Arduino-Driven 3D Printed Fish Feeder -- Take Two

January 1, 2015 Away for New Year's while our latest 3D creation is hopefully and dutifully feeding the fish in our aquaponics system, we have been pleasantly surprised by the feedback we've gotten. 3DPrint.com even covered it and I suspect it was their article that spurred many requests for the .STL files for the feeder.

left is our original design fully printed and currently working as part of our automated aquaponics system. right is our V.2 which is visibly heavier and larger to eliminate the fragility of version 1. The auger is also radically redesigned.

However, this was the very first thing we ever printed out for an actual design project. It is also the first object we've printed out that needed to be fit together. There was so much filing, sanding, and gluing that I believe many would feel defeated after waiting for each part to be printed out only to end up with all that work still to do. Not only that, but many of the tabs and slots we designed into it were way too small and many broke off. The auger too, required much delicate carving to get it to move the fish food out without binding up and stopping the servo.

It is a cool project because within a week, despite all the extra work, it finally did actually work, but to distribute it, even for free, wouldn't be so cool. So we are working on version two (v.2). V.2 is already laid out in SketchUp and will be printed out, assembled, and tested, and if it goes smoothly we will post all the files. In addition to that, all of those who contacted us will get a set of .STL files sent to them.

Changes? 

3D Printed Auto-Fish Feeder

December 26, 2014 You have one week to find a way to feed your fish before you leave for a few days starting on New Year's. What do you do? 

(A) Find someone to come into your house and do it for you each day while you are gone;
(B) Buy an expensive automatic fish feeder that may or may not meet your needs and may or may not be shipped to you in time. Or;
(C) Make your own.

The entire concept of our aquaponics system is automation so automatically feeding the fish was always part of the overall project. Time, however, required it to be implemented much faster, in fact, within a single week.

There are a variety of ways to automatically feed your fish. We decided to use an auger driven by a servo, set at timed intervals during the day and set to spin for a variable amount of time (which controls the amount of food released).

It is small, at about 140mm tall, but could hold enough food if full to feed the aquaponics system for a month or more. 

It was designed in SketchUp 8, exported to a MakerBot Replicator 2 using an .stl exporter.importer plug-in, then printed out at Bangkok's Fortune IT Mall makerspace, Gravitech's Home of Maker. This is the first non-novelty item we've tried to design and print out in 3D. The electronics consist of an Arduino Uno hooked up to a 9g micro servo modified following the instructions here.


Servos generally only rotate 180 degrees. You must find the tab(s) inside your servo that limit its range of motion and cut them off as well as immobilize the potentiometer at 90 degrees that would generally tell the servo what position it is at. Superglued at 90 and using Arduino code for continuous rotation servos (which are very hard, but not impossible to find) a position of "0" moves the servo counter-clockwise while a position of "180" moves it clock-wise.



The code for the Arduino is as follows:

SketchUp 8 to 3D Printing

December 18 Just down Ratchada Road, Bangkok Thailand, on the 4th floor of Fortune IT Mall is Gravitech's new Home of Maker makerspace. In addition to being an extensive DIY electronics store, Home of Maker also has electronic benches, a 3D printer, and a classroom for lectures, workshops, and classes.

The 3D printer is particularly interesting to us because as a small design studio we have many 3D models on hand and every once in a while we think how great it would be to print them out into actual objects. Now when we design something, we can hop on the MRT subway and in 10 minutes do just that ... the whole process taking half a day.

Our first project was a 3D stamp for our Progress Thailand project. It took 10 minutes to fully design in SketchUp and with the .stl plugin described here in this older tutorial, we exported it as an .stl file and brought it on a thumbdrive to Home of Maker. There, the friendly and informative staff helped import it into MakerBot's software before transfering it to the printer itself (a MakerBot Replicator 2) to be printed.

Putting Comet 67P into SketchUp

December 6, 2014 The European Space Agency (ESA) has recently put two 3D formats online of comet 67P currently under observation by the Rosetta spacecraft (see also ESA's Rosetta mission page). The formats are .wrl and .obj, neither of which can be imported into SketchUp 8.

Stl files can also not normally be imported into SketchUp 8 unless you have the proper plugin. There was a tutorial on this published a while back so if you would like to import/export .stl files, check it out. In addition to importing ESA's 67P model, .stl files are useful for 3D printing.

