Computer Aided Design

2 D design

Learning Raster

• GIMP





GIMP was new to me. Its is an open source software. I learned about GIMP by referring to YouTube tutorial by Jake Day Williams. Click here to watch GIMP Tutorial
GIMP is a photo editing software. Various functions of GIMP are..

Making logo

Using GIMP I first designed a logo for my final project. It was a floating logo. Pretty basic.
But learning GIMP was fun.
I had difficulty in finding the right font for my logo. I then searched online for solution to add new fonts to GIMP.
For adding new fonts to GIMP, go to DaFont and download the font you like. Then paste this file in C:\Windows\Fonts. After pasting this file in this folder you have to restart
the application again.
Now that the new font is loaded, I proceed with using layers and filters and made my first logo.






Working with layers I learned few tools and tried this









Combining Both




• Adobe Photoshop


Adobe Photoshop is similar to GIMP but is more advanced and the options and tools available are quite
simple to use and is more handy! The keyboard shortcuts available for fiddling with various tools is refreshing . The editing is more precise with photoshop and this would be my
choice for 2D rastor design. Photoshop has a more professional approach and also this software is accepted worldwide. In Photoshop you get the option to save the file in a format that lets you edit the file in future.
You can also save it in any other format you want.
What really interests me in Photoshop is the nagic selection tool. This feature is very handy. Its lets you do the
selection in a much more easy way. It selects the boundaries automatically according to color , all you need to do
is just drag the mouse along the boundary you want to select.
Due to its simplicity in operation and abduntant editing tools available I would use Adobe Photoshop for rest of my editing. My Works with Photoshop



Combining both




Learning Raster

• Adobe Illustrator



Adobe illustartor is a vector 2D design software which can be used to design logos or draw sketches. Unlike other sketching tools that i have used, in
Adobe illustrator whatever sketches i make using the pen tool is automatically converted to a neat stroke.

3D Design

• Solidworks



I am already aquainted with soild works. For me it is the easiest tool to design 3D. I have also tried Rhino, but i felt
with solid works the selection of planes and extruding operations are much easier with Solidworks. I'm making myself more
familiar with Solidworks by referring to Online tutorials to learn about more tools avaiable in Solidworks and also various keyboard shortcuts.
This will enable be work faster with Solid Works.

Solid works has this feature called 'Smart dimension', with this I can change the dimension of the sketch I made
and also can have it displayed all the time.




Extrusion in solid works.

Extrusion in Solid works is fairly simple. After you exit the skecth. Select the extrusion tool and feed the magnitude of extrusion you want to do.
It is also possible to do the extrusion in both direction.


Trimming tool- Using this tool it is possible to trim out excess features from the sketch.Over lapping features in the sketch
will not allow for complete extrusion.





Extrusion process








Click here to download the design file.

• Sketchup




Sketch Up is a 3D design tool mainly used by architects and other designers who relate themeselves to designing buildings and structures.
Sketchup was new to me. I learned Sketchup through an online tutorial availale on YouTube. Click here to watch online tutorial of Sketchup.
The controls on Sketch up is in some way related to Solidworks however the functionality is totally different. The changing of dimension once
the sketch has been made is little more difficult in SketchUp.

In lieu of the extrusion tool in Solid works, sketchup has Push and pull tool. This lets the user to see the realtime extrusion operation which is done
by simply dragging the mouse.









Similar to smart dimension function in Solid works, Sketchup has a measuring tool with which the dimension of the drawn sketch can me measured.

Move tool in sketchup allows the user to drag a particular entity to change its shape after the sketch has been made.
One such example has been shown below.





Click here to download the design file.