to the previous dimension.

Locator + Supporting Walls Visualizer

This poster basically shows you everything you need to do. The locator is there because that is the locator for the microbit. The supporting wall will support the microbit case as a hole. Since the poster explains things easier than text, I'm not explaining more.

My thoughts on the poster is that it is really simple and it has everything that you need (the extruding measurements, photos, names). But I think it could be better even though it is only for 2 steps. Things I really like about a part of the photo is that for the supporting walls part, I put the photo in 3D view allowing me to put an arrow pointing upwards to show that I am talking about extrude measurement and the height. I kind of wish I did that 3D thing for the locator walls as well.

I also don't really like the title's font (I tried to do something different).

Manufacturing

Intro to Manufacturing

During this big stage, I am going to be physically have the microbit in my hands. The digital design I made on Onshape was 3D printed (resin) and I am going to be smoothing it out, coloring it and more.

The photo on the left shows the microbit case that has been printed out. As you can see it is grey, and the details are very small. I need to be really careful since the details are tiny, I could sand it away. In both photos you can see some of these ladder like things. They are the scaffolding and the protective layer. When printing, they need to be there to structure the microbit case.

Important Stuff and Precautions

During this stage of manufacturing, we will need eye protection when working with scaffolding. You don't need this if you have glasses though.

During this stage, don't rush your work or leave parts that have not been sanded. When we spray paint/hydro dip over it, the film is very thin so we will be able to feel it still.

Follow instructions carefully. An example is not cleaning the water when hydro dipping which could make your design look bad.

Wash your hand in the end. When filing or sanding we deal with dust which smells bad and is annoying.

Scaffolding

In this part of the manufacturing, I need to remove the scaffolding as we don't need it anymore. Although it might look easy to do, it is very hard to take off and risky because you can break the microbit case in one of the worst scenarios. This process was very difficult in many ways. The main ways were that sometimes, some pieces flew into my eye or face (we wore eye protection) and my hand hurt a lot. This stage made me really nervous because if I break it, I can't print it out again and I need to super glue it which is inconvenient and might have some disadvantages.

Tools

These are some tools that I used to help me remove the scaffolding. The first is the snipping tool which we only had for 1 lesson (there were only 2 before but now there are much more). For the other lessons, we either used our hands or scissors (the lucky ones had the snipping tool). I think the snipping tool made a huge difference because in that one lesson where we had snipping tool, I removed all the scaffolding.

Filing/Sanding

After fully scaffolding everything, I went to get a sharp file. On the microbit, there were some dots or scratches that were not part of the design. I used the files to file it all away. After that I used sandpaper (starting with rough) to smooth everything out or also sand some unwanted parts away. If you didn't know, there are different types of sandpaper and they all have different roughness. During the process of sanding, I started off with the rough sandpaper (to remove unwanted parts) and moved onto the smoother ones (to make the microbit smooth).

Note: In the sandpaper photo, you can kind of tell that the rough ones are more glittery (not sure how to explain). The rougher ones start from the right and they move to the left. Also I used orange/brown sandpaper so I'm not sure if it is the same type of sandpaper but it is for reference.

There are different type of files and I used the triangle one (the sharp edges) but you can probably use anything sharp.

These are the sandpapers ranging from rough to smooth. They are all important but we used like 3-4 and not this much.

Sanding in Detail

Here is a collection of photos that show what I did in the sanding process. This is just a visualizer so I will explain it deeper when I get to the stages.

The tool I used is the sandpaper (top left) which I explained it before. This is the one I actually used and ask you can see, the left one looks rough and the right looks the smoothest. As I explained before, I used the rough one for unwanted part removing and the soft ones to finish the whole design up. Since there are some parts where the design printed as expected (there are no unwanted parts), I didn't need to use the rough sandpaper and maybe started in the 2nd or 3rd sandpaper.

In the collage, there are some photos that show unwanted parts of the design. Examples are the dots, hatched edges, scratches etc.

I also show what sanded and un-sanded parts look like (although you can't really see it). I will give more before and after examples later.

Before VS After: Sanding

In my opinion, sanding is really important and very powerful. Take an example; in the right, there are 3 photos. They each show the before, the process of sanding and the after result.