With the plugin you can bring in .stl files, but how do you convert ESA's .obj file into an .stl file? I found an online converter that does just that. An online 3D file converter found at Greentoken.com allowed me to take ESA's .obj file and convert it into an .stl file in 3 easy steps. I was then able to import it into SketchUp 8 and then used the "Make Faces" plugin to cover the wire mesh.

The results are far from perfect but I do basically have comet 67P in SketchUp 8 on my desktop ready to explore.  I thought it might be interesting to print this out and make a Christmas tree ornament out of it but there are some problems with the model that would need to be resolved first.

Follow Helios Labs on Twitter @HeliosLabs or find us on Facebook here. 

Singapore Shophouse Study

DESIGN :: I was looking for a Singapore-style shophouse in the SketchUp 3D Warehouse and couldn't find any that were suitable so I set about building a model (3D Warehouse model here) myself. The best reference I could find was in Dezeen Magazine's article "55 Blair Road by ONG&ONG" which included photos of both the interior and exterior, as well as floor plans and elevations.

I set about designing the outer shell and a few of the interior features. I wanted to render it as well, both inside and out, so I used the Ong & Ong design for the first floor.

Despite the 3D Warehouse model featuring the Ong & Ong interior on the first floor, the basic shell of the shophouse will be easy enough for those seeking to modify and develop their own designs. Everything is done in components so even major sections of geometry can be modified or entirely redone.

The basic process of building up a shophouse have now been established as have the methods of rendering them under different lighting conditions. While Singapore's shophouses come in many shapes and sizes, future models can be tackled with greater efficiency -- the very purpose of going through with this shophouse study.

See more renders below of the SketchUp 3D Warehouse model and don't forget to visit the original article on Dezeen which served as a reference. The actual SketchUp model in the 3D Warehouse can be found here.

SketchUp :: MiSeq DNA Sequencer

A Vray render of the SketchUp MiSeq DNA sequencer model. Find the 3D model here. It is modeled to scale and would be suitable for space planning for classrooms, laboratories, and institutions. There are no internal components.

DESIGN/BIOlogy news :: Here is the most recent addition to the Helios Labs 3D Warehouse library -- a MiSeq DNA sequencer made by Illumina. It was modeled to scale according to the data sheet found here (.pdf).

This model is made based on external features only and is best used for space planning in labs or for simply taking a look at what a DNA sequencer looks like in 3D.

For more information on DNA sequencing, for which this machine is used for, see the Wikipedia entry on the subject here. It also includes a photograph of a MiSeq.

SketchUp :: Copenhagen Suborbitals' HEAT E1 Rocket

DESIGN/SPACE news :: This is a follow up to the HEAT 1600 rocket already uploaded to SketchUp's 3D Warehouse (which can be found here). The Copenhagen Suborbitals HEAT E1 rocket is very similar to the HEAT 1x rocket already built and launched. Find the SketchUp model of the HEAT E1 here.

A Vray render of the now available SketchUp model of Copenhagen Suborbitals' HEAT E1 rocket. The final render was edited in GIMP.

There was a size comparison guide of Copenhagen Suborbitals rockets that served as the primary reference for this model. There were also a lot of references of similar existing rockets to base this model off of so the level of detail is a little higher. Still, it is simple enough for people to quickly download and begin modifying.

A quick "sketch" of the seating assembly was put in what appears to be a scaled up version of the Tycho Brahe capsule, and there is plenty of room inside the rocket's body to place the rocket engine and fuel tanks in.

A cutaway showing the simplified vertical seating inside the modified Tycho Brahe spacecraft. The rest of the rocket body was left empty. The HEAT E1 is heavily referenced from the existing HEAT 1X rocket.  

The HEAT E1 can be seen on the far right. The HEAT 1X was actually built and launched. 

SketchUp :: Copenhagen Suborbitals' HEAT 1600/Tycho Deep Space II

Tycho Deep Space II capsule & LES assembly.

DESIGN/SPACE News ::There is some professional level hacking going on in Denmark. Copenhagen Suborbital is an open source space program that has already launched full scale record-setting rockets and has plans to eventually put people into space.

The design process may be open source and unorthodox, but it is definitely a serious operation with a high degree of brilliance behind it. Surely no one will actually board a rocket into orbit until it is as safe as launching people by rockets can possibly be, and hopefully no unnecessary risks will be made regarding the invaluable talent committed to this paradigm-shifting project.

