Monday, January 24, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Ordered Stepper Motors for Prusa Mendel SAE build.
I've been pretty busy recently with trying to gather all of the parts for my Imperial Prusa Build. I went with this model partly because of the low cost and partly because the word "Imperial" makes me think of Darth Vadar...
Anyway I ordered four of these steppers for 10 dollars apiece. As well as one of these bad boys for 20 dollars. I plan to use that last one on the extruder for precise control and feedback of the extrusion process. I've finished printing all of the plastic parts (minus the brushings). They were printed on my UP. One thing I like about having to print at 270C on the UP is that it means that parts you make for other printers are that much more robust, temperature wise. Printing with abs on a Mendel or Makerbot takes place at around 220C So UP printed part have about 30 degrees more before they begin to get soft. This makes the UP a good choice for printing extruder parts. At about the third plate of the print I switched to printing on perfboard. That completely removed any warping issues I had. Now all of my parts are perfect. I love it so much that I plan on not even having a heated build surface on the mendel and just use a large perfboard. I'll have to wait to buy the electronics and hotend for a bit (I do have a contest to fund after all ;-) ) but I'll be finishing it in pretty soon.
Anyway I ordered four of these steppers for 10 dollars apiece. As well as one of these bad boys for 20 dollars. I plan to use that last one on the extruder for precise control and feedback of the extrusion process. I've finished printing all of the plastic parts (minus the brushings). They were printed on my UP. One thing I like about having to print at 270C on the UP is that it means that parts you make for other printers are that much more robust, temperature wise. Printing with abs on a Mendel or Makerbot takes place at around 220C So UP printed part have about 30 degrees more before they begin to get soft. This makes the UP a good choice for printing extruder parts. At about the third plate of the print I switched to printing on perfboard. That completely removed any warping issues I had. Now all of my parts are perfect. I love it so much that I plan on not even having a heated build surface on the mendel and just use a large perfboard. I'll have to wait to buy the electronics and hotend for a bit (I do have a contest to fund after all ;-) ) but I'll be finishing it in pretty soon.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Celestial Bodies, an experiment in Parametric game design.
I love Thingiverse. I love being able to download stuff and then actually make something from a downloaded file. I especially love the parametric designs that people come up with. Just by changing a few number around you can end up with something that is drastically different from what you started with. Maybe even different from what the designer thought of. It was this emergent design property that got me thinking, "What if I applied the principal idea behind parametric objects to game design?" Game Developers are always looking for ways to create emergent behavior in their games. Why not? Creating emergent behaviors in a game lends to the verisimilitude of the game word, it adds depth to play mechanics, and allows the player to become more engaged in a game. All of this while not requiring that lazy developer to lift a finger. In fact separation from the developer is what makes emergent game behaviors... emergent. Games like Little Big Planet, Mod Nation Racers, Minecraft, and Line Rider all thrive on the idea of emergent behavior as a cornerstone of their game design. This is something that we commonly see in videogames especially online games, which leads me to Celestial Bodies. One of my goals with Celestial Bodies was to leverage the internet connectivity of the 3D printing process, to create an emergent behavior ecosystem similar to the ecosystem that games like Little Big Planet and Minecraft enjoy. By using the awesome power of thingiverse I am able to allow people to create their own game assets. By creating their own game assets people create new ways to play, keep themselves involved in the game, and offer free advertising when they show people their creations. But most important of all it keeps the game fresh and fun.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Prediction Time!
I have been thinking about this and I think I may be onto something here. I think the iPad 2 will have 3d capabilities. Either via glasses or without. Why would I think such a thing? Allow me to bring out my friend "The Bullet"
- Apple is already rumored to be working on a 3d iPod.
- The rumored resolution on the new iPad is 2 times that of the original iPad.
- There is no content for such a high resolution.
- 3DS
Monday, January 17, 2011
Rock Band instruments on the iPad
Video of how to connect your Rock Band 3 Pro instruments to the iPad using Korg i-MS. If you like this flattr it. Just click the button below.
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