As a proud member of group A I am coming to you live from a slightly less stressful finals week. I would have loved to make good use of my pi that I’ve had since christmas, but alas I am lazy and have other things I need to do.

If I were to make something out of the pi it would have been a DIY smart speaker home thing. I found a $15 kit online (https://aiyprojects.withgoogle.com/voice/) that allows you to connect your pi to a speaker and mic in a lil cardboard box that is connected to the google assistant. This would allow me to “ask questions and issue voice commands to your programs.” All I would have to do is wait for the package in the mail and follow some simple instructions on how to install the kit and boom, smart(ish) home acquired.

I might still purchase this after the class bc it’s kinda tight and relatively cheap. I’ve been saying that all year tho so who really knows if that’s true. Like i said, I am lazy.

After 7 digital designs and 3 physical prints I have emerged with the perfect AirPod backpack carrier. You can see the three prints below in position. The one with the AirPods in it is the final design.

On the right is the first design, straight with no top flare. The middle one was the second with a flared top for easy drop-in. and the final is the left one with a mild flare that isn’t too bulky. What really sets these apart are the clips on the back that keep them in place. The first too were way too loose and slid out of the pocket with ease, and the final resembled a paperclip design and will most definitely not detatch (as seen in the video and pics below.)

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This was probably my favorite assignment all semester bc I will actually use what I made on the daily. My next goal is to make cheeto tweezers. I will keep all of you blog-goers out there updated throughout the process. Until next time…

For the virtual reality assignment we decided to make a “parkour” game in which you traverse the buildings of a small town. The player has to jump from one pad to another to reach the final end-room that is otherwise inaccessible. The starting room is a small city block that I found for free in the asset store. The pads are just cubes that look like cross sections of a tree trunk. You can see the final room in the second pic, it’s pretty terrifying when seen through VR ngl. I do apologize for using your face in a project again, Lucas, but I promise this was the last time.

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The creation of the game was pretty simple and didn’t take much time. The difficult part of the process was figuring out how to transfer the game from my mac to the windows computers in the hub. After getting that done we had to tweak/test the game a few times because the controls were a little wonky. After all of that we had a playable parkour game as you can see in the vid below.

I’ve always wanted to use unity and have been too lazy to make something on my own, so I’m glad we were forced to do it in this class bc I wouldn’t have otherwise lmao

Journal Entry 12 – VR

Hey Blog, I made two versions of the previously discussed AirPod case holder. One is designed for a two finger release and the other is designed for one. I’ll probably use the one finger design because it’s less breakable. I made two sloping clips that are built into the back, and each clip will go into a separate pocket so the middle barrier will prevent the case from sliding horizontally when in position.

I made it pretty quick and enjoyed the process (I might even completely redesign it afterwards.) I’m also hyped to have the finished product and be able to use it.

The dimensions of the case itself are 44.3 mm wide, 21.3 mm thick and 53.5 mm tall. My design (measuring from the outside) is 50 mm wide, 28 mm thick and 62 mm tall. The walls are 2 mm thick and the case won’t fit too snug, but I might change that after a test print. The rest of the dimensions, like where it was cut/the size of the clips, is somewhat arbitrary/eyeballed.

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I’m a big music fan and spend a lot of my time listing to music throughout the day. My go to headphones are Apple’s AirPods. I love em. However I only have two storage locations for their handy dandy carrying case in my backpack.

In the video below you can see that those options are 1) at the bottom of the smaller pocket of the backpack where I have to rummage for them while they get more dirty each day, or 2) in the small pencil pouch that I have to dig inside of in attempt to slide them out. Neither are ideal, so my plan is to make a “case” for them that clips onto the inside pouch of my backpack for easy access. The case will have a slot down the middle and on the bottom where I will be able to easily pop/slide the AirPods out each time.

There are two reasons this blog post is “late”. I was on vacation and didn’t want to think about it, and I was having trouble coming up with a solution to a problem that would genuinely benefit my everyday life. At least I got the extra credit so it evened out.

Hey blog goers, this week I made some new 3D models of various objects using a software called Fusion 360. Compared to FreeCAD, Fusion 360 is much simpler/less frustrating to use, and compared to tinker CAD it allows for a lot more creativity in design. I didn’t love or hate it, but I did like it better than the other two programs we used. Anyways, making these objects was pretty easy and didn’t take long, so here they are 🙂

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I hate it. Well, I hated FreeCAD at first when I had no idea how to use it, but it’s aight now. Following the tutorial was more tedious than it was difficult which made it annoying. For the chord holder I chose a similar design to the one Lucas made in front of the class, but with some curvy edges. For the third object I had a few ideas that I couldn’t decide on so I just made the easiest of them. I kind of hate it but it should stay together when held upside down. The two pieces slide together and the blocks fit into each other on either side.

Here are some pics of what I created plus my desk corner where the chord holder was made to go.

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Hey blog goers. I made some things. Here they are.

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So far our group work has consisted of brainstorming app ideas in class. We had one concept last week that I wasn’t very into, but luckily we scrapped it completely and ended up with a space invader-ish type game. I volunteered to pretty much make the whole app, but I can’t be selfish with the bonus points so I have to pass it off at some point.

I started making it last night and the bulk of the game is already finished. No one else has actually seen it yet so I hope the group likes it when they do finally see it lol. I’m also willing to scrap this idea completely if need be. Nothing is set in stone and there’s plenty of time to make something else. Despite the many pitfalls of AppInventor, I’ve enjoyed working on the game. I’ve never made a game before. I might get into that using some real languages when this is done.

After playing around with app inventor in class and seeing the infinite potential that it possesses, I decided to take the easy route. First I made an app that spawned a suspended ball, and every time you tapped on the ball its radius increased by +5. I made that in a few minutes then scrapped it because I hated it.

Then I had the idea of making a soundboard with well-known rappers faces as the buttons, and when you press their face one of their ad libs will play. The “coding” itself was super straight forward and didn’t take much time. However, everything outside of coding (the aesthetics and finding the artwork/audio files) took a lot more time than I had hoped.

Unfortunately I was unable to use the all of the rappers I wanted because I stole the 8 bit artwork from a sticker/poster website, and they had a limited amount of rappers available so I had to work with what I had in order to keep the art style consistent. Finding the audio files for the ad libs was definitely not worth the time it took. App Inventor also wouldn’t let me use files over a certain size, which was upsetting, and I still couldn’t find them for one rapper so I just put in a slide whistle sound effect instead. I also decided to add a little title page after I made the soundboard, but for some reason AppInventor doesn’t allow you to change the order in which the screens pop up so now my app has an unreachable easter egg title screen.

My app works as intended but I’m not too proud of it honestly, especially after finding a website that is basically the same exact thing but with more options. I enjoyed making it though, and that’s all that really matters right?

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