If you build it… an introduction
Congratulations! You have found this text, which also means there is a good chance you have also found – or will soon find – a reason to make something. To us, the authors of this not-so-textbook, having a reason to make something is a very exciting thing; making is a form of knowing, a way to add to and change the world. And, having a reason to make something often means having an excuse to learn new tools, techniques, processes for making.
People have been making for millennia. Some folks, like designers, engineers, craftspeople, make professionally; professionals have loads of expensive professional tools, techniques, processes, and many pros have gone to school for years and years to be able to make what they make. Other folks, like you or maybe even your parents, make unprofessionally – that is to say no one “pays” them for what they make, whether or not their making has value; they might have hobbyist tools, hand-me-down techniques, and maybe they took a class with some friends at some point to be able to make what they make. [idea – paper – expert – big machine]
Today, and for much of the last three decades, making has been having a hayday of sorts, with “maker culture” and “makerspaces” growing in popularity, often around recently popularized rapid-prototyping tools, “hacker” techniques, and networked processes. 3D printing, laser-cutting, and computer-numeric controlled (CNC) routing have opened possibilities for folks to make things out of plastics, woods, and metals, things that would have required much more expensive tools and far more experience (i.e. skill) to produce 20 years ago. However, to be able to “talk” to these machines and tell them what to do, would-be makers not only need ideas, but also ways to make their ideas 3D, which often means building some sort of 3D model.
While there are (and will likely continue to be) folks who elect to go through years of training to use the best tools and get paid to make things, there are (and will likely continue to be) folks who need to know just enough about making things to, well, make things when they want. This project aims to fill the gap between the “maker” world and the professional design & engineering world by building an open-access library of 21st-century content for folks to learn just enough to start building in 3D. Moreover, as our not-so-textbook was co-designed from the ground up for creative folks, makers and hobbyists – as opposed to professional engineers-in-training – its content and organization are, well, different: instead of teaching computer mouse clicks and tool menus for specific 3D software, our content teaches 3D modeling concepts common across software platforms; instead of presenting a single, correct way to build a 3D model, we present multiple 3D modeling strategies; instead of positioning 3D modeling as a one-way process to take a set idea into mass-production, we position 3D modeling as a creative tool for exploring and refining concepts.
A feature of our not-so-textbook of which our expanding list of co-authors is most proud is that 3D Media for Creatives is living – we plan to expand its original video content and update “The List,” a curated collection of the best complimentary 3D modeling content available online, annually. In fact, we’ve baked updates into the industrial design curriculum at The Ohio State University.
