Part of the UCLA Library’s mission is to support education, and so it is crucial that the Lux Lab also gear itself towards working with instructors to integrate its services into the classroom. I have sought out a variety of applications for our equipment, and have built relationships with instructors across campus.
MAE162 & 94
Every year beginning in 2017, the Lux Lab has increasingly supported both the under division and upper division Capstone classes for the Mechanical Engineering department. In both courses, students are tasked with designing and building various tools or robots. Although the Mechanical Engineering department has 3D printers of their own, the Lux Lab’s service structure gave students unprecedented access to 3D printing. Students simply submit their parts, and usually within 24-48 hours are able to pick them up from Powell Library. Our capacity has grown to allow instructors to shrink group sizes for these projects from six students per group to just one, meaning each student was getting far more hands-on learning.
ANE M179
The Cotsen Institute reached out to the Lux Lab for support in teaching a course in the Ancient Near East department. Students in the class were given a 3D scanning lesson in addition to a 3D scan of an artifact of their choice, chosen from a selection of African ironworks from the Fowler museum’s collection. In addition to a demonstration of how the scanner worked, students were also shown how to work with the raw scan data in order to produce a 3D model. This model is what they used in order to build a mock digital museum exhibit about their artifact.
Trojan Barbie
UCLA has a large amount of professions for students to pursue, and the Theater, Film, and Television department is a large part of the campus. Each year, the department produces a variety of plays and ensembles. The Prop Shop worked closely with us to produce “marble” statues that were molded from 3D scans of the actors from the play. These scans were 3D printed and then given to the Prop Shop to work their magic, turning them into inexpensive yet incredibly lifelike facsimiles of Roman and Greek sculptures.