3d

Tinkercad Contest and more…

/ Sarah Collins / 2 Comments

To support all the tinkers that hosted contests during this holiday season and Tinkercad’s TinkerTogether, I created the following designs:

TinkerTogether Design Challenge #25: Winter

Snowcones for Sell

Snow Cones for Sell: In this design we have two snowman selling snow cones to a few reindeer. If you look closely at the ground, it appears that Santa Sled has been through. The hats, the reindeer and the candy cane are available in Tinkercad’s Shape Menu.

Take a close look at the trees, what do you see?

Create an Ugly Christmas Sweater: I used the template provided.

Contest: Design an Ornament – I could have created a typical ball ornament, but I wanted something that looked fragile. Do you see the snowflake inside?

Contest: Create a Gingerbread House – I created a Gingerbread Fairy House. The roof of the house is a candy strawberry, and the path is lined with candy canes and gum drops.

Contest: Create a Log Cabin using the TinkerLogs created by HLModTech – I created a TinkerLog Church. The building and most of the items, including the trees, were created using the TinkerLogs that HLModTech created. I kept the width and height of the TinkerLogs, and only change the length.

TinkerTogether Design Challenge #26 – Party: For this challenge, I created a Bouncy Castle and Balloon Animals. Can there be a party without these items?

Contest: Create a Christmas Plushie – my contest entry was me. For years, I had a certain way of creating a stick figure of me. I decided for this contest I would create a Plushie of Me. Notice the Santa Hat, it came out looking pretty awesome.

You can see all these items in 3D view from my profile or clicking the links above: SarahCath

Railroad Town – Mayor’s House

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After I completed the Town Hall in Tinkercad, I knew I wanted a house for the Town’s Mayor. For months, I thought about what I wanted in the house. For example, I wanted a porch or balcony for the mayor to stand on the talk with the citizens of the town.

My inspirations come from looking at old buildings. All the pictures I saw for “Mayor House” was big opulent mansions that just did not fit my town. It wasn’t until I travel to Aurora, NE and visited their museum, that I found the style of the house I wanted for the town. Behind the museum was the Bate’s Houses. Its architecture and age was exactly what I wanted in my design. It was painted blue, but I wanted something special. I decided to color house pink with brown roofing to make it different from all other buildings in my town.

I placed the wooden path in front of the house, because the mayor’s house is located on Main Street in my Railroad Town. I placed a picket fence around the yard. I wanted the fence curved to add some character to the design.

The mayor’s house needed a flower garden. I create one rose and stem; then to create the bush I duplicated it, changed the angle, rotation and position.

One detail that everyone will probably overlook is the gate. On the gate it has a latch and hinges that would actually function if they were 3D printer

You can view this design in 3D on Tinkercad at this link: Mayor’s House

Railroad Town – Town Hall

/ Sarah Collins / 2 Comments

Using Tinkercad I have designs buildings to create a Railroad Town. It started in 2016 when I designed a Train Engine and related train cars. They were all based off the early train designs, when trains ran on coal and steam. Two of the building I designed for my town are, a Saloon and a Sheriff Office (a.k.a. a jail). If anyone was going to spend any time in the jail, and if the town kept growing, they would a Town Hall to provide administration.

The Town Hall often had a clock tower and consisted of numerous details. I incorporated these details by adding large columns and lots of windows.

The clock tower I frame in gold and set the time to after the start of the workday. I duplicated the clock and placed it on all four sides.

Clock Tower

Town Halls, in the Railroad Town days, had a bell to signal the town. The building appears to be only one story, and if I put the bell in a tower, it would look out of proportion. Therefore, I placed the bell on the stone platform.

Town Hall Bell

All of the buildings for the Railroad Town are based on the same scale. The doors and windows are approximately the same height. You can see and copy the 3D version at the Town Hall at this link: Town Hall. Sometimes, you learn more about how something is designed by deconstructing it.

