3D Modelling- Developing Ideas

3D Modelling- Developing Ideas

In this unit, we are doing 3D modelling. Now, after I decided what project I am doing, I have to develop my ideas before I start creating my model.

Design Specification:

• It should stand and it should be able to hold things- it should be usable and practical.
• It should have a statue of my head, a shelf, a hook, a built-in pencil case, a drawer, a space for putting things under the desk, something to hold place for putting my legs and feet on, 2-3 cardboard cable holders, paper rack, lower places for putting my arms, a book/ paper holder.
• I am putting my desk at the corner of the wall, there is one side where there is a cabinet near the corner.  My desk will be facing the wall with the window. My desk should fit the space/spot that it will be put in.
• To fit the space I’m putting the desk, the desk should be: maximum 1 metre wide (shorter side) , maximum 1.3 metres long (longer side) <->, and about 0.7 metres high. If there are any exceptions, the left side of can be maximum 1.2 metres wide. But the right side stays 1 metre (as there is a cabinet).

• The surfaces on the sides (where is not in use) should not be plain, there should be certain designs and styles. Convex and concave surfaces are required to show drawings.
• The desk should be specially designed for me and should be unique.

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Design Possibilities:

We cannot just use the first idea we can think of, it would mess up our project. Therefore, we are asked to think of different possibilities for our designs.

Question 1

What should the shape of the desk be in?

• “U” shape

This idea is to make the table in a “U” shape. This is a more unique way to make the table. Although this design will have a smaller area some space where there’s a hole, it’s very suitable. It provides me the enough width (0.6 m) so I can reach to the front in the Main Space. It has some left and right sides for me to put things and it can be easily reached as it’s just beside me. So I don’t have to stand up or move around that much. It is also convenient because this design of the working desk allows me work on a few things on the desk at the same time; It allows me to put something away on the sides when I don’t need it yet, so it doesn’t take up space in my main working space (which I call the Main Space here).

• Rectangle

This rectangle is simple and it provides a lot of space, as much as I have in order to fit it in. This table is huge. However, it is not unique.

• “L” shape

As I am putting my desk into the corner of a wall, this design allows me to move freely from the desk to the space, which is the living room, because I actually move quite a bit to take things. Also, here is two spaces for me, so I can work easily on two things at the same time. And the same thing, I can put things that I do not have to use yet in another area so it doesn’t block or take up the space I work.

Question 2

What style should it be?

• Flames

This is actually quite cool and is something I like. This flames won’t look realistic but something below is what I mean. It is stylish.

• Waves

This style is like curves and waves. I like nature

• Pine trees/ forest

There will be trees like the below ones, but much more simple. There will be a lot of them so it looks like a forest. I like nature.

• Sound waves

The sound waves will look really cool but it will be really hard to show because those lines may be too thin.

Question 3

What colour should it be based on?

• Light blue based

Blue is a colour I like and it looks like the colour of the sky so the area around the desk will seem brighter.

• Red and white based

This will be good because there is a shelf next to the space I’m putting my desk, and the shelf is red and white.

• Brown, black and white

The walls are white; The cabinets are mostly brown; The sofa, chairs, and table is black. 

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Final choice and Justification

After thinking of so many possibilities, we have to think carefully, choose one idea/design, and justify why we choose it.

For Question 1

I choose “U” shape for the shape of my desk. As said previously, that design provides a perfect distance to reach and put things. The two protruding sides allows me to put and work on things easily and conveniently at the same time.

For Question 2

I choose the flames as the style. I chose it because I think it is really cool and it’s just I like it. Although I want there to be styles, it is not what the desk is for, and I don’t want to focus or put too much on the style. So, the pine forest one is a bit time-consuming. The sound waves will be really hard to show. The waves are also good too but they are not as stylish.

