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Marjon Tas

TactiPad – Drawing tools – Art & Science Templates: Square

The Square Template

Photo: The four centimetre square of the set
Photo: The four centimetre square of the set (prototype 3D-print)

Detailed description of the square template

The sizes of the squares ranges from two to ten centimetres. The frame that forms the square is one centimetre wide. So a four centimetre squared template has the inner dimension of four centimetres. The outside is six centimetres in square.

Two diagonal opposite outside corners are sharp, there you can find the pushpin. The other two corners are rounded. Along the outside a small indent is provided at every centimetre. The inner side has an indent at the halfway position of each of the four sides. In two of the opposing outer sides you find finger fitters for easy lifting or extra grip.

Utilising the square template

When you position the square somewhere on the TactiPad in any orientation and then draw along the inner contour, you create your first square. With the square template you can create many more shapes such as diamond, parallelogram, trapezium, and also 3D shapes such as pyramid or cube.

 

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    Sharing tactile emojis

    As we mentioned in a previous newsletter, we created a few of the newly suggested emojis as tactile diagrams for our visitors of the 2019 ZieZo exhibition. They were very well received. We are happy to share the four designs with you. You can download the designs here.

    Please keep in mind that the images were created with TactileView and saved in .BPX format. In order to take full advantage of the tactile graphics you need a registered version of the software; printing them using the demo version will add some watermarks.

    Emoji of blind person with cane

    Emily Schlenker’s story

    Molecular structure of dopamine

    As blind students, drawing and the visual aspects of math and science are often dismissed as a waste of time or impossible. This totally disregards those students, like myself who happen to be visual learners. My brain thrives on pictures, in spite of the years of teachers and professors striving to cram me into the memorizer box that is assigned to blind learners.
    Once I got away from so-called blindness experts/educators, I entered the real academic world. I am completing my pre-med requirements, and my physics professor and tutor both made it clear that if I wanted to do physics, I would be exposed to drawings one way or another.

    Read more

    About Design Archives

    I am happy to share my product design experiences with you here. They may give you some inspiration on how to apply the products within your activities.

    I like to use cardboard, clay, rubber bands, lego, magnets and other easy to obtain materials. You get to see this from time to time in the videos included in the articles. Especially when I need to convey my ideas to those who prepare and operate machinery for mass production, drawings and prototypes are necessary.

    MDA initial idea

    MDA initial idea generation

    When we recently came across the first prototype of the compasses for the TactiPad, it got us thinking: what if we could motorise it? What if we used a motorised drawing arm to combine the best aspects of both the TactiPad drawing board and TactileView graphics software?

    Read more

    Theo’s challenge for the MDA

    Theo and Jaap drawing a school logo with the MDA

    I was looking forward to finding out what progress had been made on the motorized drawing arm since I saw the prototype at Sight village last year.
    I heard that it could draw out pictures so I planned a test for it. First I downloaded a copy of my school logo (png file) onto my phone before Sight Village (2019).

    Read more

    1.01 Safety Instructions

    ! Keep clear of the MDA while it is in operation. !
    ! Do not insert your fingers into the openings at the sides of the MDA, or into the opening in the bottom of the arm.  !
    ! Do not place items sensitive to magnetism in the proximity of the pen. The pen contains a strong magnet. !

    The motors of the MDA are relatively strong and can cause injuries when your fingers are caught between moving parts.

    2.01 Unpacking

    Place the box with the address labels facing upwards and cut the tape. Fold away the four cardboard flaps. Once opened, you’ll notice the MDA is packed in two large foam parts on top of which two carton boxes are placed. One box can contain the TactiPad inside its bag, if this was included in the initial purchase. The other one contains a pack of 400 drawing sheets, the power supply and the USB-B cable.
    Remove the boxes and lift the MDA out of the box by holding it by its sides. Make sure you lift it up by the sturdy yellow top plate, the one that has the six black anchors for the TactiPad. Do not lift it up by the flexible bottom plate.
    Once out of the box, you remove the pieces of foam by lifting one side of the MDA and sliding off the foam part on that side. Carefully place the MDA down again, and repeat this procedure for the other side. While packaged, the arm is in its forward position.
    Please store the packaging materials in the carton for safe transportation.