— Sloth Boss
— Sloth Boss
Products that try to appeal to “everyone” often end up resonating with no one. Supporters of this view argue that without a clear target audience, products lack focus, making it difficult to design features, branding, and marketing that meet specific needs or stand out in a crowded market. A broad “anyone” approach can dilute value, leading to generic products that fail to connect deeply with customers. Critics, however, may point to widely adopted technologies or everyday essentials that seem to transcend demographics.
Welcome to the world of Building Information Modeling (BIM), Virtual Design and Construction (VDC), and Computer-Aided Design (CAD). This isn't just about drawing lines on a screen; it's about creating the digital blueprints for the world around us. Before a single brick is laid or a beam is welded, the entire project—from towering skyscrapers to complex mechanical systems—is first built and tested in a digital environment. This field is booming, offering exciting, high-tech careers for problem-solvers who want to design, coordinate, and manage the construction of the future. By mastering these digital tools, you're not just learning software; you're gaining the skills to step onto a modern construction site as a valuable, tech-savvy professional.
Master the Flow: HVAC & Plumbing Foundations This curriculum treats buildings as living systems, exploring the "veins and arteries" that keep them functioning. You will move beyond simple repairs to understand the thermodynamics and fluid dynamics behind heating, cooling, and water flow. Through 3D blueprint analysis and virtual tool diagnostics, you will learn to identify hazards, troubleshoot pressure issues, and design efficient systems—skills that transfer directly to engineering and advanced manufacturing careers.
Commercial electricians power schools, hospitals, stadiums, office buildings, and factories. Their work affects safety, comfort, and the day-to-day function of entire communities. This guide introduces the essential skills and tools needed to succeed in commercial electrical work and prepares you for the interactive VESL game challenges.
“**Dance Party**” is a lively Hour of Code activity where you use block coding to choreograph a dance. This free interactive tutorial lets you snap together coding blocks to make funny characters dance to popular songs. You’ll learn basics like sequencing and events as you create your own animated dance party on screen. It’s a quick, creative introduction to coding that ends with a colorful performance you can share!
In **Minecraft: Voyage Aquatic**, you’ll learn coding by guiding a Minecraft character through ocean puzzles. This Hour of Code interactive module has you drag-and-drop code blocks (like loops and conditionals) to explore and solve tasks in a Minecraft underwater world. With each level, you build your skills – from navigating a boat to catching underwater creatures. It’s a fun, self-paced way to dive into programming fundamentals with a Minecraft twist.
💡 Helps with Mastery Challenge #1. Explore the wide world of video game genres in this detailed guide. It explains common and modern genres (action, RPG, puzzle, etc.) to help learners recognize and choose genres wisely. Understanding genres guides game design decisions and appeals to target audiences, influencing everything from art style to mechanics and career paths in game dev.
💡 Helps with Mastery Challenge #1. This article dives into scope creep – when a game project keeps ballooning with new features beyond the original plan. It uses examples from games (e.g. Spore, Destiny) to show how poor planning or stakeholder changes cause delays and budget overruns. Learners see how to distinguish necessary features from bloat and why controlling scope is key for successful project planning and maintaining fun core gameplay.
This Edutopia piece explains what a game jam is – a short collaborative event where developers quickly brainstorm, design, and build a small game. It highlights the educational benefits of game jams like rapid prototyping and teamwork, showing how students learn to work under deadlines and improvise game ideas. It inspires learners to participate in jams to develop creativity and game design skills for future projects or careers.
This article surveys common roles in the game industry, from designers and programmers to artists, producers, and more. It outlines responsibilities of each role and skills needed, helping students envision career paths in game dev. By understanding roles such as level designer or technical artist, learners see how team members collaborate on a project, guiding their own pathway whether they aim to code games or craft art in a studio.
💡 Helps with Mastery Challenge #2. CG Spectrum’s article breaks down the game development pipeline into stages (pre-production, production, etc.). It explains how concept art, game design docs (GDD), prototyping, and testing fit together. Students learn the project workflow, highlighting key skills: creating a basic GDD in pre-production, and why prototyping early saves time. This provides practical insight into team roles and planning a game from idea to playable.
💡 Helps with Mastery Challenge #2. Plan your game like a pro with this tutorial on creating a Technical Design Document (TDD) and asset requirements document. It covers outlining technical specifications and listing assets like 3D models or audio, crucial for structuring Unreal Engine projects. You will gain skills to define clear project needs, preparing you for professional game development workflows.
💡 Helps with Mastery Challenge #2. This blog post explains organizing game development tasks. It emphasizes breaking work into milestones and using agile planning to track progress. It shows how to set simple deadlines and adapt plans as ideas change. Students learn practical planning methods to avoid overwhelm: define clear goals, split the project into manageable pieces, and iteratively update the plan to keep a game project on track from start to finish.
A detailed guide on the core gameplay loop – the core sequence of actions (e.g., spot-jump-survive) that players repeat. It shows how to define a game’s fundamental loop and build supporting loops around it. Learn to map out the simplest fun cycle for their game and then layer complexity. The article emphasizes that a clear core loop keeps gameplay focused and fun, teaching future designers how to plan and articulate a game’s core experience.
This guide categorizes common game mechanics (e.g., action mechanics, strategy mechanics, progression). It shows examples of how mechanics like combat, puzzles, or resource management shape gameplay. Identify various mechanics and see how mixing them defines a game’s feel. The article links theory to practice: knowing mechanics helps students design engaging systems and analyze successful games’ strengths and weaknesses (core gameplay concepts).
An in-depth article on feedback in games – how the game responds to player actions with visuals, sounds, or rewards. It explains why quick, clear feedback is crucial to avoid player confusion or frustration. Learn to design positive and negative feedback loops that signal success or failure, and how this ties into meaningful choices and player satisfaction. For example, changing music intensity or visual effects can guide players and enhance engagement.
A comprehensive guide on game balance. It discusses adjusting difficulty, rules, and rewards so a game is challenging but fair. Learn common balancing techniques and how imbalance can break a game. The article covers concepts like tuning numbers and iterating systems. You will gain insight on playtesting and tweaking mechanics to ensure core systems keep players engaged without frustration, a key skill for designers.
This article examines pacing – the flow and rhythm of a game. It explains how level design controls excitement and rest. Learn to structure games so players stay interested, alternating intense action and quieter moments. Examples show how pacing guides player attention and learning. By understanding pacing, you can design levels that feel rewarding and keep players in the ‘zone’ without boredom or fatigue.
Player agency: the freedom players have to make choices in games. This article defines agency and shows examples (RPGs vs puzzle games) to illustrate degrees of control. It highlights why meaningful choices boost player engagement and how designers balance freedom with fun. You will see how granting agency and clear options empowers players, an important element in designing games that feel personalized and impactful.
