Surfaces are by far easier to comprehend and work with than lofting organic shapes.
I had minimal challenges modelling the glasses arm near the start of the assignment. I think this lulled me into a false sense of complacency however, resulting in a desperate push to complete the project in the end.
Whilst I really enjoyed working with surfaces I (clearly) ran into a few issues.
The most apparent and frustrating one was my perpetual struggle with in-context assemblies. The actual features worked fine... but the file setup gore became almost overwhelming. I had assemblies running from test assemblies running through sub assemblies, and I became too anxious to move or change anything, lest it all break infront of my eyes. I know this can definitely be handled better with a better action plan from the beginning.
IF I COULD TURN BACK TIME ♬♬
- Make Arm and Arm Hinge separately
- Make Arm Sub-Assembly
- Make Frame, Nose Pad and Nose Pad Screw
- Make Frame Sub-Assembly
- Make General Assembly with Frame and Arm
- Make Trim in context
- Make Ellipse and Hinge
- Make Trim Sub-Assembly
- Input Trim Assembly in General Assembly.
I believe this would make working on this project easier and it certainly would save a lot of heartache for you poor souls having to mark it.
UGLY THINGS
Cutting the cavity into the trim was by far the most challenging task. I am ashamed of the end result. I really struggled to cut the slots for the nut and the bridge cleanly. Every effort I tried with surfaces created less than desirable results so I had to settle with a classic extruded cut. Not pretty but it got the job done. In retrospect I think i could have produced the necessary surfaces with incontext sketching and a few more surface trims.
Okay so... surfacing defeated me here. The lower sketches i used as guide curves gave me an error in the geometric variety, so I lost a lot of control around the chin. and im fairly sure most heads are not this tall and thin. Not mine at least. Or yours katie..and maybe Dans but we cant see Dan's because of his hair.
I also would have liked to give the eye cavities a proper attempt but i was pushed for time and demoralized by the current effort.
I have much to learn in the world of surfacing, however the skills I learnt in this assignment are skills I have been dying to learn for close to 3 years now. The options are literally limitless.
FIN.
