Tropical Island
Thesis Project for Division of Industrial Design, National University of Singapore
Under the guidance of Clement Zheng
Design Research
Critical Design
Interaction Design
Experience Design
Graphic Design
Brief
How could learning NURBS-based modelling programme Rhino3D be more accessible for students?
Industrial Design champions NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines) modelling for its flexible yet precise modelling abilities. Rhinoceros 3D is an industry standard CAD software, which is commonly taught in Industrial Design and Architecture courses. Through my journey as an Industrial Design student, I had noticed some of my peers struggled with NURBS modelling more than others. From observation, I had hypothesised that NURBS modelling accommodated those with vivid mental imagery, high spatial reasoning, and methodological thinking. Whereas physical making accommodated those with the opposite traits.
There is an ever increasing need for the skill of 3D modelling, with the rising digitisation of design and the democratisation of manufacturing; hopeful designers should be given equal opportunities to gain the skills necessary in the evolving design industry.
Research was done in 3 stages:
Observing
Protocol Analysis
Analysing
Analysis of Rhino UX
Prototype exploration
Key Problem
Rhino is a clubhouse, and is not inclusive to struggling CADers
Clubhouses are created when practices are built and perpetuated to be one-dimensional. They are concretely defined and enforced by their community, instead of being defined fluidly… People who do not match these definitions are thus reluctant to join.
Struggling CADers are young designers who have experienced the struggle of learning Rhino. Despite all this, they still have difficulty CADing and consider themselves novices.
How does the Rhino clubhouse keep struggling CADers from joining?
Carrying out deep ethnographic research on a so-called 'hard skill' generated unique insights that challenged the status quo of pure rigour and hard work. Lack of improvement can’t be directly attributed to the absence of effort. My investigation of the Rhino Clubhouse revealed that struggling CADers’ biggest fear and frustration in Rhino is its secrets. In the outcome-driven Rhino clubhouse, secrets are just something that need to be known for them to be able to CAD. However, I argue that the process of uncovering secrets is a valuable experience in and of itself.
Outcome
A prototype of a Rhino3D plugin, which reimagines Rhino education as a discovery-driven process.
The Tropical Island plug-in game reimagines Rhino3D education as a discovery-driven journey, where novice designers explore and uncover its ‘secrets’. Rhino could (1) introduce virtual navigation skills at any pace, (2) reward mastery over a single tool, or (3) be a social network where designers learn and create mistakes together. A discovery-driven Rhino lets designers enjoy learning at their own pace. In doing so, it lowers the barrier of entry into the Rhino Club.
The House Hunter | Unnavigable Virtual Space
The Rhino clubhouse demands learners to be already proficient in navigating three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional screen while modelling their ideas.
The House Hunter challenges users to create shapes by manipulating three dimensional virtual space—without having to build anything.
The House Hunter is a near homeless hermit crab, looking for a new home among a trash-ridden beach. Users can help the hermit crab by using Pan, Zoom, and Orbit to find homes hidden in the mess.
The Rhino virtual environment is transformed from a dull, grey, and overtly serious workspace, to a bright and colourful perspective puzzle. Using distorted models with purposeful layer materials, and a dedicated backdrop, Struggling CADers are able to focus solely on navigating the virtual space.
Rhino could introduce skills at any pace.
The use of Rhino as a game engine probes designers about the capabilities of the software. [If this game can be made on Rhino, can’t I make it too?] However despite its simple mechanic, designers at a slightly higher level were most intrigued by the level design. They were surprised by its unconventional appearance and mechanics, and were tempted to find out how I made it in the first place.
The Coffee Maker | Overabundant Commands
The Rhino clubhouse demands one to be well-versed in the whole dictionary of tools it offers.
Stuggling CADers attribute their difficulty with Rhino to the fact that they don’t know enough commands.
The Coffee Maker challenges users to thoroughly exploit and familiarise themselves with basic commands.
The Coffee Maker is a coffee-obsessed civet cat which serves luxury coffee in exchange for custom made kettles of its choosing. Users can taste the coveted coffee by recreating each kettle using only the prescribed tool and template.
With each level, users are tasked to create designer kettles using only one prescribed tool, and the “skeleton” template made of curves. Users are given a Master Kettle as a reference, but receive no further instruction. To create the entire kettle— the body, spout, lid, and handle—users are forced to stretch the capabilities of the prescribed tool, and explore the intricacies of its function.
For struggling CADers, each tool is a whole world to explore. Rhino could reward mastery over a single tool.
The Coffee Maker helped struggling CADers to closely study and broaden their understanding of basic commands, which are often typified to limited applications. Aside from the commands, players felt like they learned how to approach modelling. The master kettle and prescribed curves acted as case studies for them to investigate.
The Bug Catcher | Incomprehensible Errors
The Rhino clubhouse demands designers to model without mistakes.
Error messages are obtuse and often phrased as a computational failure, rather than helping the designer “debug” what went wrong. Struggling CADers often fear mistakes and errors, and when they encounter them are often faced with the predicament of not knowing how to solve them.
The Bug Catcher iconifies errors and embraces mistakes.
The Bug Catcher is a scholarly frog who offers much needed wisdom to help CADers catch pesky errors.
The Bug Catcher passively runs while users CAD. The goal is to collect different bugs to fill up the user’s personal errorpedia.
When a user encounters a new error, they receive a notification and can read about it in their errorpedia. The user will also get a record of when they first caught the error and how many times they have caught it since.
For struggling CADers, errors are markers of exploration. Rhino could document the discovery of errors as the progress that one is making in their learning journey.
The Rhino clubhouse is isolating
Struggling CADers’ fear of not improving is exacerbated by the fact that they often struggle alone.
Users can compare journeys with their friends.
Users can add friends to keep track of their growing collections.
Rhino could be a social network where people make mistakes together.
A Rhino game can bring people together through its common goal. Struggling CADers’ fear of mistakes is combatted by idea of a shared struggle amongst friends.The anthropomorphised errors are immediately recognisable and prompts players to want to talk about it. Its appearance in the errorpedia worked towards demystifying the error and championing it as an achievement.
Players still struggled with feeling embarrassed of mistakes, and didn’t want others to see how many mistakes they had accumulated (I don’t want them to know I have like 3000 errors). However, adding a competitive element such as a leadership board, ironically, removed the shame of mistakes and turned it into a lighthearted competition that they could take pride in.
Furthermore, they enjoyed the idea of a shared struggle. Knowing that other people encounter the same errors helps players feel less ashamed of their mistakes, and more open to asking for help.
Want to try Tropical Island out? Downloadable activities are available here.
Try out the Tropical Island activities through a bundle of 3dm files and instruction files. These are. however, very rough and raw.
Want to see Tropical Island come to fruition? Feel free to contact me for any collaborations or comments!