This article explores what motivates players: intrinsic (fun/challenge) vs extrinsic (points, rewards). It covers motivation theories like self-determination and how they apply to game design. Learn why people play games and how designers use motivation to make games engaging (e.g., achievement badges, social recognition). Knowing motivation helps you design goals and feedback that keep players coming back.
This article explains affordances and signifiers – subtle design cues that guide players’ choices unconsciously. It shows how using familiar elements (shared knowledge) like ladders or glowing items helps players intuitively know what to do. Learn how designers nudge players along intended paths without text instructions. This teaches the power of subconscious guidance (color cues, level layout) to create intuitive, learnable game experiences.
An eye-opening look at psychological tricks in games (loot boxes, FOMO, reward schedules) and the responsibility of designers. It discusses how games can exploit player psychology (e.g., loot boxes resembling slot machines) and why ethics matter. You will consider the impact of design on behavior, learning to spot manipulative patterns. This instills the importance of ethical design choices and caring about players’ well-being.
This blog compares major game engines (Unity, Unreal, Godot) covering ease-of-use, features, and typical uses. It lists pros and cons of each engine (e.g., open-source vs high-end graphics). Get guidance on choosing an engine for a project by learning which engines suit 2D or big-budget 3D games, and what trade-offs exist. This helps beginners make informed decisions about development tools.
A comprehensive guide to prototyping. It explains why making quick prototypes (paper or digital) is crucial to test game ideas early. The author covers different prototyping stages and encourages rapid iteration on core mechanics. Learn what to prototype and how it saves time. This article reinforces that prototyping finds issues early, letting teams refine concepts before full production.
Ever wonder when to ditch a game prototype that’s not working? This article from Claritee explains throwaway prototyping, focusing on when to discard a prototype to save time and resources. By mastering this skill, you can iterate effectively, ensuring your game projects focus on viable concepts.
This video from Extra Credits covers the concept of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) in game dev. It advises starting with the smallest playable version of a game and avoiding feature overload. Viewers learn how to identify a game’s core experience and focus on that first. It encourages learners to apply scope reduction and plan small, testable builds for projects, helping them build up a game iteratively and pitch clear ideas.
Explore the differences between prototypes, Minimum Viable Products (MVPs), and full releases in game development. This article explains how MVPs focus on core features for feedback, helping students validate game ideas efficiently. It’s ideal for high schoolers to grasp development stages and apply them to their own game projects.
This guide teaches how to articulate a game’s core experience by designing its gameplay loop, the heart of player engagement. It covers structuring loops for different time scales, using examples like World of Warcraft, helping students create compelling games that keep players hooked, a key skill for game design.
An overview of the MoSCoW prioritization technique (Must/Should/Could/Will-not) for project requirements. It explains how to categorize features by importance, which is a powerful way to reduce scope. For game dev, this helps teams mark which game features are absolutely essential and which can be cut. Students learn a structured method for deciding what to build first and what to drop if running out of time or resources.
CrashCourse video using animations to explain object-oriented programming (OOP). It covers classes, objects, and the four pillars (encapsulation, inheritance, abstraction, polymorphism) with examples. It shows how OOP helps organize code for game characters and why OOP benefits game development.
A lesson plan where students build a block-stacking game using Unreal Blueprints. They create a class hierarchy of blocks to learn about inheritance. The activity illustrates how child classes inherit from parent classes and teaches the role of classes and objects in Unreal.
A blog post using a player health example to show how to write pseudocode for game mechanics. It breaks down game logic step by step (taking damage, updating health) and translates it into pseudocode. This teaches why planning game features in pseudocode is helpful before coding.
An in-depth article on Unreal Engine’s Blueprint system. It explains how Blueprint nodes let developers build gameplay logic without code. It highlights Blueprint benefits (rapid prototyping, easy debugging, collaboration) and how they integrate with C++. This content helps students understand the purpose of Blueprints in game projects.
A blog post with tips for organizing Unreal projects and Blueprints. It covers folder structure and naming (like using prefixes BP_ for Blueprints) and stresses writing clear comments. It emphasizes consistent style and strong organization, showing how good coding habits keep projects manageable.
A tutorial explaining Unreal’s core classes: Actors, Pawns, Character Controllers, and Characters. Actors are any placed object; Pawns are controllable Actors; Controllers (player or AI) drive Pawns; Characters are specialized Pawns. It also covers setting up a GameMode with your player Pawn. This shows students how these engine roles work together in gameplay.
Official Unreal Engine documentation introducing levels and actors. It explains that levels (maps) are the game environments and any object placed in a level is an Actor. Students learn that levels contain geometry, lights, player starts, etc. This clarifies the concept of levels in Unreal and how game worlds are built.
Start your Unreal Engine 5 journey with this comprehensive Blueprint tutorial. It covers syntax basics, recognizing correct syntax, how the Blueprint system works, variables, functions, switch statements, while loops, and data structures. High school students can apply these skills to create interactive mechanics, like player movement or enemy AI, preparing for advanced game projects.
A basic tutorial on programming variables. It defines a variable as a named value container and shows how to create and assign variables in different languages. It explains different data types and even uses 'const' for constants. This helps learners understand variable concept, types, and constant variables.
Master arithmetic operations in Unreal Engine Blueprints with this focused tutorial. Understand basic arithmetic, operator precedence, and integer vs. float division, crucial for controlling game values like health, scores, or positions. High school students will learn to implement dynamic game mechanics, preparing them for complex game logic in projects or future careers.
Debugging is a critical skill in game development, and this tutorial teaches how to identify and fix errors in Unreal Engine Blueprints. Learn to use the console and debug log to pinpoint issues, ensuring your game runs smoothly. This resource helps high school students create polished game projects free from bugs, building confidence for future game design careers.
Master the art of writing effective code comments with this insightful article. Learn to write single-line and multi-line comments, use TODO and FIXME tags, and apply structured comments for labeling functions. Perfect for high school students aiming to improve code readability in game development.
Explore decision-making in Unreal Engine Blueprints with this comprehensive video. Learn to use if statements, else and else if, comparison and logical operators, and nested structures to control game logic. Ideal for high school students eager to implement interactive gameplay.
Bring your game world to life by making objects interactive! This tutorial covers setting up collision and overlap events, messaging between objects, passing data, using tags and layers, creating triggers, raycasting, and implementing interfaces in Unreal Engine 5. Perfect for high school students, it helps create engaging gameplay mechanics like picking up items or opening doors, essential for projects like adventure games or interactive simulations.