For Question 3

I choose brown, black, and white for the basic colours of the table. It is because the colour will match a lot of colours of furnitures in my home. So it will not look weird or strange or awkward when something in the house is suddenly in a very different colour. However, I am adding red for the flames so they don’t look weird, also, it will match the colour of the cabinet more/better.

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See Three Before You See Me

For this project, we need and are expected to learn a lot by our own. Therefore, we are asked to find a several sites or sources we can visit for any problems before we ask our teachers.

http://www.sketchup.com/learn/videos

The above is a link to a website. This website has a list video tutorials of how to use sketchup. It would be very useful and there will be a wide range of tutorials of using Sketchup because the website is by sketchup, google. I checked the tutorials and they are really clear and teaches you step by step. They also provide techniques to get rid of things and make it better. There are fifteen of them to be clear.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=workshop%20addict%20sketchup&sm=3

The above is a link to youtube and specific tutorials. There is a whole list of them. This is really good because those tutorials have orders so I can learn how to use sketchup without going back and forth. It also has titles about what they are about so they are easy to find. Each tutorial has a specific title and it focus on it and is really clear, step by step slowly.

http://www.123dapp.com/howto/catch

As I am putting the statue of my head on the desk, I need to use 123d catch. The above link is to an autodesk website. It has tips of how to make a better 3D model out of the photos. There are also videos about what to be aware when taking photos and turning them into 3D models.

Other “see”s: the below ones are just to help myself along the project. It may not be as good and specific. Please do not count them in if they aren’t good. They may not necessarily have to be looked at.

http://www.wikihow.com/Special:GoogSearch?cx=008953293426798287586%3Amr-gwotjmbs&cof=FORID%3A10&ie=UTF-8&q=how+to+use+sketchup&siteurl=www.wikihow.com%2FMain-Page

The above is a link to a website from wikihow. It has about a hundred tutorials so it would be really helpful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUgAEExT9XE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRDsMm6Zrjc

The two links above goes to youtube- tutorials. The two tutorials are making desks. There are some similarity between what I want to make and the desk made in the videos. So I can take some ideas and how to use tools that I’m probably going to use (because the project is similar).

http://www.harwoodpodcast.com/display/Search?searchQuery=sketchup&moduleId=8262112

In here, there are a lot and a wide range of sketchup tutorials. If I have any problems, I can search on it.

Our Own Short Stories- Goosebumps

The second thing we did in LA is short stories. We read a few stories and are asked to write a few of them. We turned some longer short stories into 55 words. And the big project we did is to write our own short story. I wanted mine to be funny and surprising. I thought the best way to make it like that is to make it seem scary at first.

GOOSEBUMPS

The door creaked open.

With a cool night breeze, a shadow came in from the opening door.

Footsteps were approaching his bed.

He nervously pulled the blanket over his eyes.

The footsteps came closer and closer .

***

He shivered and burst out,

“ Please don’t kiss me! It’s childish and disgusting! I’m nine Mum!” said the boy on the bed.

And the reason I named it goosebumps is because it was a cold night and it was scary and the boy thought it was disgusting. So the title "goosebumps" is really good and it fits.

Where I'm From

We started this year with poems in LA. We studied different poem and wrote one ourselves using the title and based on the poem "Where I'm From" by George Ella Lyon. Here it is.

Where I'm From

By Rex

Looking at the sky, thinking of where I’m from,

the stars and moon are the same,

but I am a world away from home. 

I am from skyscrapers that reach the sky,

racing with the mountains which surround them,

where beneath is crowded streets with thousands and thousands of different customs of people,

where shops, restaurants and offices are all located,

where busy business by days and nights knits a network all over.

I am from beeps and vrooms and pings.

I am from fast speeds,

of twenty-five-minutes lunches,

and tons of statements an hour.

I am from a school among schools,

where schoolmates were like neighbours.

I am from an estate among estates,

where neighbours were like families.

I am from a flat among flats,

where lived a family which never gave up one another.