Creating and Using Shapes in Tinkercad

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The way I design in Tinkercad changed on July 20, 2022, when I learned that I could create shapes from my 3D Designs. For a lot of my designs such as the Cow Depot, Saloon, Mill, Barber Shop, Houmas House… anytime I wanted to reuse a shape I would save it out as an STL file and import a copy back into the design. Now, if the design is not to complicated, I can save it as a shape in Tinkercad and use it over, and over, and over again.

Since I am so excited about this feature, I wrote an instructable on Creating and Using Shapes in Tinkercad.

Here are some of the new shapes I have created:

The Chicken: This design answers the question of which came first, the Chicken or the Egg. The answer is the egg. Because only egg shapes were used to create the chicken, except when I used the cubic hole to cut the egg in half.

The Sheep: To create the sheep, first I made a fluff ball and saved it out as a shape and used the fluff ball to create the sheep. I also used the fluff ball to make a tail from my bunny.

The Mouse: There is nothing really special about the mouse, except a little cuteness.

I have created a Youtube video on Creating a Shape in Tinkercad.

As I was typing this, I realized some of my buildings are not covered in the blog. So, more posts about Tinkercad are coming.

Creating an Umbrella using Tinkercad

/ Sarah Collins / 2 Comments

I am currently working on two projects in Tinkercad. One of the projects is huge and needs lots of parts. During the planning for this big project, I decided to create an umbrella. Not only did I create the umbrella, I also wrote instructions on how create an umbrella in Tinkercad. The instructions are available at on Instructables: Creating a Colorful Umbrella

The process is simple:

Add a Cone Shape
Duplicate the Shape
Change the Colors
Create a Hole
Create a Handle
Align the shapes
Add a little flare. You have an umbrella.

Okay, maybe it is simple for me. The video on how I created the umbrella is available on my YouTube channel.

Railroad Town – Barber Shop and Millery

/ Sarah Collins / 2 Comments

In 2015, I received a 3D Printer for Christmas. Instead of printing designs that other people created, I wanted to create my own items. I found Tinkercad. It has lessons that taught me the basics of using Tinkercad. The first building I created was a Church. If you look inside the building, you can see the pews, podium, altar, flowers, and on back of the pews you can see hymn books and pencils.

After I created my Two-Story House, the next major design I did was of a Train Engine. Afterwards, I designed a coal car, caboose, passenger car, and livestock car. I had a complete train that was designed to Gn15 Model Train scale. The livestock car design gave birth to one of my most copied designs, the Cow. Currently, the 3D printed train and a bunch of cows are sitting on a shelf.

In 2020, I started working on buildings for a town that my train could make a stop. The first build was the Train Station followed by eight other buildings. The ninth building I created for my Railroad Town was the Barber Shop. There are a lot of pictures in the post because when you design the inside of building, it takes a lot of work to design furniture and decorated the inside.

First was the Barber Shop. Since I had people coming into my town, they would need a place to get their hair trimmed. Traditionally, the Barber Pole had three colors: Red, Blue, and White. I wanted my shop to stand out, so made the front of the building to match the Barber’s Pole. A traditional Barber Shop is not very large, so I added benches on the outside for customers to wait.

Barber Shops needs a chair. I designed an old-fashioned Barber Chair. I created combs and bottles to place on the counter. Put mirrors on the walls. Designed a coat rack and benches for customer, and place signs on the back wall, including one that had prices.

I provided the Barber a room in the back with a wardrobe and stove to keep warm.

I had these nice-looking barber chair, what else could this chair be use for besides cutting hair? I got it, the town dentist. Someone will have a tooth ache one day. I placed the Town Dentist upstairs with a boarding room above the Barber Shop. A bookcase was added to the Dentist’s Quarters, because he would need reference materials.

A bench and a door were added to the back of the building so the residences could enjoy the evening after a long day’s work.