Organize your game code efficiently with this tutorial on inheritance in Unreal Engine 5. Learn to create parent and child classes, override functions, use polymorphism, and decide when to use inheritance. Ideal for high school students, this resource helps structure complex game logic, making it easier to manage projects like RPGs or platformers, and builds a foundation for advanced programming skills.
Control the flow of time in your games with this tutorial on timers and delta time in Unreal Engine. It covers handling time, creating timers and delays, using coroutines, understanding delta time, and setting up repeating functions. High school students will learn to implement timed events like enemy spawns or animations, ensuring smooth gameplay across devices, perfect for dynamic game projects.
Create lifelike character behaviors with this tutorial on state machines in Unreal Engine 5. Learn what state machines are, how to create them, and how to convert them to code for animations like walking or jumping. High school students will gain skills to enhance game characters, making them more dynamic in projects like action or adventure games.
Navigate Unreal Engine 5 like a pro with this beginner tutorial on its interface. It covers the workspace, world editor, inspector panel, content browser, play-in-editor feature, and console log. Perfect for high school students new to game development, this video provides a solid foundation for using Unreal Engine’s tools to start building games confidently.
Learn to build an interact system in Unreal Engine with this beginner-friendly tutorial. Discover how to create mechanics like picking up items or talking to characters, essential for making your game world feel alive and interactive. Perfect for high school students aiming to add depth to their game projects.
Kickstart your game development journey with this beginner-friendly tutorial on Unreal Engine 5. Learn to set up a game manager using the Game Instance to handle global variables like player scores or health, essential for maintaining game state across levels. This skill is vital for creating cohesive game experiences, whether for a simple school project or a portfolio piece for future game design careers.
Create a polished main menu in Unreal Engine with this step-by-step guide. Learn how to design an intuitive interface that sets the tone for your game and guides players smoothly into the action. A key skill for high school students to make their games user-friendly and professional.
Understand how to implement a pause menu in your game with this official guide. Learn the importance of giving players control over their experience and how a pause menu contributes to game pacing and usability. A must-read for high school students looking to polish their game projects.
Explore the mechanics of saving and loading game progress in Unreal Engine. This guide teaches you how to create a seamless experience for players, allowing them to pick up where they left off and enhancing game replayability. Ideal for high school students aiming to add professional polish to their games.
Dive into the world of input handling in Unreal Engine 5 with this comprehensive tutorial. Discover how to set up and manage player inputs, understand different input trigger methods, and implement contextual controls to enhance your game's interactivity. Whether you're building a fast-paced shooter or a strategic RPG, mastering input handling is crucial for creating a responsive and engaging player experience. This tutorial is perfect for high school students looking to start their journey in game development, providing clear explanations and practical examples to solidify your understanding.
Learn the fundamentals of camera setup in Unreal Engine 5. This tutorial covers the purpose of cameras in game engines, different camera attributes, and how to implement a follow camera for your characters. Understanding cameras is essential for creating immersive game worlds, as they dictate how players view and interact with the environment. This tutorial is ideal for beginners who want to grasp the basics of camera management in game development.
Enhance your game's visual feedback with camera shake effects. This tutorial teaches you how to create shake effects for impacts and other gameplay events, adding a layer of realism and immersion to your games. Camera shake is a subtle but powerful tool that can make actions feel more impactful and engaging for players. This tutorial is suitable for students who have a basic understanding of Unreal Engine and want to add more polish to their projects.
Understand the world hierarchy in Unreal Engine 5, including how to group objects for scene clarity and the difference between local and global space. This knowledge is crucial for organizing your game world efficiently and managing complex scenes. This tutorial will help you structure your levels in a way that makes sense both for development and for gameplay.
Learn how to implement a basic saving and loading system in Unreal Engine 5. This tutorial covers data serialization, saving and loading data to and from files, and utilizing the engine's player preferences feature. Saving and loading is a fundamental aspect of game development, allowing players to preserve their progress and return to their games later. This tutorial is essential for creating games that support persistent player data.
Discover how to import various types of assets into Unreal Engine 5, including understanding common file types and setting correct import settings. This tutorial also explains the difference between source files and engine-processed assets, which is important for managing your project's content efficiently. Importing assets correctly is the first step in bringing your game to life with visuals and sounds.
Explore the essentials of audio in Unreal Engine 5 with this engaging tutorial. Learn the role of sound in game design, how to distinguish between 2D and 3D sound sources, and how to play sounds using audio sources or nodes, including tweaking properties like volume, pitch, and looping. Adding audio to your game enhances immersion, making actions like footsteps or explosions feel alive, and this tutorial equips high school students with the skills to integrate sound effectively into their projects.
Unleash the power of visual effects in Unreal Engine 5 with this dynamic tutorial. Learn the role of visual effects, what particle systems are, how to create and place them in a scene, and how to trigger them with gameplay events like explosions or magic spells. Visual effects add polish to your games, making them visually spectacular, and this tutorial is perfect for students eager to elevate their game design skills with professional-grade effects.
Master the art of post-processing shaders in Unreal Engine with this focused tutorial. Understand the role of shaders in enhancing game visuals and learn how to create your own to achieve effects like cel shading. Shaders are key to giving your game a unique look, and this tutorial helps high school students add cinematic quality to their projects with step-by-step guidance.
Learn the utility of debugging tools in Unreal Engine, including using print/log statements to trace logic, breakpoints and step-through debugging, watching and inspecting variable values in real time, and using in-editor tools for visual debugging. Debugging is an essential skill for any programmer or game developer, allowing you to identify and fix issues in your code efficiently. This tutorial will help you become more proficient in troubleshooting your projects.
This tutorial covers working with 2D assets in Unreal Engine 5, including understanding what 2D assets are, splicing sprite sheets into individual frames, setting up tilemaps using tilesets, using sorting layers and z-indexing to control draw order, and implementing parallax background effects. 2D games are a great way to start game development, and this tutorial provides a solid foundation for creating 2D games in Unreal Engine.
Learn how to create and control skeletal/rigged animations in Unreal Engine 5, understand timelines and keyframes, rigging and model skeletons, and use blend trees or state machines for smooth transitions. Animations bring your characters to life, making your games more engaging and realistic. This tutorial is crucial for anyone looking to add dynamic characters to their games.
Transform your game’s interactivity with this tutorial on creating user interfaces in Unreal Engine 5 using UMG. Explore designing menus, animating UI elements, binding data like health bars to gameplay, managing screen navigation, and adding audio-visual feedback. These skills are crucial for crafting intuitive interfaces, enhancing player engagement in projects like adventure games or RPGs.
Dive into AI programming with behavior trees in Unreal Engine. This tutorial introduces you to creating intelligent, responsive characters that make your game world dynamic and challenging. Perfect for high school students looking to add depth and realism to their game projects.