I am from a flat,

where lived a dreamer,

who worked with his studies till dinner,

and watched television later.

I am from watching television for quarters, 

while wishing Dad would come home earlier,

just like a dog waiting for its owner.

I am from swimming pools and amusement parks,

from weekly family gatherings with arts, crafts and darts,

which in my mind they’re marked.

I am from the clock which annoyed me in class,

from the clock which frightened me during tests,

from the clock which rushed me at weekends,

from the clock which gave me new chances every morning.

Because I am from stories and experiences of time.

This is where I’m from,

I am from my home,

where the stars and moon are the same.

But home seems a world away.

Essay- What Can We Learn From Parvana

This is one of our big/ important essays we wrote at the beginning of the year. "Parvana" was a book, and the girl which is the main character from the story is called Parvana. She and her family are Afghanistan people, and they are fighting for freedom. There are a lot of morals and themes in the book, and we learnt a lot from it. We learnt especially from the girl Parvana, so we wrote an essay about it.

What Can We Learn From Parvana?

By Rex


Everyone has had a tough time, but can you imagine being in a condition where your father is arrested, you cannot even step out of your door or you will be beaten by soldiers, and you have to change your identity to be the bread-winner for your family's living? The book “Parvana” by Deborah Ellis is about an eleven-year old girl called Parvana. In the story, the Taliban have taken control of Afghanistan and their beliefs were that females- except for little girls- could only go out with their husbands, or their husbands’ note explaining why the women could go out. They did not like people receiving any education. Parvana's father was arrested because he had gone to a university in England. Due to the strict rules of the Taliban, Parvana had to cut her hair and change her identity into a boy to earn money and buy and get things home for the family's survival, like her father did. She was successful in solving her family's problems. What can we learn from Parvana? Parvana teaches us to take risks, she teaches us to be brave and face our problems and not to run away from them. She also teaches us not to give up our hopes and dreams but to take action to see them came true.


Firstly, Parvana teaches us to take risks in order to solve our problems. Parvana, as a girl, was not allowed to go out in Afghanistan. However, she overcame her fears of being caught by Taliban soldiers and changed her identity into a boy to be able to go out to earn money and get all the needs, for a better life of her family. After talking about the plan of Parvana to become a boy, Parvana said, “All right, I’ll do it.”(Ellis 68). This showed that Parvana was willing to take risks. It was really dangerous going out disguised as a boy. There was always a possibility of people finding she was a fake. Nevertheless, she overcame her fear and took this big risk for her family. Parvana also wanted to buy trays to sell stuff around the market. She was told that digging up bones could make a lot of money. Though that sounded like a really horrible, disrespectful job, Parvana went there at last to make money to buy trays and did what she wanted. Although it was tough, she earned enough money to buy a tray and succeeded at last. The book said, “Getting left behind did not sound so terrible to Parvana but she obediently fell in behind Shauzia as they ran to catch up with group.” (106). It says that Parvana did not really care about being left behind, but she still went to dig up bones. This shows that there was not other factors that made her go, but she went to dig up bones because she thought that risk might be worth it. She was a risk-taker, we can see Parvana was a risk-taker, and it always turned out good for her, she succeeded and reached her target. We should be a risk-taker like how we learnt from Parvana because it can turn out good.


Moreover, Parvana teaches us we should never give up our hopes and dreams but take action to see them come true. Half a year after her father was arrested, she was called to leave Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, for her elder sister's wedding. She strongly refused because she believed that her father would come back. When she was told she had to go, she exclaimed "We can't leave Kabul! What about Father? What will happen if he gets out of prison and we're not here? He won't know where to look for us!” (138-139). She believed her father would come home. She waited and she refused to leave because her hope that her father was going to come back home. This showed that she was keen that her hope would come true. This proves Parvana never gives up hope. Another time, Parvana brought home a girl who told Parvana Mazar- the place where the rest of Parvana’s family were going- was under the Taliban’s control- it was not before- and the Taliban were killing everyone they saw. Some days afterwards she brought the girl home, when Parvana's father finally came back, Parvana was very excited. She did not worry anymore, she was filled with hope and was looking forward to reuniting her family. Parvana said "I feel like I'm working for something now. I'm working to get my family back” (159-160). Parvana was working for her family, she was working to get her family back. What she hoped after knowing that the rest of her family was in danger, was to have her family back, to help their family, to save them, to reunite them. This shows she was working for it. This shows that she was taking action for her hope and never stopped and never gave up. So remember, Parvana teaches us we should never give up our hopes and dreams but take action for them.


