The third and final project for Advanced computer modelling was designed
to enhance our surface modelling skills, rendering and animation skill.
This project came with the twist of having to design a mouse “skin” to
fit the previous internal package
I ran into problems early on with this mouse design… I was unable to shell the middle section due to the geometry at the back. I Had to alter the side profile shape slightly so that I could achieve a minimum printing thickness .7mm of this section
The cavity feature gave me a lot of issues, as I kept receiving the invalid geometry warning. I found out that the issue was that I had very tiny gaps in some of my surfaces. I tried to get the gaps closed but some of the time it just would not change, so with the cavity feature not always working I had to go about cutting the cavities the long way.
I also had trouble with combining some of my bodies together. This issue I couldnt always figure out
The inside layout of my mouse was not really considered when I first came up with the design. When I was up to fitting the PCB board and the battery I had to think about how to have a loft level to house them that wouldn’t compromise the outside shape.
I had a few issues with the animation side of this project. When I was creating the animation in Solidworks my mouse kept disappearing and going invisible, this made it very hard to change the camera angles. I had to keep making new animations to see the impact of my changes which was very frustrating. I don’t know why the quality of my rendered animation came out so pixilated, but I wish that it was a higher quality.
I also kept getting stuck in a rebuild lop in my final construction even though I had not changed anything. I cannot figure out how to stop it!!
I don’t think I went that well in this project. As always, I ran out of time, so my animation had to be kept basic. I would have loved to put more effort into the overall presentation of the animation, but it was best to get something handed up rather than nothing. In the end I didn’t really like my mouse design, as it was not very practical or functional. I am happy that I learnt a lot form this process, and I am a lot more confident with surface modelling now.
Deanna Wilson