Bring your game’s AI to life with this tutorial on pathfinding in Unreal Engine. Learn the role of pathfinding, how to bake navigation meshes, and implement autonomous agent movement for NPCs. These skills enable students to create dynamic, intelligent characters, perfect for projects like strategy games or open-world adventures.
Dive into the physics engine of Unreal Engine 5 with this tutorial. Understand how physics calculations work, create physics objects, apply forces, velocities, and gravity, and control interaction layers. These skills are essential for adding realistic movement to objects, enhancing immersion in games like racing or physics-based puzzles.
Ever wonder how games create epic explosions, magic spells, or atmospheric effects that pull you into the world? This video titled “What is VFX for Games?” by Gabriel Aguiar Productions demystifies the role of visual effects in game design. It explains why VFX are more than just eye candy – they’re essential for player immersion and gameplay feedback. You’ll learn how VFX make game worlds feel alive (think swirling dust or crackling fire) and how game designers use them to tell stories and engage players. This introduction is perfect for aspiring game developers or artists to understand why visual effects matter and how a VFX artist’s work enhances the gaming experience.
Ready to create your own dazzling game effects? This video titled “The Beginner’s Guide to Niagara” by SARKAMARI introduces Unreal Engine’s Niagara VFX system – the powerful tool for building visual effects in UE5. It gives a high-level tour of Niagara’s features and workflow, showing how Niagara empowers artists to craft effects without writing code. You’ll see how a Niagara System is essentially a container for an entire effect, made up of one or more emitters that spawn particles. The guide walks through Niagara’s interface and key concepts, so you can grasp how systems, emitters, and modules work together to create magic on screen. By the end, you’ll understand Niagara’s role and utility in game development and be ready to start experimenting with your own particle effects in Unreal.
Tiny sparks, floating leaves, billowing smoke – particles are the building blocks of visual effects. In this tutorial video “Niagara Particles & Materials [UE4/UE5]” by PrismaticaDev, you’ll learn what particles are and how they work within Unreal’s Niagara system. The presenter demonstrates how particles are spawned and controlled, and even how they interact with materials to create different looks. By understanding the role of a particle – essentially a small animated element like a sprite or mesh – you’ll see how complex effects (fire, rain, magic spells) are actually made of many simple particles working together. This knowledge is crucial for any VFX project: it helps you design your own effects from scratch and is a foundational skill for a future career as a game VFX artist.
What’s the difference between a Niagara Emitter and a Niagara System? This forum mini-tutorial (written by an experienced VFX developer on the Real Time VFX community) breaks down the core structure of Unreal’s Niagara. It clearly defines key pieces: a Niagara particle is described as a set of properties (like position, color, velocity) for each tiny effect element; an Emitter is a collection that manages spawning and updating those particles over time; and a System is a higher-level container that groups multiple emitters into one cohesive effect. With easy-to-follow explanations, the article helps you identify the function of each part of Niagara. Understanding this hierarchy is vital when building complex effects (for example, an explosion system containing emitters for sparks, smoke, and debris). Mastering Niagara’s structure will make you more effective at designing advanced game VFX, a skill highly valued in game development.
Stunning effects are great – but not if they make a game slow to a crawl. In this quick tip video “How to Optimize Niagara Effects with Scalability” on CGCircuit’s channel (featuring VFX artist Stan Petruk), you’ll discover the art of performance budgeting for game VFX. The tutorial shows how to use Unreal’s Niagara settings (like Effect Type scalability options) to keep particle systems efficient. For example, you’ll learn techniques to automatically cull or reduce effects when too many are on screen or far away, ensuring the game stays smooth. By understanding performance budgets, you can strike the right balance between visual flair and frame rate. This skill is crucial in real-world projects – it prepares you to create effects that look amazing and run well on players’ machines, a key consideration for any game development career.
Ever wonder how game developers build those expansive open-world terrains? In the YouTube video "Unreal Engine 5 Tutorial - Landscape for Beginners" by Gorka Games, you'll learn how to use the powerful Landscape tool to sculpt mountains and valleys, then texture them realistically using layers of colors and detailed normal maps. This hands-on tutorial covers creating a new landscape from scratch and painting it with materials, showing why the Landscape tool is essential for environment design. By mastering these skills, you can start designing your own realistic outdoor levels – a crucial ability for environment artists and level designers in the game industry.
Elevate your game’s visuals with this beginner tutorial on rendering in Unreal Engine 5. Learn the differences between rasterization and ray tracing, customize rendering features, implement LODs, and understand the render pipeline for shaders. These skills help students optimize visuals for performance, crucial for creating stunning games on various platforms.
What exactly is a "material" in Unreal Engine and why does it matter for your game's look? This official Epic Games tutorial dives into the basics of materials and the Material Editor. You'll create your first material step-by-step, learn how to apply textures and normal maps, and even make a reusable material instance. The guide highlights the role of materials in bringing 3D models to life – controlling their color, shine, and surface detail. By understanding these fundamentals, you'll be equipped to start crafting custom looks for any game asset, a key skill for game artists and designers.
Ever wanted to change an object's color or texture in real time during gameplay? In the YouTube video "UE5 Blueprint Tutorial - How to Create Dynamic Material Instances" by Unreal Dev Hub, you'll discover how Unreal's Blueprint system can control materials on the fly. This tutorial shows you how to create a Dynamic Material Instance and use Blueprint scripts to alter material properties (like color or glow) during runtime. Mastering this technique opens up interactive possibilities – from flashing damage effects on a character's armor to changing environment moods at the press of a button – all without writing a single line of code. It's a must-know trick for game developers to make their worlds more responsive and dynamic.
Materials aren't just pretty pictures – they're powered by math! The YouTube video "Add, Subtract, Multiply & Divide Nodes EXPLAINED! Unreal Engine Materials" by Hoj Dee demystifies the math behind material creation. You'll see how simple math nodes (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division) can be used in Unreal's Material Editor to blend textures and create cool effects. By understanding these building-block operations, you'll gain insight into how complex shaders are made. It's an eye-opener for aspiring technical artists, showing how algebra and art intersect to achieve visual effects like blending layers or adjusting brightness in games.
Great lighting can turn a good game into a breathtaking one. This RenderHub article, "Mastering the Art of Lighting in Games: Techniques, Setups and Optimization", explores why lighting is so crucial in game development and how to do it right. It discusses how light impacts player immersion and mood, giving examples of effective lighting in games. You'll also learn about common pitfalls that lead to poor lighting (like overly dark scenes or flat, uninteresting light) and how to avoid them by using proper techniques. Whether you dream of being a lighting artist or just want your game levels to look more professional, this guide illuminates the path to better lighting design.
