The Ruler Tool

Tinkercad's ruler tool allows you to measure objects and distances between them.






To use the ruler tool

1. Drag it from the side palette onto the workplane
   
   
2. You can then either leave it where it is and click on the text boxes that appear around your objects to change their dimensions, or you can align the ruler with an object.
   
   To move the ruler, click and drag on the circle
   
3. Clicking on the red circle will change the quadrant
   
4. You can align the ruler to any node of your object by dragging it to where you want it:
   
5. You can use the ruler to help you place objects at particular places:
   
   
6. To dismiss the ruler, click on the x

To make a hole, turn an object into a hole, then group what you want to stay, what you want to be a hole and click on the Group icon




You can use the arrow keys to move objects and you can change the precision by which you move:

Warm Up Challenge

1. Open a web-gl enabled browser
2. Open Tinkercad
3. Make a new Design
4. Your challenge is to recreate the image below. How few moves can you accomplish the goal? Which tools did you use?
   

Making Your Own

The completed warm up creates a tessellation similar to ones created by the artist M.C Escher, where he divided a square into two 45°-45°-90° triangles, and then used a 180° rotation around the midpoint to modify the dividing line.

To create your own Escheresque tessellation you will need to create an SVG, import it into Tinkercad, duplicate, rotate by 120°, arrange and change the heights.

Tessellation 1

Inkscape

1. Open Inkscape.
2. Select the polygon tool and select 6 sides:
   
3. Draw a hexagon. You can align one of the sides to the horizontal axis by dragging while holding down the CTRL key.
4. Make sure your hexagon is not filled and has a stroke. Double click on the bottom left where you see the words fill and stroke to open up the palette, then select fill and no stroke:
   
   
5. Under the Layer Menu select Add a Layer
   
6. Click on the Add button
   
7. Under the Layer Menu select Layers
   
8. Click the eyes to check that the hexagon is in the bottom layer
   
9. Click on the top layer to make it active
   
10. Select the bezier tool
    
11. Trace over one segment. To end drawing press RETURN
    
12. Select the Edit Paths tool
    
13. Select the endpoints of your line segment
    
14. Click on Insert new node a few times
    
    
15. Adjust the position of the nodes:
    
16. With the Selection tool, select the segment and press CTRL+D to duplicate it
    
17. Click twice on the dupe to enable rotation. You should see a crosshair in the center of the shape. This is the center of rotation
    
18. Move the center of rotation:
    
19. Rotate the segment
    
20. Select the bezier toolagain and trace over another segment. To end drawing press RETURN
    
21. Select the Edit Paths tool, select the endpoints of your line segment and click on Insert new node a few times
22. Adjust the position of the nodes:
    
23. With the Selection tool, select the segment and press CTRL+D to duplicate it
    
24. Click twice on the dupe to enable rotation. You should see a crosshair in the center of the shape. This is the center of rotation
    
25. Move the center of rotation:
    
26. Rotate the segment
    
27. Select the bezier toolagain and trace over another segment. To end drawing press RETURN
    
28. Select the Edit Paths tool, select the endpoints of your line segment and click on Insert new node a few times. Adjust the position of the nodes
29. With the Selection tool, select the segment and press CTRL+D to duplicate it
    
30. Click twice on the dupe to enable rotation. You should see a crosshair in the center of the shape. This is the center of rotation
    
31. Move the center of rotation: and rotate the segment
    
32. Select two segments, then select the overlapping nodes (you may have to mke tiny adjustments to align the nodes), then combine the nodes:
    
33. If all goes well, you should be able to fill the shape:
    
34. Resize the tile to about 80 px
    
35. Add a stroke of .2mm
    
36. Make a duplicate of the shape and change the fill color
    
37. Under the Paths menu select Dynamic Offset
    
38. Find the top node
    
39. Carefully drag the node down to shrink the duplicated copy. You just want the copy to fit inside the original's outline. This will allow your tiles to fit together once they are printed:
    
40. Move the duplicated shape away from the original:
    
41. Turn off the stroke on the duplicated shape
    
42. Under the Path's menu select Object to Path
    
43. Add a new layer
    
44. Turn off the layers below. Your tile is now ready to be saved as an SVG
    

Tinkercad

1. Open a web-gl enabled browser.
2. Navigate to Tinkercad, sign in and create a new design.
3. Import your SVG (scale at 100%)
   
4. Adjust the extrusion
5. Download for 3D printing

Tessellation with Glide Reflection

Inkscape

1. Open Inkscape.
2. Select the rectanle tool and drag a rectangle
   
3. Under the Path's menu select Object to Path
   
4. With the Edit Path tool move the bottom left node up to meet the top left node
   
5. Select the Selection Tool and click on the shape and press CTRL+D to create a duplicate
6. Under the Object menu select Flip Vertical.
   
7. Move the duplicated shape up. When aligned select both shapes and click on Union under the path menu to create one shape.
   
   
8. Select the mid point on the base of the triangle and click on the combine node option
   
9. Pull out the node to create a kite-like shape
   
10. Select the shape and flip horizontally.
11. Under the Layer menu select Add Layer
12. Click on the Add Layer Button
13. Under the Layer menu select Layers
14. Click on the eye to make sure your shape is on the bottom layer
15. Click on the top layer to make it active
16. Select the Edit Path Tool and draw a segment
    
17. Add points
    
18. Adjust them
    
19. Select the line and duplicated it
20. Flip it horizantally and reposition it
    
21. Draw another segment
    
22. Add points and adjust them
    
23. Select the segment and duplicate it
24. Flip it horizontally and reposition it
    
25. Turn off the bottom layer
26. Convert all your segments by selecting them and clicking on Object to Path under the Path menu
27. Select the segments connected by an overlapping node, also select the overlapping node and combine the nodes
28. Repeat for all sides
29. You should be able to fill your shape
30. Add embellishments
31. Resize so that the width is around 80 px. Lock the width and height to preserve the ratio
    
32. Zoom in.
33. Add a stroke of .2mm and a lighter fill color
    
34. Make a duplicate and change the fill color
35. Turn off the stroke on the duplicate
36. Select Dynamic Offset from the Path menu
37. Move the node down so that the dupe just fits within the outline of the original
    
38. Move the dupe away
39. Put it on its own layer
40. Turn off other layers
41. Convert shape to a path and save as a svg