Last but not least, Parvana teaches us to be brave and face our problems and not to run away from them. Once, her family had a plan to turn her into a boy so she could go out and earn money and get the needs home. Parvana could refuse and stay at home all day long expecting the rest of her family to do the job, but she faced the problem. She achieved this challenge and went with that plan. The story said, “They could hold her down and cut off her hair, but for anything more, they needed her cooperation. In the end, it really was her decision" "All right, I'll do it." (68). After hesitating for a while. She said she would go along with the plan. She agreed to accept the challenge herself instead of being forced. This is a really good example of facing a problem and accepting a challenge. There’s another example of Parvana facing her problems bravely. After the first day of digging up bones, her mother asked her where she was. Parvana said, “I was digging up graves.” (116). She told the truth, she faced the problem that she did something bad. She did not hide from it and tell a lie. This is a good example of facing a problem, bravely, instead of hiding and telling lies. Afterwards, her mother got mad and scolded her angrily. Parvana could be ashamed and never dig up bones and stop talking about it again. However, she really wanted to buy a tray and she knew that the family couldn’t make enough money for a good living. She shouted back and fought for herself. "I don't want to quit yet. I want to buy trays, and things to sell from the trays. I can follow the crowd the way, instead of waiting for crowd to come to me. I can make more money” (118). This was how she shouted back at Mother and stood up for herself, and for her family. At last, Parvana got what she wanted. Therefore, this is a good example to face a problem the way you believe it’s right, too. So, be brave and face the problem the way you think is correct. Learn this from Parvana.


Parvana teaches us to take risks. She teaches us to face our problems and not to away from them. She teaches us to never give up our hopes and dreams. These things that Parvana teaches us are very important as they are some basics of our life principles. What we learnt from Parvana can affect our attitudes and even our lives. Therefore, what we learnt from Parvana is enormously important. Therefore, always keep in mind of what parvana teaches us!

How does culture shape our identity

How does culture shape our identity?

In this unit, we're learning "Culture and Identity". So how does culture shape our identity?

First, we try to fit in to the group of people around us, following their cultures. Then, our minds will naturally and eventually think like the culture. Culture also influences our behaviour; It changes our values and belief, and so does our interest and goals changes; It impact how we see the world, how it is right or wrong, what is good or not; It also becomes our traditions, customs- impact our food, holidays... Hence, culture makes us who and what we are- our identity.

• We try to fit in with the people around us. For example, teenagers try to follow the trend and act cool, so won't get busted.
• Influences our behaviour. For example, buddhist is always kind to all living things.
• Values and beliefs. For example, Hong Kong people value education. For example, Catholics value love and believe they'll live happily forever in the heaven if they're good person, something like that.
• Traditions/ customs/ food/ holidays. For example, places with Chinese culture have Chinese New Year. People in Thailand eat spicy food...
• Interests/ goals. For example, Indians are told to be business men. A family's culture may be to be a sport player, or a musician.
• It impacts how we see the world and our ideas of right and wrong. For example, in life, being late is also seen in a lot of different ways- being rude and lazy, being normal, being polite...

French Reflection Sem 1

How strong do you feel as a communicator at the point in the academic year?