Not all lights in Unreal Engine are the same – do you know when to use each one? The YouTube video "The 5 Types of Lights in Unreal Engine 5" by UE Film Academy breaks down the major light types and their specific uses. In just a few minutes, you'll see clear demos of Point Lights, Rect Lights, Spot Lights, Sky Lights, and Directional Lights in action. Understanding these tools is vital for lighting any scene effectively, whether you're simulating a sunny sky with a Directional Light or adding a flickering lamp with a Point Light. After this tutorial, you'll know exactly which type of light to choose for the creative or realistic effect you want in your game project.
Extend Unreal Engine’s functionality with this tutorial on creating plugins. Understand the role of plugins and manage dependencies to enhance your game projects. This knowledge is key for adding custom features, preparing students for advanced development roles in the gaming industry.
Get started with Unreal Engine 5 by learning essential project settings in this beginner tutorial. Configure auto-save frequency and default classes to streamline your workflow. These foundational skills ensure efficient project management, vital for any game development endeavor.
Master version control for Unreal Engine 5 with this step-by-step guide. Learn the role of version control, key terms, major providers like GitHub, and how to manage branches, commits, and merge conflicts. These skills are essential for collaborative game development, enabling students to work effectively in teams.
Discover the art of game balancing with this engaging tutorial. Understand the role of balancing, identify unbalanced systems, and use tools to correct them. These skills help students create fair and enjoyable gameplay, critical for any game genre, from shooters to strategy games.
Boost your game’s performance with this guide on optimizing rendering in Unreal Engine. Learn major optimization techniques, identify performance reducers, and understand the role of caching. These skills ensure smooth gameplay, making your projects stand out in performance-critical environments.
Perfect your game through playtesting with this tutorial. Learn to distinguish between internal and external testing, follow playtesting steps, select survey samples, and conduct effective playtests. These skills help students refine their games based on player feedback, ensuring a polished product.
Learn how to use negative player feedback to improve your game design. This video explores how constructive criticism can be a powerful tool for refining mechanics, balancing difficulty, and enhancing player satisfaction. Essential viewing for high school students aiming to create games that players love.
Add the final touches to your game with this tutorial on polishing. Understand the player-centric process of polish, identify common areas like animations and effects, and enhance gameplay feel. These skills elevate your game’s quality, making it more engaging for players.
This comprehensive guide from the International Game Developers Association outlines the best practices for crediting in game development. It covers the purpose of crediting, the difference between attribution and licensing, and ensures that all team members are recognized for their work. Ideal for high school students learning about the professional aspects of game development, this resource helps understand the ethics and standards of crediting in the industry.
Learn how to properly package and export your game from Unreal Engine. This tutorial covers understanding the backing, packaging, and exporting processes, build targets for different platforms, best practices for export settings, assigning version numbers, and adding supplementary build content like icons and splash screens. Perfect for high school students starting their game development journey, this video provides practical steps to prepare your game for distribution.
Dive into marketing your indie game with this engaging tutorial. It covers the importance of marketing, different marketing phases, asset types like screenshots and trailers, unique selling points, and identifying target audiences. High school students will learn to create compelling promotional materials, essential for showcasing their games to players and building a foundation for a game development career.
Create a standout game development portfolio with this beginner-friendly tutorial. It explains the importance of portfolios in the games industry, how to select worthy content like game prototypes, and the utility of public repositories like GitHub. This resource helps high school students prepare professional portfolios to showcase their Unreal Engine projects, boosting their chances in future game development opportunities.
Reflect on your game projects with this insightful GDC tutorial on postmortems. Learn what a postmortem is, the benefits of reflection for improving future projects, and best practices for conducting them. This video is perfect for high school students to understand how to analyze their game development process, enhancing their skills for iterative design and project management.
Keep your game running smoothly with this tutorial on game maintenance. It covers what maintenance involves, its importance for player satisfaction, best practices for updates, the differences between updates, patches, and hotfixes, and effective documentation. High school students will learn to support their games post-release, a critical skill for maintaining professional-quality projects.
"In this classic top-down tower defense challenge, your mission is to protect the kingdom’s castle from wave after wave of invading enemies. Each level starts with a limited pool of resources for building towers and buying upgrades, so careful planning is essential. The battlefield is a grid of stone paths and grassy areas — enemies can only travel along the stone, forcing them into choke points where your archers, knights, and catapults can do their work. Enemy movement is handled through Construct’s Pathfinding behavior, which dynamically calculates the best route around blocked areas and newly placed towers. This allows every wave to adapt to your defenses instead of blindly marching forward, keeping the action unpredictable. Check out how to use the ""Pathfind"" behavior in Construct here: https://www.construct.net/en/make-games/manuals/construct-3/behavior-reference/pathfinding"
Live service games rely on online servers to function. When studios shut them down, players lose access to purchased content. Advocates for regulation say consumers deserve lasting access, while studios cite cost and resource management. Should there be a mandate to preserve playability?
Lootboxes are digital items in games that give players random rewards. Critics argue they encourage gambling behavior, especially in minors, due to their randomized nature and real-money cost. Supporters claim they’re optional features that fund free-to-play games. Should governments step in and regulate or ban them?