As you can probably tell, the before photo shows and unwanted piece. It's big and it is a bit spiky. It is inconvenient and it is annoying if you are using the microbit. That's why I have to sand it off. During the sanding process, I used the rough sandpaper (and a bit of filing but not much) to sand the piece off.

Now the after result. The big piece is gone but some hatching under the piece is still there which I will sand off. There are also some scratches from the sandpaper which I don't really mind. It is inevitable and you can't even feel it meaning when I prime it, it will not be seen.

Sanding the Inside

So you might have noticed that I am not sanding the inside. The inside is much more crustier than the outside (because most of the scaffolding is in the inside). But it is okay because nobody will know. Nobody will look at the inside so it is perfectly fine. All I really need to do is just get the trapped particles out and that is it.

Lugs and Pin Shaping

So in the design, the microbit case is supposed to fit together perfectly. If you are one of the lucky people, then without sanding or filing, your lugs and pins will already fit together. I was one of the unlucky ones (picture on the right showing that microbit doesn't fit together) and I had to file the pins to make it skinnier so it fits into the lug. So for this, I used a triangular file which is shown in the picture in the right.

The way to do this easiest is to place the microbit case on the table and start filing around the pin. Since none of the pins fit, I had to do this for every single pin and check when I'm done. It was kind of annoying because the dust just stayed there and it was just very annoying to see. Also another problem that I encountered was that when I was filing, the file would scratch the edges. You can see the scratched places and in the photos, you can see me accidentally filing the edges.

BIG PROBLEM ENCOUTER

So while I was checking if the pins fit into the lugs, one of the pins got stuck. And when I got the two pieces out, the pin was broken half and it was stuck in the lug. This means that I need to drill the pin out and rely on the 3 pins only. Thankfully, only one broke and no other pins were lost in the process.

Note: I didn't need to drill the part out because it was not doing anything bad to the design and the other parts of the design held together without it.

microbit dt

My thought on the final design:

I think I like the looks of my final design and although the metallic blue was a mistake, it looks nice!! The only thing I want to say is how messy the painting is. Althought I was careful, some paint brushed some unintentional parts. Overall I think the whole project was fun!

EVALUATION COMMENTS

I have come to the end of my Microbit project. My design followed a baby blue theme and I designed this using my mood board ideas. To complete my Microbit, I started by brainstorming ideas and designing a design (I made 4). Out of the 4, I chose my favorite design which I further evaluated and changed making different variations which I found out I liked better. After that, I made the official, final design which I made on Onshape. The design on Onshape was 3D printed and now I am on the manufacturing stage where I am physically doing something to the Microbit.

This year, I really enjoyed doing my website. Although it was quite challenging and a lot of time was invested in it, it was fun because I like typing things and designing the website.

Although lots of parts of this year was challenging, I think the most challenging part was cutting the scaffolding off the Microbit. I think this because in the first lesson, I could use only my bare hands and it hurt a lot. Although it got better after getting the snipping tool, it was very annoying and it took a long time.

For my website, I think it started off good and I wrote long comments in details. I think I put a lot of effort into my website although there are some parts where it could be better. In the most recent part of manufacturing, I didn't take photos of the design as a whole after each scaffolding. Although it is only one photo missed, it is very important as I could use it to do a lot of things. For example, compare my design with my Onshape design and see the difference. Or I could evaluate on it like what I could do better. Additionally, I could compare it with my friend's to show what other designs might look like.

An area that I found difficult is being consistent in my work and working faster. I have found this year harder and more difficult than last year. I think I need to manage my time better because usually I find myself behind other people. I think Onshape was a skill I developed and improved on a lot because I learnt to be more independent (although I had to ask for help sometimes). I used the DT websites to find the steps and did it myself which really improved on my independence. I also think I learnt about the tools and the things that each tools do which can be useful for the future years. Onshape was a difficult stage as well because last year, I wasn't very independent and kind of relied on other people. But now that I can use Onshape, I can figure things for myself which is useful in other subjects too.

A last target for next year is time management. I think this was a target I made last year too. Although I improved on using my time wisely, I found myself having to update my website last minute or getting distracted. I will achieve this target by being more focused on more consistent on uploading things to my website.

Copy of microbit dt

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