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Creative Motion Control Week 4: Project 1 Review and Intro to CAD

Date: Tuesday, April 21, 2026

Topics​

Core Theme: Review and Reflection on Project 1

  • Instructions for getting prepped for CAD prototyping

Check in / Updates​

  • Reminder on Discord use- checking. This is the primary means of communication between students/ teams/ instructors. There are channels now for each team project. Please use them. Also reminder that updates on class will ONLY come via Discord.

Activity 1 -- Project 1 Review​

We'll start with 10 minutes for each team to set up their machine and outputs on a table.

We will spend 20 minutes reviewing each team project 1 (with the exception of Team Project who have a 1 week extension). We'll first have the team describe their process, challenges, and outcomes and demonstrate their machine. Then, we'll have an opportunity for other members of the class to try out the machine in practice. We'll follow this with questions and feedback from other members of the class.

Critique Dimensions:

  1. Specificity: Could the works produced with this tool be easily created with a standard plotter or other mass produced machine? Why or why not? Do the output works share some degree of stylistic cohesiveness?

  2. Variation What is the nature of the variation of the output? environmental? manual? machine generated? Have the authors seemingly reached the ceiling and walls of the tool with their example outputs or would other variations be feasible? What would be required to support them and how might this new functionality conflict with the specificity of the original tool?

  3. Liveness How much do live interventions shape the resulting outputs? Is the effect of the live intervention predictable? sculptable? Could someone master it?

Activity 2- Project 1 Group Reflection​

We'll spend 10-15 minutes as a group reflecting on the project 1 process thus far. We'll use the Green, Yellow, Red framework from your individual reflections to discuss as a group.

  • Green- Things that went well/ that you learned and appreciated

  • Yellow- Neutral or ambiguous observations or feelings

  • Red- Things that could be improved/ that frustrated you or that you struggled with

Activity 3 -- Overview of Final Project and Schedule​

Assignments​

  • Set up Autodesk and project access for week two
    • We will be starting CAD and digital fab rapid prototyping this week and the next week. You should have received an invite via your UCSB email to download and install Autodesk Fusion 360. Please do so before next class.
    • You should also have received an invite to collaborate with "Jennifer Jacobs" in Fusion 360. Once you are added, you will be given permission to join the Creative Motion Control Project. Once there, create a folder with your team name with your fellow team member. We'll go over the basics of file management (which is the worst part of Fusion IMO) in class on Thursday.
  • Optional but highly recommended- review basics of Fusion 360 I recommend reviewing a video on how to do basic sketching and solid modeling in Fusion. This one is a good start: How to 3D Model a Lego Brick . We will only be doing solid modeling for class, so if you find other tutorials that are more to your taste, feel free to use them as long as they are also using the solid modeling functionality.
  • Complete week 4 reflection by Monday 4/27 Noon. Reflection Slide
  • Complete all project documentation on github/ project website ASAP!

Resources and References​

Next Class​

  • CAD Basics for Mechanism Prototyping