I never created a two-building design for my Railroad Town. I decided that a Millinery (Hat Shop) would go well with my Barber Shop. People without air conditioning would need a hat to keep the sun off of their heads. I designed the hats, hat rack, rocking chair, and fabric bundles for the Millinery. The flower garden was added to the back of the Millinery to give Lily a nice place to relax. Look at the sign, Lily has a sense of humor.

Lily’s Sign

If you would like to see the 3D Design, you can view it on Tinkercad: Railroad Town Barber Shop

Creating a Christmas Tree with Tinkercad

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In 2020, I haven’t painted much, nor have I drawn much. Most of my time being creative was spent in Tinkercad. I used Tinkercad to create a replicate of the Houmas House. I have created many building for my Railroad Town. Other designers are asking “How?” or “Teach me!” Since it is Christmas Time, I decided to provide instructions on how I created a Christmas Tree using Tinkercad. The instructions on instructable: https://www.instructables.com/Designing-a-Christmas-Tree-With-Tinkercad/. Or you can watch the video:

Yes, I also created an angel to go on top of the tree.

You need to watch to video to see how I created the Angel.

Dog House

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On October 15, 2020, I created a Restaurant in Tinkercad for my Railroad Town. A few days later, I made the design Public and Tinkercad designated the design as a “Favorite” As of November 23, 2020, the Restaurant has 420 likes, 141 comments, and 1000s of people copied it. Below are images of the Restaurant. You can view the Restaurant in Tinkercad at this link: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/lP7Wk4g6jI4

Tinkers from around the world has asked: “How did you make it?”, “How did you get the wood texture?”, “How …?”. Instead of recreating the Restaurant to answer their questions, I made a video when I created a Dog House in Tinkercad. It shows the basic techniques I use when creating the Restaurant.

  • Align Objects
  • Group Objects
  • Creating Holes
  • CTRL +D keys to Duplicate Objects
  • Arrow Keys to Nudge Objects
  • Changing Objects Size and Color
  • Placing the Workplane on a Object
  • Rotating Objects
  • Mirroring Objects
  • D key to place object on Workplane

The video is available on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/2zywVTU4b2c

The design can be viewed on Tinkercad using this link: https://www.tinkercad.com/things/3KxOkw3RJ0H. Below are a few pictures of the Dog House. I know, I know, it needs a dog. That would be another video.

The Elven Builders

/ Sarah Collins / 1 Comment

2020 has been a year of basically being stuck at home. Individuals have found new, or old ways, to entertain themselves from cooking to gardening to home repair. However, their are a few of us that have spend countless hours creating 3D masterpieces in Tinkercad.

I have personally have created eight buildings, one wagon, a horse, a piano and many more items to go in my Railroad Town. Many others have created amazing design. Michael, Josiah, Nightfuzzbal, and Dhruw are working as a team to recreate the Middle-Earth Lord of the Rings designs. Their designs are amazing. Visit their website Edhellen Sintano – The Elven Builders for links to their 3D designs. Below are just a few pictures of their designs:

Rivendell, a castle from the Hobbit – By Josiah Miller
Minas Tirith castle in Gondor – By Josiah Miller
Warship – By Josiah Miller
helms deep – the hornburg of Rohan – By Josiah Miller
Anduril – Flame of the West – By Michael Ironstone
Ereborian Windlance – By Michael Ironstone
Helm’s Deep – The Hornburg – By Michael Ironstone
Osgiliath 11 – by Michael Ironstone
Rivendell, the house of Elrond – By Nightfuzzball
catapult ballista – By Nightfuzzball
Mc Donald’s French Fries – by Dhruv Sreenivas
Ray gun – by Dhruv Sreenivas

When checking out their work, make sure you check out the details they put into their designs. They have a lot of amazing work. Check out Josiah’s White House or Michael’s Eagle.

To see my work, well you are just going to have to wait for another blog post, or visit Tinkercad.com and search for SarahCath.