Practial Alchemy is, as i have defined it above, a type of everyday and completely tangible magic. It is both the art and science of turning your dreams into real things through the transmutation of critical thinking, hard work, and imagination.
This art is something that I am very much interested in teaching you, so Practical Alchemy is also a YouTube channel where I am primarily going to teach you 3D CAD skills (in a variety of programs), and 3D printing tips and tricks, along with a few other things for good measure.
The primary inspirations for this channel are my loves of teaching, cosplay, and industrial design coupled with the rising popularity of hobbyist 3D printers. The problem, as I see it, is that while many companies including MakerBot and Cube Systems are marketing 3D printers like they should be home appliances, I would venture to guess that almost nobody outside of the realms of design or mechanical engineering was even the slightest understanding of where to even begin when it comes to designing and building your own parts.
While someone like myself may love the idea of grinding through hours of boring to tutorials and spending countless hours puzzling through the intricacies of 3D CAD design, I thing most people would not. I believe that what most need is a more fun and more hands on approach, which is exactly what I intend to do.
In my opinion learning CAD requires 3 fundamental aspects. Firstly the projects should be fun. Who wants to model spheres when you could model Pokeballs? Why model wrenches or detergent bottles when you could be modeling swords and armor? Nobody. Well somebody, but not me. Secondly, projects should be iterative. The problem with traditional tutorials is that you learn one tool at a time and by the time you learned the basics of surfacing, you've already forgotten how to modify spline curves. Out of sight, out of mind. By touching on multiple tools in the same lesson your are slowly gaining a understanding of where things are in your tool box and when to use them. Thirdly, projects should be practical. In the real world and in 3D modeling things are messy, by working through practical projects you learn how to answer the questions and diagnose problmes that don't show up in most tutorials. You get to see what I do when surfaces won't join , when fillets fail and sweeps refuse to be swept.
So whether you are a cosplayer or creator, inventor or engineer, designer or dreamer, I hope you that Practical Alchemy is useful to you. I truly believe that learning 3D CAD whether for your personal use, for school or your career will be a huge benefit to you in the not to distant future when every home has a 3D printer next to their much less cool 2D one.
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