"This RPG-meets-fighting game blends dungeon exploration with real-time combat and a fully functional inventory system. Players can collect weapons, armor, and consumables while navigating the world, then view and manage their gear through a dedicated inventory screen laid out in a 2D grid. The system is built on Construct’s Array object, which stores item data in a structured way and makes it easy to add, remove, and rearrange items. By pairing Arrays with sprites and text objects, the game can dynamically display the player’s current loadout and update it instantly when new items are acquired. If you want to try something similar, explore how Arrays combined with event logic can create flexible inventory systems that grow with your game’s needs. Check out how to use ""Arrays"" in Construct here: https://www.construct.net/en/make-games/manuals/construct-3/plugin-reference/array"
"This innovative twist on chess uses Construct’s Multiplayer system to let players face off in real time — with a twist. When two pieces engage (for example, two pawns collide), the match seamlessly switches to a live 2D platformer combat scene to decide the capture. Combat uses the Platform behavior for movement and Pin for attaching weapons or effects, while Dictionary and JSON objects store each piece’s combat stats. Weaker chess pieces start with lower health and damage, so board strategy still matters even when fights go real-time. If you want to try something similar, explore combining Multiplayer with genre swaps powered by shared state. Check out how to use the ""Persist"" behavior in Construct here: https://www.construct.net/en/make-games/manuals/construct-3/behavior-reference/persist"
"In this top-down maze adventure, your goal is to collect all required keys in the correct order before escaping — but each level adds new twists to keep you on your toes. Early stages teach the basics of movement and key collection, while later ones throw in deadly hazards, phase walls that open and close, and one-way dash zones that launch you forward. The entire experience hinges on Construct’s collision detection system, which determines when the player picks up a key, gets crushed by a wall, or triggers the exit. Collisions are also used to enforce solid walls and prevent movement through blocked areas, making them the backbone of the game’s rules. If you want to try something similar, experiment with using a single collision system to drive multiple mechanics rather than creating separate logic for each. Check out how to use ""collisions"" in Construct here: https://www.construct.net/en/make-games/manuals/construct-3/behavior-reference/physics"
"This dungeon crawler sets itself apart with a unique twist: every wall can be destroyed. The player’s sword always points toward the mouse cursor, letting you attack enemies or break any wall tile in your path. The dungeon layout is built on Construct’s Tilemap system, which makes it possible to remove or replace individual tiles at runtime. Breaking walls isn’t just for show — it opens up new routes, creates defensive barriers, or lets you carve a shortcut straight to your goal. If you want to try something similar, explore how Tilemap operations can give players the freedom to alter the environment in real time, changing both navigation and strategy. Check out how to use ""Tilemaps"" in Construct here: https://www.construct.net/en/make-games/manuals/construct-3/plugin-reference/tilemap"
Puzzle boxes are often admired for their creativity and entertainment value, but their effectiveness as secure storage is debated. Supporters of the opposing view argue that puzzle boxes are designed more for novelty and intellectual challenge than true protection—most can be solved with patience, trial and error, or even forced open with little effort. Unlike safes or locks, they rarely use durable materials or advanced security mechanisms. Defenders may counter that puzzle boxes provide a layer of hidden security, deterring casual access and adding aesthetic appeal.
The rise of robotics in manufacturing has sparked debate over its impact on workers and industry. Supporters of preventing manufacturers from replacing assembly line workers with robots argue that automation displaces jobs, destabilizes communities, and prioritizes profit over people. Human workers bring adaptability, problem-solving, and the need for fair wages that support local economies—values robots cannot replace. Critics counter that robots improve efficiency, reduce errors, and handle dangerous or repetitive tasks, allowing companies to stay competitive and freeing humans for more skilled roles.
Puzzle boxes combine two key elements: the outer puzzle that challenges the user’s thinking, and the hidden mechanisms that make the box function. Supporters of prioritizing the puzzles argue that the true value lies in the intellectual challenge, creativity, and engagement they provide—after all, a clever riddle or layered challenge can captivate users even if the mechanisms are simple. On the other hand, some emphasize the importance of mechanisms, noting that the physical engineering determines how surprising, durable, and satisfying the puzzle feels in practice.
Products that try to appeal to “everyone” often end up resonating with no one. Supporters of this view argue that without a clear target audience, products lack focus, making it difficult to design features, branding, and marketing that meet specific needs or stand out in a crowded market. A broad “anyone” approach can dilute value, leading to generic products that fail to connect deeply with customers. Critics, however, may point to widely adopted technologies or everyday essentials that seem to transcend demographics.
Laser cutters and 3D printers are both essential tools in modern manufacturing, but they serve different strengths. Laser cutters excel at speed, precision, and versatility with materials like wood, acrylic, and metal, making them ideal for producing durable, usable parts at low cost. In contrast, 3D printers specialize in building complex, customized shapes layer by layer, offering unmatched design freedom but often at the cost of slower production and weaker material strength.
Write a concise document that defines your puzzle box’s purpose, target audience, core concept, and how it meets the requirements. Your goal is to communicate your vision in a professional, organized way that sets up successful prototyping and fabrication.
Prototyping can be done with simple arts-and-crafts materials or through advanced computer-aided design (CAD) software, but the effectiveness of each approach is debated. Critics of arts-and-crafts prototyping argue that while it may be quick and inexpensive, it often lacks precision, scalability, and the ability to translate directly into manufacturing processes. CAD, on the other hand, allows for accurate measurements, digital simulations, and easy revisions, making it far more powerful for professional design and production. However, defenders of low-tech prototyping note that hands-on models can spark creativity and help communicate ideas early in the design process.
This video shows how snap-fit features are used in mechanical assemblies. You’ll see how parts flex and lock together without fasteners. It helps you recognise where snap fits are useful (in product enclosures, consumer plastics, low-cost assembly) and understand their design constraints.
This video shows a clear method for turning common fractions into decimal form. Through animated examples, you’ll see how fractions like 1/8 become 0.125 by dividing, and how to handle other denominators step by step. It’s a handy math refresher for manufacturing contexts – for example, converting an inch fraction on a blueprint into a decimal inch for input into CAD software or machines.
Create simple blueprints and a quick physical prototype to test your puzzle box’s structure and mechanics. Your goal is to translate your ideas into a tangible form that demonstrates feasibility and communicates structure for real-world manufacturing.
Some argue that employers should filter applicants based on their CAD keyboard shortcut usage, since shortcuts can drastically improve speed, efficiency, and workflow—skills that directly impact productivity in design and manufacturing environments. Proficiency with shortcuts may also signal deeper familiarity with the software and a professional level of expertise. Critics counter that while shortcuts are useful, they shouldn’t be a hiring gatekeeper; creativity, problem-solving, and overall design ability matter far more than whether someone uses hotkeys instead of menus.
Use Autodesk Fusion to design your puzzle box in 3D, then create animations to show how its mechanisms and puzzles work. Your goal is to build a functional digital model using CAD that clearly visualizes how your puzzle box operates through precise modeling and motion.
This video covers multiple related themes: how drawing software fits into the laser cutting process, difference between raster vs vector images, converting raster to vector, paths, line settings, and editing document properties for laser cutters. It’s a “multi-skill” resource.
This article explains what a toolpath is in CNC machining: a sequence of instructions defining how the cutting tool moves (direction, depth, speed). You’ll learn about different types (contour, pocket, drilling, 3D roughing/finishing), how CAM software generates them, and considerations like tool wear, efficiency, and part geometry.
Identify parts suitable for laser cutting, prepare vector files in Inkscape, and assemble a box frame using only laser-cut materials. Your goal is to demonstrate practical fabrication skills by converting digital plans into physical, laser-cut components assembled with accuracy and intent.
PLA and ABS are two of the most widely used 3D printing materials, but opinions differ on which is better. Supporters of PLA argue it is easier to print with, more environmentally friendly since it is plant-based and biodegradable, and offers a wide range of colors and finishes for creative projects. It requires lower temperatures, produces less odor, and works well for beginners and rapid prototyping. Advocates for ABS counter that while it is harder to work with, it produces stronger, more durable, and heat-resistant parts—making it the superior choice for functional or industrial applications.