Discuss all 4 criterion (oral, listening, reading, writing)

Oral:

I don't feel too confident for oral, it is because I understand French by now, but I really can't be sure about what to say and hesitate quite a lot. I think this is because I take time to think to make sure what I say is correct, like not say any words I can think of but speaking isn't a good time to stop and think. Hence, I am not too confident in oral, unless I have something to read out, I am quite confident in pronouncing words and reading clearly. I should speak more and more and more in class and also read home wrks out loud or talk French to myself a home.

Listening:

I am very unsure with listening. I think I my listen is that good unless something is speaking word by word in French slowly. It is because that I am still not that thorough with French yet, then if I listen to French people saying normal-speed French, I won't understand though I may be able to pick up a few words. As they connect all the words and all I can hear is a bunch of jammed-up words, and that makes me even not able to hear what I learnt, because they are all jammed up to me. Well, I think all I can do is speak more and listen to myself. Listen very carefully in class and ask teacher new words that I don't get, and listen to recordings online with words to read in front (which is what I found).

Reading:

I am fairly good with reading passages or stories in my French level, which is the class level or maybe a little little bit lower. I understand words and I can pick up words I know, I usually know about 65%-70% and understand. Except the only thing is that I need to know more vocabulary- People don't get some new vocabularies as they haven't learn it yet, same with me, but I may know a little less than them as I just started French. However, I am learning fast and efficient with new vocabularies taught by reviewing, and also picking up new words sometimes. Thus, I am confident in reading and can get a lot better real quick. I should pick up words from homework learn new words when I look them up.

Writing:

I think I am okay with writing. I can take time for writing, and I usually check my grammars or spellings if I know. But there is a limit for me, because sometimes I don't know a word I want to write even if I already know quite many words; because I don't know some prepositions sometimes; because there are verbs like "have huger" that I don't know; because I can't manage to remember all the meanings, and gender, and conjugation, and spellings… of the verbs. I think I need to spend a lot and a lot and a lot of time in review those, and going over old things constantly, and also, asking for new words I don't know how to say. I should also take some words from when I read.

Science Lab Report- Heat Conduction Experiment

Question:

Which metal conducts heat fastest to melt wax?

Hypothesis:

If a wax on the copper melts the fastest, then it means copper is the best conductor. It is because better conductors transfer heat faster, and heat makes wax melt; Copper is the best conductor because it has a high density and copper particles are close apart so it’s easier to pass the heat.

Material:

HCA, lighter, wax, candle

Variables:

Independent variable: Type of metal

Dependant variable: Time to melt wax

Constants: Amount of wax, Type of wax, Location of heat, Angles and Location of “Heat Conduction Apparatus”, size of HCA

Procedure:

1. Light the candle in order to melt the wax, put a drop in each hole.
2. Wait for the wax to dry and peel/take out extra parts.
3. Light a candle and put the HCA with the wax above the fire.
4. Observe with eyes and use a thin stick to nudge the wax to see which one melts first.
5. Record the results.

Results:

Type of metal (Independent Variable)	Time to melt wax (seconds) (dependant variable)
Aluminum	2:22
Brass	3:05
Steel	5:03
Nickel plated steel	Over 17 mins and still not melting
Copper	1:35

Conclusion:

The best conductor here is copper, and then it’s aluminum, and then it is brass, and then it is steel, and then it is nickel plated steel. It is because copper and aluminium It is because steel is a mixture of different metals, so there are not that close and combined to each other, and nickel plated steel is two different materials so they are separated to each other so they cannot pass the heat together. In order to test if the order is correct, we put ice on the materials, but we only have brass, steel, and  aluminium. And the ice on the aluminium melted first, and then the one on the brass melted, and then the one on the steel melted. This is because the H2O particles and taking heat from the different materials, and if the materials dense and the particles are closer apart, the energy loses faster. Hence, this proves the order is correct.