The open source, hacker infrastructure being laid out by Copenhagen Suborbitals alone is priceless and an accomplishment all in its own, with numerous possibilities beyond human space flight, including giving the burgeoning cubesat community a fellow open source foot-in-the-door in terms of sending their creations into orbit and for implementing parallel Internets and other communication networks to compete with current proprietary models.


With all this in mind, it is not hard to understand why I was spending large amounts of time on their website and their blog hosted by Wired here, catching up on all the progress they've made. And it was amongst all this information that I stumbled across .STL files for their conceptual rocket, the HEAT 1600 and the Tycho Deep Space II capsule that sits atop it. I covered .STL files for SketchUp before, and it was this process I used to import the .STL files provided by Copenhagen Suborbitals into SketchUp. It took a long time for SketchUp to import the entire model (over an hour), which includes internal components including a seating assembly inside the capsule, fuel tanks and a detailed engine cluster.

The file was over 30MB once in SketchUp and since I intended to share this model in the SketchUp 3D Warehouse, I wanted to streamline it into something much simpler to work with for SketchUp users. I began using the .STL import as a reference to rebuild the external components and some of the internal components. I uploaded the final product here.

A cross section of the Tycho Deep Space II capsule included in the SketchUp model. An astronaut from Max Grueter's collection was added to give a sense of scale.

I immediately began modifying it for rendering. Hopefully others will find this model and explore it as Copenhagen Suborbitals makes progress and headlines. It will be interesting to see what others use it for and what process if any, SketchUp can play in Open Source design projects.

Rendered using the SketchUp 3D Warehouse HEAT 1600 model. The model was built using Copenhagen Suborbital's open source .STL files provided on their blog hosted by Wired.

SketchUp for Interior Design :: 3 Basic Aspects of Workflow

Design :: SketchUp is an invaluable tool when it comes to visualizing. Its intuitive interface is easy to learn and quickly becomes second nature leaving your energy entirely to the design process. With the 3D Warehouse, you can quickly populate an empty scene and do everything from space planning to exploring real world objects you cannot see or handle in person.

SketchUp allows users to quickly visualize ideas in 3D and present them in a wide variety of ways -- from photo-realistic renders to basic floor plans used for space planning.

Assuming that you don't need to be sold on using SketchUp and instead are looking for some potentially new methods to incorporate into your workflow, the following are 5 basic aspects used at Helios Works when doing interior design visualizing. This, mind you, is our workflow, and is one of many possible alternatives that may work depending on your preferences and requirements. If you feel you have a better way of handling an interior design project, let us know.

1. Starting Out :: Most of our interior design projects start out as a CAD file (easiest) or a scanned floor plan in the form of a .jpeg file (slightly more difficult). Sometimes even that much is not available, and instead we are given site pictures from which we must make an approximate floor plan (the most difficult). It's good to be familiar with the dimensions of common interior features such as doors, chairs, and tables to get a sense of scale and to double check your work as you go along.

To import a CAD file, you must go to File>Import and then navigate to the folder your CAD file is in. Then you need to scale it. This is done by making sure your imported CAD lines are in a single group, entering the group by double clicking on it, and then picking a line you are certain you know the dimensions of. Usually this is a doorway (the standard doorway is about 900mm wide).

Whether a CAD file or a .jpeg of a floor plan, resizing it inside the component using the tape measure tool is a quick and easy way to get your dimensions accurate. Here I am "exploding" the .jpeg and then preparing to regroup it using "G" and "enter" before resizing it. This also works with CAD files to make sure they are proper components before attempting to manipulate them further.

Use the tape measure tool and click from one side of the doorway to the other. In the bottom right of the workspace you will see dimensions. These are probably not going to be anywhere near 900mm. Before clicking anything else, simply type in 900 and hit enter. This will then prompt you with the following, "Do you want to resize the active group or component?" You will click "Yes."

SketchUp 3D Warehouse :: Mircopipette

Design :: Micropipettes are essential for modern laboratory work. There was no micropipette models in SketchUp's 3D Warehouse so I've modeled one and uploaded it. Based on the Accumax Pro, the model is made to scale (130mm in length) and includes a pipette tip. Doing design work for laboratory setups and equipment in SketchUp is made easier with accurately scaled pieces of equipment for size-comparison.

Other laboratory-related models I've uploaded include a 96 well plate and a 3D double helix DNA strain.

