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Pac-Man Cookies

Cookie Cutters

Since I’ve been playing with the MakerBot at the Milwaukee Makerspace, I figured that I should print something useful, and what’s more useful than cookie cutters!

I got the idea from the GuruBlog CookieCutter-Editor. I ended up making the Pac-Man shape, which is the exact opposite of complicated. (Yeah, I’m saying it’s really simple.) I really just did the Pac-Man shape as a test, and after I posted it, Alex asked about the ghosts, so at that point I figured I had a bit more work to do…

Since I’m still dabbling in 3D modeling, and haven’t really nailed down a workflow yet, I decided to try something besides the CookieCutter-Editor. I ended up drawing the ghost in Photoshop, and then bringing it into Inkscape to trace it. I then followed this Inkscape to OpenSCAD dxf tutorial to convert the SVG into a DXF file, which I then exported and brought into OpenSCAD to extrude into a 3D model.

Printed Cookie Cutters

The Pac-Man shape from the CookieCutter-Editor had a wider edge on one end, which is what a cookie cutter should have. (You can see this in the 3D wireframe in the top image.) The ghost shape does not have this wider edge, because I don’t know how to create one yet! I solved this issue by printing the shape with a raft, which you can see in the photo of the printed cutter. It’s not the prettiest cookie cutter, but it certainly did work.

Pac-Man Cookies

And here’s our final product, the Pac-Man (and ghosts) cookies! My oldest daughter Emma did the hard work here. She made the cookie dough, used the cutters, baked the cookies, and frosted them. I was basically the “Technical Advisor” and showed her what colors to use, etc. She wasn’t 100% pleased with the outcome, mainly because she had to tweak the coloring and improvise a bit (Pac-Man is actually lemon-flavored) but she’s a bit of a perfectionist in the kitchen. :)

We’ll probably make more of these for BarCampMilwaukee6, and may throw a few more shapes into the mix if I get a bit of time with the MakerBot before then.

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Posting Elsewhere…

Good Friday everyone! I’ve been busy writing and making things and writing, and I also have a backlog of ideas to write about…

But I just wanted to mention something for the folks out there who enjoy reading my writing (both of you!) and let you know that you can also read my writing elsewhere.

VerveCast

I post over on the VerveCast blog, which is published by Z2 Marketing. I usually post about once a week. You can certainly just see my posts, but I’d encourage you to check out the other authors as well. We’re a branding firm, but I often delve off into subjects like 3D printers, desktop manufacturing(?), experts, and weird photos.

Milwaukee Makerspace Since those guys (and girls!) at the Milwaukee Makerspace were kind enough to let me join and hang out there, I’ve also started blogging over there. I often post about my own weird projects, but I also try to post about interesting topics, demos we do, or just a typical night of hacking and making.

And if all that isn’t enough (and it should be!) you can occasionally see mysterious images over on Posterous, or see the strange things I post on Google+.

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Maker, Failure

Maker, Failure

Yesterday I tried to make something, and I failed pretty miserably.

I was smart enough to use the drill press, and mark where I needed the holes, but it wasn’t enough. There was too much tension on the fit, and I ended up breaking the piece of wood I had cut. No problem, I actually had two spare pieces of wood. For the second one I drilled the holes bigger, and it fit really well. I then assembled the two pieces of wood, only to realize the first piece was too small anyway. (It’s a camera mount, and this time I decided to make it adjustable to hold other cameras, but failed to realize that other cameras would be larger than mine.)

It’s ok to fail. In fact, anyone who says “failure is not an option” is a liar. Failure is more than an option, it’s a requirement.

If you look through some of my projects, all of them have had some degree of failure mixed in. It’s a part of making.

This specific project I’m working on now, I’m actually pretty confident about, but I’m also stretching my skills a bit by making things more complex than they need to be, but that’s because I want to push myself. In the end, I should know a lot more than I do now.

And this is the easy one! I’ve got two larger projects planned. The next one is actually worrying me a bit, especially since it has a deadline, but if I succeed, I’ll be very pleased with myself. (And if I don’t, and least I’ll have learned a lot along the way.)

Anyway… get out there an make something, or fail at making something. Try your best, and see what happens.

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Pro Apps (and then some!)

tools

In the world of professional media making (and other things) it often pays to learn not just the One Tool™ but some of the alternatives… especially some of the free/open source alternatives.

In the world of video, there’s Final Cut Pro, which will often do 95% of what you need done with video, but when you need that extra 5%, that extra push over the cliff, there’s other applications to make that happen. Things like MPEG StreamClip, FFmpeg, and VLC have become extras in our toolbox that we’ve come to rely on. MPEG StreamClip is killer for getting things into the needed format, and if it can’t do it, I’ll move on to FFmpeg or perhaps VLC. They’ve all got their specialties.

Even things like iMovie (the most recent version, as well as the older version) are worth keeping around… Same goes with iDVD, which is usually a simple and fast option when all you need is a looping DVD. Photoshop? I love it…. but sometimes iPhoto is exactly what you need.

On the audio side of things, we tend to use Logic, but we’ve also got room for things like Audacity. What’s that? Need an 8 bit/8kHz mono WAV file for an antiquated phone system? I can kick that out in Audacity in 1/10th the time I’d figure out the settings in Logic. (And yes, that’s something I had to do last week.)

NeoOffice, OpenOffice, LibreOffice? I’ve used them all, and believe it or not, they all have subtle differences which maybe of use depending on the situation. (In fact the one I left out is Microsoft Office, because I don’t use it, but years ago, if you used a Mac and wanted to open the latest Word files from Windows, you could only do so with NeoOffice.)

So here’s my advice…. Learn the pro apps, and learn them well, but spend some time digging through the open source/free tools as well. Figure them out, what they are good at (and bad at) and keep them around for that special task that they excel at.

Have you got any favorite “lesser” apps that complement your “pro” apps?

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Hackerspace Passports at BarCampMilwaukee


Hackerspace Passports at BarCampMilwaukee

If you happen to run into Mitch Altman and he gives you a Hackerspace Passport, or if you make your own like I did, you should toss it in your bag and bring it to BarCampMilwaukee6, as I’ll have a nice #BCMKE logo to stamp in it.

BarCampMilwaukee is an event, but I also like to think of it as a “temporary Hackerspace” of sorts, since it does it exist for roughly 2 days per year, and has done so since 2006.