Photoshop for School Poster

My school's student council wanted me to help out with making a second poster for their "social", or school dance. I had to remove and rearrange all text, logos and people in the background using photoshop, since their original poster was created using some app.

Original version on the left, my photoshopped version on the right.

Chiang Mai International Open SumoBot Competition

     


This is the aerial footage, taken with my GoPro, of all autonomous fights during the Chiang Mai International Open SumoBot Competition 2016, hosted by Payap University. All editing is also done by me.

Design Task for University Taster Course

Above is a design task that I created in response to a brief for an Engineering Product Design taster course that I attended at a London university this summer.

Water Squirters Update - Electric Pumps and Valves!

Here is an update on the water guns that I featured here previously. For this year's songkran (Thai water throwing festival) I modified one from last year and created some more water guns. 

This first gun is the double barrel squirter that I made last year with the integration of a Nerf Thunderstorm Super Soaker. As the Thunderstorm only produces a small stream, it is not a good primary weapon for any water fight. It is however very useful when combined with the double barrel pipe squirter as it can fire a constant stream from an interchangeable water clip. As it is battery operated and I own two of these Nerf clips, it is very easy to use. 

I made it by unscrewing the pump and nozzle of the Thunderstorm and sawing off the watertight battery pack and integrated button as well as the middle section of the gun, which included the parts where the water clip attaches. These parts (along with some extra tubing) were then all secured to the old squirter with a combination of hot glue, epoxy putty, zip ties and araldite. 

These two water guns work perfectly together, especially when the Super Soaker part is filled with iced water to make up for the low power and amount of water (this is commonplace in Thailand during this festival). It is also fully waterproof, even when forgotten at the bottom of a pool for over half an hour. When the plunger tube is pulled out partially, it can also act as a stock when using the motorised  part.

The second water gun is a variation of the original single barreled version. The difference is that it utilises two valves to suck water through a tube can either be screwed onto a bottle or placed into one of the many plastic tubs or drums that line the street during this time. Like the above squirter, this is an upgrade from the original version as it can be used while on the move if the bottle is put into a small backpack. 

It was made with two valves taken from a small, cheap water gun that was near useless. The end of the nozzle valve was cut off and filed/sanded to make a bigger hole. Another piece from the small water gun was also used to attach the hose and a weight was attached to the other end of the hose to keep it submerged while sucking out of a bucket or tub. 

The water gun in action

GoPro Hand Grip

This GoPro hand grip/monopod was created with a 3D printed connection that was hot water molded around a piece of PVC pipe and screwed onto it.

As the printed connection was not extremely strong, a cord was fastened through a hole in the pipe, in case it snapped. This was useful as the connection on the first prototype was much thinner and less sturdy and snapped when being tested in the surf.

The cord is then fastened under the clip at the top of the camera which does not interfere with the seal in any way.

Image taken with the GoPro in initial testing conditions

GoPro Dog Harness

A dog harness attachment for my GoPro that was printed on my 3D printer. It was printed with PLA plastic which has a relatively low melting point. This allowed me to print the piece flat and then use hot water to shape it over a curved mold to get the desired shape.

The short video below shows the finished harness attachment and some footage from the GoPro. As it is attached straight to the dog's back, the video produced is very shaky and had to be stabilised. I used Adobe After Effects to do this.

QU-BD 3D Printer

The following video is a timelapse of the assembly, modifications and first print with a QU-BD Two-Up (Version 1) 3D printer. Lots of extra time was spent off-camera filing and sanding down parts to actually get them to fit. This was a badly made kit and the instructions had not been updated for my version of the printer. The x-gantry also sagged too much to print anything and a pulley system had to be added to the printer. Hopefully these problems have been addressed in the Version 2 redesign of the Two-Up printer. Overall, I would not recommend this 3D printer, especially since now it is possible to get much better printers for the same price or less, although at the time, this was one of the best printers for such a cheap price.



Note that this [the print shown in the video] is my first ever successful print and was done using incorrect print settings, resulting in the bad quality print. Below are a few photos of the test object that I first printed next to the same object printed more recently, with better settings. Unfortunately, during the printing of the newer black one, the printer glitched and resulted in the first few layers being not in line with the rest of the print.

Dynamo Bike Light

A rear LED bike light that is powered directly from a dynamo on the back wheel. It was created as a product design project where the aim was to create a sustainable lighting solution.

All materials (excluding hot glue and solder) used to create it were recycled or reused. Many of the electronic elements came from either broken appliances or a R/C car, the metal brackets holding the dynamo in place were created from a tin can, and the plastic shell of the light was the packaging for some epoxy putty.

Here are some screenshots of the design process:

The finished light and dynamo fits on as shown in the images above. It functions very well and gets even brighter when going fast, although still glows enough to be seen when traveling slowly.

