|
|
Easy 3D Softwareaspex Tabs is an easy 3D software for
drawing 3d shapes, printing out the
nets of shapes and making 3d paper models. Suitable for pupils aged 6 - 14
years, its an inspired educational software
for children which meets a real need in the classroom, and it is great fun for
making 3D paper models at home too! aspex Tabs will display the
orthographic projection of the model you design, in both the 1st and 3rd
angle projection. There are also descriptive windows displaying the properties
of each shape, describing the formula for volume and area and other shape
properties. "We purchased a site license aspex Tabs for our middle school
and we LOVE it! Students and teachers alike have found it easy to use, intuitive
and accurate. Oh, it's really fun, too! Also, it fits in beautifully
with our computer curriculum as the 3D modeling component." |
|
 |
|
|
According to a survey conducted by the skills service council, 83% of parents
thought teachers should have more contact with the business world. Business can
consist of anything from selling pork pies to arranging holidays in Jamaica to
selling educational software.
One thing all businesses have in common in the twenty-first century is that they
rely heavily on computers and IT skills. aspex Tabs MST easy 3D modeling
software helps schools to bridge this gap to the business world by providing
children with real hands on experience of design and manufacturing using
computers and IT.
Projects using educational software like this easy 3D software also foment
skills in building community and relations by collaborating and sharing with
children in other other schools, skills that will benefit each child both
personally and in the business world for the rest of their lives. Indeed the
importance of this type of skill building is a recognised part of the curriculum
today. |
|
Nets of Castle to print and build.
|
 |
 |
|
Download aspex tabs for free
and try this educational software out for yourself,
the program will work on PC's and Mac OS X. |
3D Modeling
Tabs 3D modeling software is easy for children aged 6+
to use and enables them to draw and design 3D shapes on the screen. It
is popular in many upper primary and secondary schools because it makes
design into a fun activity as well as an educational one.
"…my pupils are making boxes for their projects at the moment. the
work looks good, the software is great."
A child designs a 3D model on the screen and chooses how to colour its
surfaces. Next they print the ‘nets of shapes’, which print out with
tabs added. The tabs are there so you can fold and glue the net into a
3D paper model.
Having mastered the simple technique of designing and making 3D shapes
like cuboids, cones, and cylinders, children can start to combine them
together to make more complex 3D models.
This easy 3D software puts real modeling power into the hands of the
child, giving the potential to make simple things like boxes for
packaging, and more complicated items like houses or model rockets, the
sky’s the limit!
The experience of designing 3D shapes on the screen and manufacturing a
model from paper is an easy way into discussing related issues like the
cost of manufacture, the kind of packaging which appeals to customers,
and green issues like minimizing the environmental impact of
manufacturing models.
|
|
Castle made from Irregular Prisms. |
 |
|
|
| |
Easy 3D Model
Making for Children
Children quickly become bored, frustrated and
disheartened if something they are making doesn’t turn out right first
time, especially if it’s a failure that their classmates can all see. As
part of the design and planning process, it often helps to make a scale
model of the design before proceeding on to the real thing. The child
can then alter, improve or reject the model without having already
invested a lot of time, effort and materials in an idea which doesn’t
work out.
This is an area where children’s educational software can be
particularly useful because design plans may be quickly generated on a
computer screen and can be altered just as quickly. Models can be both
planned and manufactured using an easy 3D software. Children can then
make several different models for a particular design idea, changing it
in some aspect, manufacture all of them, construct them, and then decide
which one is best.
It's simple to alter a design in aspex Tabs easy 3D modeling software,
which is a great encouragement to be more innovative and daring. If your
alterations don’t work it is easy to go back to a previous ‘safer’
design. And when you are doing design work with easy 3D modeling
software, you can ‘save’ all the early stages as you develop your design
idea, as a record of the way your thinking has progressed.
Tabs easy 3D software is ideal for this. It enables you to design a
scale model with precision, colour and render it with ‘textures’ or
‘images’ however you like and view it in 3D from any angle. You can then
print out the nets of shapes,
that is the flattened out component 3D shapes of your model, complete
with your chosen textures and with tabs added to enable you to fold and
glue them together to make the complete model. In this way all manner of
items may be made, from simple box designs to use for packaging, to more
complex models like starships and whatever else? It’s only limited by
your imagination!
Which boxes have the greatest volume?
Which boxes collapse when stacked?
Is there a 3D shape which is stronger than the others?
Which 3D shapes take up the most paper to make the same sized
box?
Can the nets of 3D shapes be re-arranged to make better use of
the paper and waste less?
Which are most effective for protecting the soap from damage in
transit?
Which are most appealing to look at?
These are the kind of questions manufacturers grapple with in the real
world, where customer appeal, cost, profit and green issues are vital
considerations. Designing and making with tabs brings these issues into
the classroom for children to grapple with too. This is part of the
reason why tabs is such a successful educational software, ideal for
introducing children to the world of computer design and manufacturing. |
|
|
|
"We use tabs+
in Maths,
it's
great." |
| "it was the best received
strand of our technology
focused courses."
|
|
