How to create a spinning logo that's
on fire in Autodesk Maya

I created this spinning logo yesterday using Autodesk Maya. I use their :

• Text
• Rotation
• And dynamics – gravity - Active objects
• And fire

My seventh-grade students will be working on spinning logos this next week to finish up our 10 weeks of school.  They have done incredible work in their 3D models and also 3D animations, and have shown that students in middle school can be learning and mastering high-end computer packages.  

They are well on their way preparing themselves for the high thing exciting jobs in 3-D animation and modeling in soon video game programming and also computer science.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXThag16rqmYchqU1FauOUA

My classes are now starting to program in C# using Unity video game engine 

This last week we wrote our first two lines of code using the Unity video game engine to make a cube rotate.  I hope to really expand this over the rest of the semester, and through the full next semester in 2015.

By having them build a 3-D model in Maya, and then bring it into Unity 3D program and then program the different features you want to apply to the model will be excellent way to teach my students computer programming.

Autodesk will now be providing schools and colleges free access to their incredible software! And as you read the article you will see my school and I got a great plug in their press release 

Autodesk Transforms Education Business Model to Help Advance 21st Century Skills in the United States and Canada

3D Design Software Leader Delivers on Commitment to Prepare an Industry-ready Workforce by Removing Barriers to Software Access

Category:

Autodesk Consumer Group and Education

Wednesday, May 7, 2014 9:00 am EDT

Dateline:

SAN FRANCISCO

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Public Company Information:

NASDAQ:

ADSK

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ:ADSK), a leader in 3D design, engineering, and entertainment software, today announced that it will offer schools in the United States and Canada free access to its professional 3D design software and creativity applications.

This represents the next step in the continued transformation of Autodesk’s education business model in order to fulfill its mission of helping students and educators imagine, design and create a better world. Autodesk’s pledge is valued at over $460 million, and empowers educators at more than 35,000 middle schools, high schools, and higher education institutions in the United States and Canada.

“Advances in accessible 3D design and fabrication technology are disrupting design, engineering and entertainment professions as we know them. The rise in mobile and cloud technology also means that it is possible to design anywhere, at any time. Nearly anyone with an idea can turn concepts into reality overnight, and we believe that today’s students will shape tomorrow’s industries,” said Tom Joseph, senior director of education, Autodesk.

“This is the second pledge we have made in North America in less than six months, and we are not stopping here. There is still work that lies ahead of us as we join forces with governments, institutions, and partners to prepare an industry-ready workforce around the world by removing the barriers to software access,” Joseph added.

Autodesk’s 3D design software, creativity applications, and learning resources are being used across the education continuum to advance learning outcomes, including:

• Building proficiency with young learners from middle schools and up to support science, technology, engineering, digital arts, or mathematics (STEAM) related subjects to solve real world challenges.
• Imparting industry-relevant knowledge and 3D design skills to give students a competitive edge to achieve their personal goals today, and career success in the future.
• Helping educators to inspire creativity and innovation through a project-based curriculum and a multidisciplinary approach to education; facilitating collaboration and hands-on problem-solving skills that reflect today’s business realities.

“At RIT, we are grooming our students for successful careers in industrial design, and teaching them to leverage advanced technologies to address global design challenges is integral. Having free access to advanced, professional design tools like Autodesk Fusion 360™ has empowered our students and taught them how to navigate changes in a fast paced industry. The cloud component of the product also teaches them how to collaborate with one another and communicate their ideas with other disciplines, which are critical skills that they will need when they graduate,” said Alex Lobos, assistant professor of Industrial Design, Rochester Institute of Technology.

In February, Autodesk pledged support for President Obama’s ConnectEd initiative by expanding its Design the Future program in the U.S. to advance STEAM education and support the demand for related careers. Students and educators have also had free access to individual licenses of Autodesk software via the Autodesk Education Community since 2006.