Technical Illustration :: Stingray Tank

DesignTutorial :: Technical illustrations are both interesting and informative. There are also many different kinds. A basic and more subtle version that is very easy to do using SketchUp involves taking a Vray clay render, and combining it with an x-ray view exported from SketchUp. Meshing these together can be done a number of ways in GIMP or Photoshop, and involve changing the opacity of your layers, and perhaps even apply a gradient opacity mask to give a transition from solid to more transparent.

Below is how the tank (uploaded onto SketchUp's 3D Warehouse here) looked after it was done being modeled and had some basic materials applied.

 

Next, go to Global Switches in Vray, and choose override materials. This will give you what is called a "clay render" as seen below. 

You're next going to want to go into "Styles" in SketchUp and change to a "hidden lines" template and under "edit," click on the x-ray option under "face." This will give you a a look at the inside and backfaces of your model, mimicking a technical illustration.

3D Shipping Containers in SketchUp

Design :: Two more models have been uploaded to the HeliosLabs library in SketchUp's 3D Warehouse. These two 12 meter ISO shipping containers are broken down into many components for easy editing and repurposing. The architectural version (download here) has the steel siding broken down into smaller components so that doors and windows can be quickly added. The easy texture version (download here) has these steel sides as one component so that materials can be easily projected onto them (in this case, the words Helios Works).

Here are the two container models. The top version has a single component for the sides and top to make it easier to project textures onto it. The lower architectural version has the sides broken into smaller components. Depicted here, 5 of the components have been taken out to create a doorway. Use "make unique, and scale several panels vertically to create space for windows.

The architectural version has been used on an older project pictured below, with more pictures on the Helios Works portfolio site.

Test Animation :: Desktop DNA Printer Concepts (HD)

Design :: The desktop DNA printer concept model had many parts and many materials. In order to render an approximately 6 second animation in Sketchup 8 using Vray in any reasonable amount of time, I used only one rendering method -- light cache -- with the lowest possible settings. But doing this left the images dull and the background a hazy gray. About 88 frames were rendered by Vray, and I wanted to change the brightness and contrast on all of them. How?

It turns out that GIMP has has a batch script for doing just this called Batch Edit Color Brightness and Contrast, and it worked perfectly with GIMP 2.8. However, since I use VirtualDub to take my still frames and convert them into an AVI movie, and since apparently batch editing does something to jpegs that makes them useless for VirtualDub (I received "SOF2 maker found" error messages), I needed to find a way to batch convert my jpegs into something VirtualDub could handle (.bmp files worked). The utility I downloaded for doing this is IrfanView. The final video can be seen below, along with many stills taken to add some bulk to the otherwise lonesome animation clip.

3D Thai-Style Palm Trees

Design :: I've discovered a glitch with my models I've been uploading onto SketchUp's 3D Warehouse. If I use the "share model" while inside SketchUp, there is no problem. If I upload models through the 3D Warehouse interface using .kmz files --  they display geometry errors when you download them.

So now I've got to go through all of my models, delete them, and re-upload them. Among them are my Thai-style palm trees I made a while back while interning at a Thai architectural firm. They're old, but can still be useful. Find it here...

A quick Vray render using all default settings. The model is now uploaded on SketchUp's 3D Warehouse.

SketchUp + Vray Animation :: SpaceX Dragon

DESIGN :: In order to expand your skill set as a designer of products, interiors, architecture and more, eventually you will have to tackle animation. A properly done animation can greatly enhance your ability to communicate your design.

There are many different approaches to producing animations, and the approach you take depends on the tools you have available to you. In terms of rendering, I generally use Vray, though I do have Kerkythea as a backup and for experimentation.

Over the weekend I produced several animations - one using the Proper Animation plugin together with the free, open source rendering software, Kerkythea, and 3 using standard scene transitions inside of SketchUp along with Vray. Additionally, you can just export scene transitions directly from SketchUp and splice them together in a video editing program, which are included in the test animation.

The video below is the tutorial I used, showing the proper settings that worked with my version of Sketchup (8 Pro) and Vray. The most important steps are that you check Global Switches in your Vray options window, "Batch Render," and under Output, check "Animation," as well as designate where Vray will save finished frames to. Under View>Animation>Settings, you should also enable scene transitions, set an appropriate transition time in seconds (the tutorial used 3 seconds, I used 8), and ensure that "Scene Delay" is set to zero. Other tutorials will have you change a host of options, and these may work in certain instances, but not on my computer.