PVC Pipe Standing Desk

I made a standing desk for a laptop computer that sits on a standard height table. As I spend most of my day sitting down, often on a computer, I decided to make this so that at least when I am at home I can have better posture when using my computer.

This video shows the process of making a standing desk out of PVC pipe.

Lego Balisong Knives

Here are two Lego balisong knives, both of my own original design, one of which is double bladed. Theoretically, the double bladed design should work (not slice up the user's hands/arms) if one side of the blades were sharpened. The single bladed knife combines with an extra part to make the double bladed version. As can be seen in the video, although the knives are much lighter than a metal equivalent, they can still be used to do some tricks.

3D GameMaker Game

This is a 3D third person shooter that I made for a digital design project that is based on a real place, with the correct layout of buildings, water, bridges, etc. The video below shows some gameplay of this game that was created entirely in GameMaker: Studio. I had had some prior experience with GameMaker 8.1, but had never used any GML (Game Maker Language). After discovering GameMaker's 3D functions, I chose to make my game 3D and ended up learning a lot of GML coding, as all 3D commands are done with code. The tutorials and examples on fionnhodgson.com really helped me with this.

Water Squirters for Songkran 2015

Here is a video of two water squirters that I made with PVC pipe. I was originally going to make two, but then decided that a double barrel one would be so much cooler. It is made with only the parts that I had left over from the first (I had two of everything) and this is why the handle is done with a T piece cut in half instead of two L shaped connectors and the pipe connecting the two barrels is only glued on with some tape for support. The extra black duct tape on the two handle parts is just for comfort.

More commissioned work

A while back I was commissioned to do this.

Inspired by a Flag...

Here is a load of minifigs that were inspired by two Megabloks pirate flags. (from sets that I got when I was a little kid and thought everything was Lego) I thought that since I had them, I might as well use them and soon built a sort of Warhammer 40K inspired standard. (below) I then made a few sci-fi minifigs featuring armour with the same insignia.
(I made/photographed these guys a long time ago and only just got round to putting them up)


* click on the photos to enlarge them

These were fun to make and here are some stand out techniques that I used

• Some details sculpted out of milliput or a low temp thermoplastic- for the kneepads and holster of the first and last figs
• Warhammer bits- jetpack/backpack and blade of the second fig
•  Third party accessories- brickforge and brickarms weapons
• The skull and crossbones symbol on some of the armour has just been printed out in black and white on normal paper and stuck on. I then painted around the edges of the patch to make the black printing blend into the dark blue armour. This is actually quite durable even without the layer of clear sealant
• The second last minifig also has robot legs, done with a normal minifig hip piece with some tubing pushed onto the pegs.

and a .gif cycling through some more shots

 

Electric Diddley Bow

This is a diddley bow, or a single stringed guitar.

 

It is made using an old milk bottle, guitar string, bits of wood, a washer and some screws. all of these pieces are just random bits left over from various things. I put these things together and out popped a diddley bow.

The next step was to make the pickup. I used a coil of copper wire from an old remote controlled car with a screw through the middle and a magnet stuck on top. This was then wired into a socket and was ready to go. Although this is very simple, the pickup works extremely well and the sound is completely clear. This worked well through the speakers but didn't work well with some guitar effects software that I downloaded to my computer. this was because the the computer could hardly pick up the weak signal. I fixed this by replacing the plug socket with a preamp. The pickup was wired directly into the left input and right output. So if you plug it into the red socket it is raw and if you plug it into the white socket it goes through the preamp.

Some features of the diddley bow are the tuning screw that can be  tightened with an allen key, one of the screws painted red to show which way is on, a small red dot on the switch that can be seen when it is on, and the plug that has been painted.

The diddley bow looks slightly like it has come from the world of steampunk.










This is a video of me playing it! In the video, when I plug it into the computer, it is going through the guitar effects software.

Bows!

A bow and two crossbows that I made using Lego technic pieces that actually shoot.

The most recent crossbow that I have made shoots very far, although it doesn't have a proper trigger. The bow shoots pretty well but isn't very accurate, and the mini crossbow has a spring-loaded trigger that uses a technic suspension piece. Just in case you haven't watched until the end of the video, the (rainbow-coloured) string isn't flexible or elasticated, it is the lego that is bending- that is what makes it so powerful.

Commissioned Work

I have done my first paid job which was an animation done in blender. The 3D graphics were done by me.

