Chapter Questions

<aside> 🧟 Ask your TWO questions about the Random chapter below. Please, include your name.

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  1. For OpenSCAD is this program primarily used for drafting ideas and/or basic models? From the looks of things it looks like it can produce a lot with quantity but may not produce highly detailed results. (John Kim)

in my experience OpenSCAD is good for mechanical parts (motor bracket), not good for organic things (characters).

  1. How does OpenSCAD know how many faces to generate on a shape (ex: cylinder) if certain variables aren't defined? Does it have a default it falls back on if certain inputs are left out? (John Kim)

OpenSCAD uses the value of $fa (minimum angle) $fs (minimum size) $fn (number of fragments) to determine how many faces to make. These do have defaults and you can override them globally, within the scope of a specific module, or pass in values to specific primatives

Does OpenSCAD ensure the structures you create would be structurally/architecturally sound in real life? Or, does it not necessarily have to adhere to the law of physics? (Brian Lau)

structurally sound means a lot of different things depending on context. I think the short answer is OpenSCAD doesn't ensure that sort of thing.

In what circumstances would you want to edit the G-code? What are some examples of unique or custom applications you can take advantage of? (Brian Lau)

you probably wouldn't do more than very minimal editing of g-code by hand, but you might process gcode with a program to modify things like maximum machine speed, etc

i've written a program that generates gcode from a vector file to make "cookie cutters"

Leah Willemin wrote a program that generates g-code to control a 3d printer for her thesis. It converted dance movements into sculptural forms

I am curious about the differences between OpenSCAD and three.js and I guess also using WebGL with p5.js. From my understanding OpenSCAD is a different language while three.js and p5.js are JavaScript libraries, but are there practical differences, for example, would we be able to create a 3D model in three.js or p5.js and then 3D print it? (Chris Kim)

Are there any AI platforms for 3D modelling (like the Midjourney for 3D), do you think 3D will be as “popular” as Midjourney or other AI platforms for 3D modelling? (Chris Kim)

they are coming. there have been recent papers showing text->3d and image->3d using AI. the results are very rough compared to say midjourney, but midjourney 1 was very rough compared to midjourney 5, and they came out a year apart