Design and export STL files from Fusion, print your puzzle box mechanisms, and assemble them into your laser-cut frame. Your goal is to explore additive manufacturing to produce the final pieces for your puzzle box, making it both functional and precisely engineered.
An example video that highlights what makes an engaging demonstration video (for a puzzle box): storyboarding, camera shots, pacing, transitions. Sit back and enjoy this video as you take notes on what works and what ideas for a more engaging demo you have. Useful for preparing a polished demo video.
When advertising a puzzle box, some argue that logos (logic) is the stronger tool, since puzzle boxes inherently appeal to reasoning, problem-solving, and the intellectual satisfaction of cracking a challenge. Highlighting features like difficulty level, clever mechanisms, or design quality appeals to buyers who value logic and mental engagement. Others counter that pathos (emotion) can be more powerful, as puzzle boxes also carry feelings of wonder, surprise, and delight—making emotional storytelling and the promise of joy more persuasive than technical details.
Build your completed puzzle box, finish it with all required processes, and create a short video that demonstrates solving it. Your goal is to present a fully constructed, working puzzle box that proves your ability to move from concept through fabrication to a functional final product.
Produce a polished, persuasive advertisement that both shows your puzzle box working and convinces an audience why it’s worth owning. Your goal is to persuasively showcase your completed puzzle box through storytelling, visual clarity, and editing polish that make viewers want to own it.
This concise article provides a beginner-friendly overview of Industry 4.0 – the fourth industrial revolution – and what it means for manufacturing. It explains how modern factories are integrating digital technologies like the Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and robotics to create 'smart' production systems. Readers will learn how machines now communicate and make decentralized decisions, enabling more efficient, customized, and flexible manufacturing processes. The article also touches on the benefits (higher productivity, predictive maintenance, reduced downtime) and challenges (cybersecurity, skill gaps) of Industry 4.0. After reading, students will understand the buzzword 'Industry 4.0' and recognize how advances in tech are transforming the way things are made in the 21st century.
As machines replace human jobs, some propose taxing automation to fund retraining and social programs. Supporters say it maintains balance in the job market. Critics warn it may slow innovation or penalize efficiency. Should robots help pay for displaced workers?
High school engineering teacher Doug Scott explains the basics of how 3D printing works and what it can create, as demonstrated at the USPTO’s National Summer Teachers Institute. Viewers see a classroom perspective on 3D design turning into physical objects with a 3D printer. This video introduces additive manufacturing principles in an accessible way, inspiring students to imagine inventing and prototyping their own designs with 3D printing. Learners will discover how digital models are transformed into real items layer by layer, learn the steps from design to printed product, and understand the inventive mindset behind classroom 3D printing projects.
An inside look at a high school program where students operate a 3D printing farm as part of their curriculum. This 11-minute video shows how Spark Academy students simultaneously manage multiple 3D printers to manufacture parts, showcasing an innovative, hands-on approach to learning additive manufacturing. Viewers will learn what skills these teenagers develop – from 3D design and printer maintenance to problem-solving and teamwork – and see how mastering cutting-edge fabrication technology prepares them for engineering and design careers. This engaging story highlights how creativity and modern tools come together in education to reshape the future of manufacturing.
A profile of three high school youth apprentices working in real manufacturing jobs while still in school. This video introduces Levi, Owen, and Oscar – teens gaining hands-on experience with precision machining, CNC operations, and industrial fabrication through a youth apprenticeship program. They discuss the technical skills they’ve learned (like using calipers, CNC machines, and welding) and how the program is shaping their futures. Viewers discover how early exposure to manufacturing careers, mentorship from industry professionals, and on-the-job training can launch a rewarding career pathway. This piece inspires students by showing peers successfully entering high-tech manufacturing trades.
A 7-minute PBS NewsHour clip examining a program that prepares inner-city high school students for advanced manufacturing careers. Economic correspondent Paul Solman visits a training program where teens learn high-skill, high-paying factory job skills to help fill the manufacturing labor gap. Viewers learn about the looming shortage of manufacturing workers and see how real students gain hands-on technical training (like machining and robotics) while still in high school. The segment highlights career-readiness skills, the value of vocational education, and how early training can lead to well-paid manufacturing jobs. It connects classroom learning to industry needs, showing the relevance of STEM and technical skills in the modern workforce.
A CrashCourse Engineering video that uses ice cream production to explore the world of food manufacturing. It reveals the engineering challenges of mass-producing a perishable product like ice cream, from processing ingredients safely to packaging. Learners will see how many branches of engineering come into play to process ingredients, ensure safety for consumers, and package food, as well as how thermodynamics is involved in the different stages of food production. The video explains how pasteurization, precise temperature control, and automated machinery are used in food factories to produce consistent quality. By highlighting the technology and problem-solving behind something as fun as ice cream, this segment shows how engineers tackle real-world manufacturing problems and connect to everyday products.
This CrashCourse Engineering episode introduces the field of industrial engineering alongside biomedical engineering, outlining how industrial engineers optimize manufacturing systems for efficiency. Students will learn the history and fundamentals of industrial engineering — from assembly line design to workflow management — and how these principles increase productivity in factories. The video covers concepts like time studies (Frederick Taylor) and modern automation, showing how industrial engineers streamline processes and reduce waste. By comparing various engineering branches, it highlights the role of industrial engineers in improving production in manufacturing, preparing learners to understand lean manufacturing and system optimization in real-world operations.
A vivid 5-minute TED-Ed animation that takes viewers inside a semiconductor fabrication plant to see how computer microchips are manufactured. It explains the photolithography process that etches billions of tiny transistors onto silicon wafers, highlighting the extreme precision and cleanroom conditions required to build modern electronics. Learners will discover how layers of materials are deposited and etched away to create intricate circuits, and consider the environmental impact of this process}. By simplifying complex chemical and physical steps into an engaging story, the video builds understanding of advanced manufacturing in the tech industry and underscores the ingenuity needed to mass-produce the chips that power our devices.
A 23-minute NASA EDGE program giving an inside look at how NASA uses 3D printing (additive manufacturing) for space exploration Viewers join NASA hosts Chris and Franklin as they tour cutting-edge projects from the Advanced Exploration Systems Office, seeing how custom parts are 3D-printed for use in rockets and on spacecraft. The episode explores the challenges of printing tools and components in microgravity and the potential to manufacture habitats or equipment off-Earth. Students will learn real-world aerospace applications of additive manufacturing – like weight-saving designs and on-demand part production – and discover how skills in CAD and materials science enable future space missions. This behind-the-scenes look connects advanced manufacturing skills to exciting careers building humanity’s future in space.