Cursors

This is a link to some useful cursor editing software
http://www.rw-designer.com/cursor-maker

The Clones' Adventure Pt 1

Click to Enlarge

A small, dark green, amphibious creature looked up, startled by a strange thunderous noise from above. It watched, perplexed, as three white objects hurtled from the sky. They crashed into a nearby pond with an explosion that shook the trees so that some of the giant twomardofruit fell to the ground, the excitable feesh did a triple backflip out the water and landed on the ground and suffocated. This always happens when the feesh are excited or scared, forcing them to evolve to breathe air. The amphibious creature curiously made its way towards the three white objects. Suddenly, it jumped a metre into the air as the airlocks simultaneously released on all three white things with a loud hiss. Then, three aliens, one from each pod, stepped out of the unfolding white spacecrafts. They were clad in weird white armour with blue markings and carried strange black contraptions that they pointed at their surroundings. The three eyed flog stood as still as a potato, while glands on its forehead made it smell like an unripe potato, so it wouldn’t get eaten by mistake. It then decided to hop off in case the aliens liked unripe potatoes or the Things came to investigate what these aliens were and why they were here.

Click to Enlarge

“Where is everyone?” said the airborne trooper.

“It looks like a swamp to me,” said the dunetrooper, “and not many sophisticated life forms like to live in swamps.”

“No, that’s not what I meant. When we were flying over the planet in the pods, I couldn’t see any signs of civilisations, but the pod’s readout said that the planet was inhabited by sentient life forms.”

“Maybe that slug there is actually a hyper-evolved, intelligent, telepathic being that is 5 times smarter than we are, and has shape shifted into a slug so we wouldn’t suspect it.” (Little did they know, they were right, but there were other Things that posed more of a threat to them.)

“Yeah, maybe that slug is 5 times smarter than you.” he retorted.

“Whatever, but if that little grey slug is the most advanced thing on this planet, then why is it listed as inhabited?”

“I don’t know, but I say we should get out of this swamp!”

“Yeah, let’s push on.” As they walked off, they didn’t notice the little slug shape shift into a large purple cat and dart off into the dense undergrowth to alert its masters to these aliens.

Click to Enlarge

A couple of hours later it started to get dark. The first of the two suns was already below the horizon and the second was already following fast in its wake. Although all three troopers were tired and would normally have accepted a rest, they felt uncomfortable in this alien forest. They felt a hostile presence, like something that wanted them dead was death-staring them, watching their every move. However, when they looked about themselves, they could see or hear nothing but small creatures going about their business or fleeing from the strange white possible predators. Meanwhile, hidden in the bushes, three humanoid Things stared intently at the white armoured newcomers. The Things had analysed their pods and recognised that the aliens were from the Milky Way galaxy and were part of the republic’s clone army. As the three troopers plodded through the forest, the three Things glided, unseen, between the trees, stalking their prey.

Click to Enlarge

It was now completely dark and the three clones’ torches could hardly penetrate the prevailing wall of darkness and alien plant life that engulfed them. The unnerving sounds of creatures rustling, snorting and chirping filled their ears. Even though none of them voiced their thoughts, they were all scared of the fact that there could be anything waiting in the shadows about to pounce on unsuspecting victims. Out of the corners of their eyes they kept glimpsing a faint, red pair of eyes, an orange slit, like that of a visor and two bright, round, green, glowing eyes, but when they looked back, they were gone…

To be continued

(or at least I think so)

Ma.K

Here is my Ma.ktober model, it is an oversized Maschinen Krieger hardsuit. The effect on the picture is from microsoft word.

Blender Face

A silly face i made in blender, experimenting with mirroring the same shape on to itself to create a cool texture. ( The head and tongue.)

Clones!

Here are some custom lego clones that I made. They aren't based on any particular clones although one of them is meant to be an airborne. Two of them were made using a basic clone wars clone and the third is the same, only with a modified snowtrooper helmet. They are all hand painted and don't have decals.

The kama and pauldrons (leg and shoulder armour)
were made with paper while everything else was painted on.










This one is based on an airborne trooper but has different markings.
The helmet is a standard clone wars helmet that has been modified by filing and sanding off the fin on the top and also part of the front.
As I didn't have a lego bag, I made myself one out of duct tape. It can also be used to strap his gun to his back.

The visor was added to the snowtrooper helmet/backpack by melting small holes in the sides of it.

Animations

Here's two 3D animations I made using blender

This first one I did for school about soma cube models and the second is a birthday ecard.

 

Flamethrower Tutorial

Here is a little tutorial on how to make some custom lego flamethrowers to add to your army just that little bit more AWESOMENESS!

First, get all the bits shown below and cut  the tip of the harpoon off. Next stick the needle into the cork, (otherwise you will burn your fingers off) heat the needle over the stove and melt a hole in the end of the gun just big enough to push the end of the flame piece into it. Then, push the tubing onto the other end of the gun and attach it to the back of the minifig in any way you like.

Spacemen

some guys with custom painted armour and weapons. (I have also painted up one of my custom flamethrowers)