iPhone 4 in 3D CAD

Metaro

I made a model of iPhone 4 in 3D CAD. Then, I manipulated the 3D model with a viewer to present its three-dimensionality. As you can see below, I uploaded the video to Instagram.

How do you make a 3D CAD model reasonably for individuals?

  1. Getting 3D CAD software
  2. Getting a drawing
  3. Modeling

First, you need a 3D CAD software. Professionals use high-end CATIA, NX, and Creo. The mid-range Solidworks is also popular. Some of these are available in student versions for less than $100 per year. On the other hand, Autodesk Inventor is free for academics, and Fusion 360 is free for anyone who uses it for non-commercial. For beginners, it is important not to spend a lot of money. The following table shows the websites where you can get some 3D CAD softwares.

Table.1 Price comparison of 3D CAD software for personal use

CATIA V5 STUDENT EDITION$60 /yearhttps://www.solidworks.com/product/students
SOLIDWORKS for Students$99 /yearhttps://academy.3ds.com/en/software/catia-v5-student-edition
Inventor for Academics$0 /yearhttps://www.autodesk.com/education/edu-software/overview?sorting=featured&filters=individual
Fusion 360 for non-commercial use$0https://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/personal

Second, you need a drawing of a product. This time, I got the drawing of iPhone 4 from Apple’s website. However, the original website had already been deleted, so you need to access the following cache.

Fig.1 Drawing of iPhone 4
Cache of Apple’s websitehttps://web.archive.org/web/20100723141735/https://developer.apple.com/programs/mfi/cases.html

Third, you make a model of iPhone 4 in 3D CAD. Here, I won’t mention how to manipulate 3D CAD softwares. Please read the textbooks and take some lessons. Instead, I give you three tips.

  • The Apple symbol is made up of a combination of circles with different diameters.
  • The Apple logo is drawn by tracing the outline of the letters with spline curve.
  • The microphone mesh is an original jpeg picture to improve computer processing speed.

Fig.2 Images for tips (Please Click the pictures to enlarge)

Thank you for reading! Please follow me on Instagram.

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