Join YouTuber Daniel Shiffman for a **3-hour beginner coding course** that feels like a fun workshop. In this video, you’ll learn creative coding using the Processing language (a beginner-friendly JavaScript framework) to draw art and visuals with code. The course starts from scratch – setting up your coding environment – and gradually introduces concepts like variables, loops, and drawing functions. By the end, you’ll have programmed your own interactive visual designs. It’s a comprehensive, hands-on introduction for aspiring coders, especially those interested in art and graphics.
In this CrashCourse Computer Science video, host Carrie Anne Philbin breaks down the **basic building blocks of programming**. You’ll learn about statements, functions, and how computers follow instructions step-by-step. The video uses simple examples to show what coding syntax looks like and how a program executes. It’s a quick conceptual introduction that demystifies what code is and sets you up for success when you start writing your own programs.
Featuring tech icons and celebrities, this famous Code.org video “**What Most Schools Don’t Teach**” makes the case that **anyone** can learn coding. Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and others talk about how they started programming, and will inspire you with stories of students who built cool apps. It’s a motivational glimpse into the creative power of coding and why it’s important to learn – presented in an upbeat, teen-friendly way.
This short video from Code.org shows how computer science is changing every industry and aspect of society. Through real-world examples – from medicine to music – it highlights that coding isn’t just for programmers; it’s powering innovations everywhere. Leaders like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg make cameos to emphasize that **computer science is for everyone**. It’s an inspiring overview that will open your eyes to the endless possibilities you can create with coding knowledge.
“**Dance Party**” is a lively Hour of Code activity where you use block coding to choreograph a dance. This free interactive tutorial lets you snap together coding blocks to make funny characters dance to popular songs. You’ll learn basics like sequencing and events as you create your own animated dance party on screen. It’s a quick, creative introduction to coding that ends with a colorful performance you can share!
In **Minecraft: Voyage Aquatic**, you’ll learn coding by guiding a Minecraft character through ocean puzzles. This Hour of Code interactive module has you drag-and-drop code blocks (like loops and conditionals) to explore and solve tasks in a Minecraft underwater world. With each level, you build your skills – from navigating a boat to catching underwater creatures. It’s a fun, self-paced way to dive into programming fundamentals with a Minecraft twist.
**Think Like A Coder** is an animated story series that teaches programming concepts through adventure. In Episode 1, *“The Prison Break,”* a girl named Ethic and her robot companion must escape a cell by solving puzzles using logic and coding principles. This video introduces loops and sequence in a fun narrative format. It’s a short, story-driven way to start thinking like a programmer – perfect for those who enjoy storytelling while learning tech.
In this introductory Scratch coding tutorial, you’ll learn the basics of creating animations and games with **Scratch**. The video walks you through the Scratch interface and shows how to snap together colorful coding blocks to make characters move and interact. Geared toward beginners, it covers fundamental concepts like loops and events in a simple, engaging way. By following along, you’ll build a short project and gain the confidence to start making your own Scratch creations.
This Khan Academy Hour of Code activity teaches you to **draw and animate with JavaScript**. Through step-by-step challenges, you’ll write simple JavaScript commands (using the ProcessingJS library) to create shapes, characters, and even a snowman on the screen. The tutorial is interactive – as you code, you immediately see your drawings come to life. By the end of this hour, you will have learned the basics of computer graphics programming and made your own digital art!
This CrashCourse Engineering episode introduces the field of industrial engineering alongside biomedical engineering, outlining how industrial engineers optimize manufacturing systems for efficiency. Students will learn the history and fundamentals of industrial engineering — from assembly line design to workflow management — and how these principles increase productivity in factories. The video covers concepts like time studies (Frederick Taylor) and modern automation, showing how industrial engineers streamline processes and reduce waste. By comparing various engineering branches, it highlights the role of industrial engineers in improving production in manufacturing, preparing learners to understand lean manufacturing and system optimization in real-world operations.
As software becomes critical in daily life, the impact of bugs grows. Some argue developers must be accountable for security flaws, especially if exploited. Others warn that liability would stifle innovation or burden small developers. Who bears the responsibility for digital harm?
Energy3D is a free, -based 3D CAD tool for designing green buildings and power stations that harness renewable energy to achieve sustainable development. Students can sketch buildings, position them on real map images, and analyze solar performance with heat maps and graphs. Artificial intelligence features even help optimize designs. At the end, you can print and assemble a paper model of your structure.
A short animated lesson on bioprinting – a form of 3D printing that uses bio-ink made of living cells to create human tissues. Educator Taneka Jones explains how scientists are developing techniques to fabricate organs from scratch, exploring the regenerative medicine that could one day save lives by printing transplantable human tissue.
This hands-on module explores how Pixar creates natural-looking environments by weaving straight lines into smooth curves. Students use midpoints to construct parabolic arcs, learning the math behind realistic scenery in animation. The lesson includes interactive exercises and takes about an hour to complete, blending art, geometry, and computer graphics.
An interactive lesson from Pixar in a Box that teaches subdivision surface modeling, a technique Pixar uses to create smooth 3D characters. Through videos and practice, learners discover how splitting and averaging operations refine a 3D mesh, demonstrating one of Pixar’s key technologies for turning rough models into detailed, lifelike characters.
A step-by-step tutorial by an educator that introduces free 3D modeling software and techniques for beginners through advanced users. It covers choosing the right CAD software, from solid modeling (Tinkercad, AutoCAD, etc.) to surface modeling (Blender, Maya), and provides short video lessons to build skills in designing and prototyping your own 3D creations.
High school engineering teacher Doug Scott explains the basics of how a 3D printer works, what it can make, and how students can create their own designs. This video-based lesson connects invention and education, showing that “anyone can be an inventor” through tools like 3D printing.
Meet six seniors in a high school CAD program using 3D modeling software to create mechanical and architectural designs. This short profile shows how students apply CAD skills to fields like engineering, entertainment, visual effects, and more, demonstrating the real-world impact of learning 3D modeling.
Open University course covering the fundamentals of additive manufacturing processes, from creating a computer-aided design model to building a final 3D-printed part. Learners explore the steps of 3D printing, materials and techniques, design implications, and how 3D printing is transforming modern manufacturing.
A brief video profile of Neesa Nelson, a high school senior passionate about designing and engineering 3D models in her CAD class. Neesa shares her enthusiasm for 3D modeling and how working on 3D printing projects at school inspires her creativity and future goals in education.
A concise encyclopedia entry explaining the 3D printing process and its limitations. It describes how a print head deposits material drop by drop (similar to an inkjet printer) to build up a 3D object. The article also discusses common polymers used (like ABS and polypropylene) and design considerations such as support structures and voids in 3D-printed components.