Evaluation:

Although this experiment is already accurate enough for us to test these materials if they are good conductors, there is still places where it can be improved. The most important improvement will be: we are holding the HCA so it would be more controlled if we put the HCE on a “holder” thing to hold it still and balance.

We doing the experiment

Art Reflection- Tree Of Life

Tree of life symbolises different things in different cultures, but most of the culture has one tree of life, and we are asked to draw a tree of life in art class.

When I started, I was didn't know what kind of tree of life or what details or styles I should do. At first I want to have the tree trunk twisting at first.


Then I found one photo of a tree of life on the internet (the first picture below) which was a beautiful piece of art and a great picture for me to follow. I thought I could use this idea. Like, with circle outside and the leaves coming down a bit around. Afterwards, I found this picture on the internet and I thought the leaves looked really nice, so I took that idea too.
     

 And I drew this (the second picture on the right) which is mirrored). As you see, there is that sharp thing coming out of the tree trunk. My art teacher said that doesn't look that good, which I agreed. He/she also said that the tree trunk was too fat, which I totally agreed, too. And I tried to have the roots like the first photo, the one in the circle, but it was kind of difficult to draw, so he roots don't look so good and they are too neat. Well, at that time, that's the feedback I get to draw a better one in a big paper. Here comes the good drawing!



Here, you see the final, better drawing, on the left. It is still mirrored and the photo is lighter in the colour and may not look as good. But I have to admit, the drawing is actually better that what I expected. The ideas are same with the draft. But I came up with an idea called the "heart leaf". I came up with the idea because I would like some heart things but they kind of look girly, and this is about plants. I wanted flowers as decoration and I made it the same style with the leaves. I made the whole tree including the stems flow and look smooth. I also made them look random and messy but with some rhythm. And then I coloured it with pencil. and the idea of inverting the colour (above ground and below ground) and I thought it would look nice and creative and it would really really give out the contrast.





Here I will talk about what's good about my drawing (the drawing looks better than the photo, because I honestly can't think of something bad as it turned out better than what I thought it would be. Except that circular flowers may be drawn not so equal and the gaps between each line of the circular flower may not be equal, others were how I wanted it to be or even better.
The best thing I like about my drawing is that the lines flow very well- The lines are not just not shaky, but they flow, like, there aren't angles. The second thing is that the lines are dark enough and there is contrast, I liked my idea to inverse the colour (above and under ground) very much. Then what I also liked is that the drawing is balanced and it has a rhythm. Then I like the decorations around the circle, hearts leaves actually. And the circular drawing with the heart leaves pointing one direction shows motion actually, which is the leaves are moving around the circle, and it means everything is a cycle. I liked my drawing, and I hope you do, too!

Math Unit #3 - Algebra Equations

This unit taught me how to solve different equations with different things in it, and finally, all in one equation, it also taught me inequations which was something I didn't know. It helped me practise solving algebraic equations. By now, after this unit, I feel like I can do an algebraic equation very very quickly. As I do more and more of them, I realise that I finally understand and became familiar with something I was a bit uncleared about before. This unit is useful, I learnt quite a few things from it, and it is a good practice and it allowed me to gain more understanding of algebra. In this unit, we learnt:

1. Inverse operations
2. Solving equations
3. Solving equations with pronumerals on both sides
4. Solving equations with grouping symbol
5. Formulae
6. Solving problems using equations
7. Graphing inequations
8. Solving inequations

• We learnt inverse operations in order to have a better understanding in solving equations.

• We learnt how to solve an equation using inverse operations.

• We learnt how to solve an equation with pronumerals on both sides.

• We learnt how to solve an equation with grouping symbols.

• We learnt how to substitute a numeral to a pronumeral to solve an equation.

• We learnt how to solve problems using equations.

• We learnt the four steps to do so solve problems using equations.

• We learnt how to form an equation and solve it by looking at a shape with different... like the below.

 

• We learnt what are inequations and how to graph them.

• We learnt how to solve an inequation.