3D Printing with iPad (Design)

Hello. Im a reformed Twitter user of longstanding (I've just left the platform as I feel that it is no longer in the spirit of what it was, so probably fair to say moving away from).

I work at a 1:1 iPad School, which is Apple Distinguished Recognised in South Taranaki, New Zealand and I have a particular interest in 3D Printing, Design, Laser Cutting etc. and have been maintaining a blog about the students work using these machines for nearly ten years (!) now (3dprintschool.blogspot.com).

What I was wanting to ask is there some software that I should/could be using? I am using Tinkercad and have been designing all of our projects for some considerable time (years) - really like the AR feature of Tinkercad for instance - is there anything else anyone would recommend? We have multiple 3D Printers, Laser Cutter and other resources at school and I am currently teaching y3/4 class of juniors who are able to CAD design a range of projects but interested in getting feedback about other possibilities

Myles/Auroa School NZ (am on Twitter as @NZWaikato)

11 replies

March 22, 2024

We used to use the Morphi app with K - 8 students on iPads, but that is no longer available so I think Tinkercad is your best options. You may enjoy this idea creating 3D self portraits using Keynote to draw and make the shapes to convert to 3D. We used Morphi, but you could do the same using Tinkercad:

Selfie Portraits in 3D

https://sites.google.com/view/creativeapptitude/3d-printing

Your blog is great - loved seeing your student projects!



March 25, 2024

Thanks Karen - I haven't really thought about using that, yes was thinking about using Keynote to combine some of the AR/VR aspects of Tinkercad, I was thinking for students to create a design and then import it in I have Y3/4 students in New Zealand (thats eight and nine year olds) and they could do that. I was thinking something design ways, that could be created and then AR into place and the Keynote could be the description. Explanation etc. Thank you for the link and the comment, I really appreciate it.

May 01, 2024

Thanks Karen - again I really appreciate it! One of the things that we've been doing recently that our juniors have really enjoyed is crossing the 3D Prints with PicCollage. Piccollage has got a 'Magic Camera' option (which I think came out early this year) and then several different filters that you can apply to your designs, it really pops them out and gets you thinking about decorations and painting etc.  

This is the 'Festive' Free feature from Pic Collage and the magic camera option.

March 25, 2024

For laser cutting with younger students I've found Keynote great. I taught students how to export their designs on a Keynote slide into PNG which is then sent to the laser cutting software and cut.

For 3D design that can be sent to the 3D printer we have been using Shapr3d across both Primary and Secondary classes.

March 25, 2024

NPSedu

Thats GREAT I haven't thought about using Keynote to do the design in the first place as a PNG creation tool. Aw thats awesome - thank you so much.

Myles

April 01, 2024

We have been using Tinkercad for a few years, and I haven’t come across anything that I like better for the iPad.

And love your website, lots of really great things!

April 03, 2024

Thanks Brian - I wanted to start documenting my students projects so that we could show examples to other educators, originally it was 3D Printing but obviously started to branch in into Laser Cutting and a few other things as the technology has developed (the initially 3D Printing has really come a long way in terms of print times, quality etc).

I was asking about the different APPs and just wondering if I was missing something (as an older teacher I do get stuck in my ways!) and our students have used Tinkercad for a long time. I dont shrill in particular for products but I have found it to be really easy for students to use, not too bad on the iPad and very lucky my class in rural New Zealand is 1:1 iPad. We have tried the odd product

My students this year are Y3 and Y4 in New Zealand so 7 and 8 year olds, I wasn't sure last year about juniors doing CAD design for the first time but the bulk of this years designs are students who are working for the first time and they're really enjoying it, some of their designs are creative but they are also not bound too much by restrictions about designs which helps!

Thanks so much for your feedback it is really appreciated.

April 04, 2024

We've been using TinkerCAD for years now, and have not found anything better for 3D Printing on the iPad. We use it extensively to produce exam work with our Year 11, 12 and 13 students. I've posted some lighting projects from this years group. All projects have been printed with fully functioning lights. I shall definitely check out your blog👍

 

April 08, 2024

Damian

These designs look epic - I am pretty amazed by the quality of them, yes have been using Tinkercad for nearly ten years (I think it must be around then as I started posted examples of students work in 2015) and it was a case of wondering if anything was better for the iPad although as I have mentioned here really happy with it myself.

The lighting projects that you have posted look outstanding, I assume that your students as a result of their work are using Keynote to present about the projects and track their design etc?

I have really wanted to look at extending some of my creative students by looking at LED lights/strip lights for designs but have currently a class of Y3/4 students, most of whom are using Tinkercad and design for the first time so at a basic level its a lot simpler (I would also like to say as a New Zealand School we run February to December so only a quarter of our year is complete). I was a bit wary of teaching in our junior school, having always taught seniors because I didn't know if the design would be there but I couldn't have been more wrong and had a lot of creativity from the students in the last year and a bit!

Thanks for sharing your work and contributing to the discussion I really appreciate it. Not sure if you've linked your light projects elsewhere but would love to see some examples etc as I love seeing great ideas.

Myles


https://3dprintschool.blogspot.com/


May 01, 2024

Damian

I really loved seeing the depth etc that you went to with this. I had a look back t some of our senior school students who are 12 and 13 and their major projects, probably the most significant of them, which ironically has a small amount of 3D Printing but uses the school (industrial sized) laser cutter looks something like this:

Attachments

December 01, 2024

I've just completed a slideshow where I have put together ten years (!) of Tinkercad related 3D Printing Projects, all of which have come via Tinkercad, the app especially, we've also been using the 'Markup Function' on our ipads to help with design ideas, as per everyone can create. The link to the slideshow is here:

https://3dprintschool.blogspot.com/2024/12/christmas-decorations-2024-ten-years-of.html

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