“We have seen firsthand how students have become more engaged in core subjects like math and science when they can experiment, model and animate in 3D with Autodesk^® 123D^® Design and Autodesk^® Maya^®. The new focus of the national Common Core and Next Generation Science Standards are based on getting our students both college and career ready. By teaching them skills like 3D modeling and 3D animation using professional Autodesk products, we are giving both students and educators a real advantage," said Kent Ganevsky, an educator at Theodore Roosevelt Middle School and Design the Future program adopter.

To request free access to Autodesk software for schools, please visit www.autodesk.com/academic.

About Autodesk

Autodesk helps people imagine, design and create a better world. Everyone—from design professionals, engineers and architects to digital artists, students and hobbyists—uses Autodesk software to unlock their creativity and solve important challenges. For more information visit autodesk.com or follow @autodesk.

Autodesk, Fusion 360, 123D, and Maya are registered trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or affiliates in the USA and/or other countries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product and services offerings, and specifications and pricing at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

© 2014 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

Free Autodesk software and/or cloud-based services may only be used for educational purposes and are subject to acceptance of and compliance with the terms and conditions of the software license agreement or terms of service. Details and restrictions available at http://usa.autodesk.com/legal-notices-trademarks.

Contact:

Autodesk, Inc.
Noah Cole, +1 415-580-3535
noah.cole@autodesk.com
Rebecca Wong, +65 9841 9766
rebecca.wong@autodesk.com

- See more at: http://news.autodesk.com/press-release/autodesk-consumer-group-and-education/autodesk-transforms-education-business-model-hel#sthash.oR1IRr83.dpuf

Teaching Autodesk Maya in the classroom

I was one of the first Autodesk 3D Studio Max dealers in the world about 20 years ago.  There were a group of three of us who either flu or drove up to Sausalito California to go through training and becoming authorized dealer.

It was a pivotal part of my life for it put me in the direction into computer graphics and digital editing.   I started my teaching career about 10 years ago. And for the last for five years I've been trying to bring this product's into my classroom and into my school. 

I started my own digital arts – computer science club this year. We have been working with Autodesk one 123-D design, Maya, and now Fusion 360,  and it looks like I will not be teaching my first Computer graphics - Digital arts class starting in September, 

We now have our Maker bot replicator to printer going and we have printed over 40 students designs in our classroom.  

The key to teaching your students Autodesk Maya is to start an early age as possible for them to acquire the basics.  Do not get hung up on how hard the product looks or how hard the interface appears to be. Just like math we do not start students at calculus,  it takes them five years and five different subjects to get to calculus.

That is the same philosophy to teach Maya or any other high-end computer graphics software package. And I guarantee you since I have doing this for almost 30 years younger students will pick up this package much faster than any adults will.

The key to this, but any other task in life, is the take the first step and get started. The first few steps may be hard but it will get easier as you keep pushing forward

3D modeling and printing in my 

seventh grade class

We have got our new Makerbot 3D printer up and running like a champ.

My Students are now creating 3D models ausing Autodesk 123 design we are printing them each day.  We have tried a wide variety of shapes and patterns in our models and then printed them to see how they turn out

The picture is of model of the 3D vase  which could hold flowers or be used as a drinking cup.  It was created by A eighth grade student. 

We are going to start with Autodesk Inventor soon because I want my students to start  using mathematical calculations in the models they design.  This will start them to acquire the skills they need for career and 3D modeling and design.

That is my interpretation of the new focus on common core. The focus is on college and career ready. Teach my students specific skills they can then be applied to the workplace.  I have a Masters degree in business from USC and over 30 years in private industry experience I intend to apply that to my teaching to get my students ready for the career marketplace.

I have over 20 years experience selling 3D animation hardware and software. I'm going to apply that to my teaching for my new Digital Arts program. 

Next year I intend to hit the ground running with my new program. We are going to start with Autodesk 123Dapp, Inventor and then working our way up to Maya. We will be working on 3D animation, 3D modeling and then on to computer programming.

Using 3D Animation -3D modeling in the classroom with Autodesk 123 D Design and MakerBot printer

These are examples of what my students have done using other does one to 3D design.  They virtually taught themselves how to use this software package and the laptops we used only had two gigs of RAM and we're not really built for 3D applications. Plus often they had to wait for school systems network to allow them to access the images they had on the cloud.

Yet they were able to create some really incredible 3-D models. The thing about the younger generation is they are not intimidated or get frustrated by using computers to to create things. They have been using computers, cell phones etc. since a very young age and so they can easily adapt to any program there given.

We are now going to print these models on our makerbot 3D printer. This was an application we did not have we started using one to 3-D design at the start of the school year.  With this application hasn't created some incredible desire to learn how to use the 3-D modeling with any of the Autodesk software packages we are now using.

This will allow me to now incorporate higher and 3D packages such as Autodesk Maya into my classroom for the interest is already been generated by using the one to 3-D applications. I want to incorporate STEAM into all of my classes and also use common core applications to get my students college ready and job ready.

By mastering 3-D modeling and animation this will give my students a possible career path as they go through both high school and college. The job applications in business for these two subjects will be endless

3D Printer Used to Save a Baby's Life

This is just one example of the many uses for the new 3D printers. The applications for these 3D printers is endless. Anything that can be designed on the computer using the CAD or 3D modeling programs can now be printed on one of these printers at a fraction of the cost of traditional machine shop printers.

I know in my seventh grade classroom this coming week we will be using Autodesk software to start our modeling skills.  We have actually had success and printing our  3D models from autodesk 123Ddesign from the school year on our new Makerbot 3D printer.

We will continue to print those models for the next 2-3 weeks and then make a major effort to go into Maya and start to design and print 3D models.  

As you will read in the link to the article below these 3D printers can do amazing things to help a wide variety of occupations do their jobs that much better.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/03/17/289042381/doctors-use-3-d-printing-to-help-a-baby-breathe

Computer Designed 3D Printing of a 

Train Engine 

This is the 3D train that one of my 7th graders designed and I printed on my new 3D printer today! This printer is going to bring tons of Kids to my 3d modeing and animation class. It is going revolutionize the way we manufacture products,

This is the start of the printing process for the train

This is what the train looked like after about 1 hour and 1/2 hours

Finished train engine - 2 1/2 hours - 7th grader - look at the detail and design printed. We are going to start selling these in our class.

Makerbot 3D Printer 

Well we spent all day re-leveling the printer, trying different  plastics etc.  But once we set the plate up to a higher level we were then able to get the printer to work correctly

So next we are going to start to print 3D models that we will design using

123design

123make

3D Studio Max

Maya

And see what my students can do   They all now want to design and make different 3D models and everyone is super excited.

This 3D printer will motivate Middle School, Junior High School, and High School students to study 3D modeling,  engineering and math related subjects to be able to design and print 3D models

3D Printing with Makerbot Printer 

Well we printed some 3D Models this morning after setting up the printer yesterday.   It took us about 30 minutes to setup and to get the printing plate and nozzle calibrated.  Our first try we were to high with our nozzle. 

After getting it setup right we then printed shark using the white plastic plastic that it came with 

This is the printer printing the shark in full 3D depth, 

Then we tried the 3D printer to print a 3D comb. 

However the printer jammed 1/2 way through the printing.  They informed us sometime the plastic is not the right size.  Since they sent it to us we were wondering about that.  So tomorrow we will try the white or blue one too, 

I should be getting my new 3D printer tomorrow and hopefully set it up in the next few days and use Maya and 3D Studio Max to design and print some 3D models straight off of the computer.

This will revolutionize the way we design and create models for all forms of business.  No longer will we have to pay thousands of dollars to machine prototypes for we can now print them ourselves, 

http://store.makerbot.com/replicator