Tara Intyrath: Week 3 - Mouse

Concept: For this project I wanted to make a mouse that I had never really seen before but also usable. Then I came across an image of a hollow-like mouse and wanted to make something similar to it. I decided to make the front "empty" while having the back of the mouse heavy as all what makes a mouse move and work should reside inside it.

Technique: I had a lot more trouble than I thought I would making this. It started out smoothly as I molded what shape I wanted the mouse to be using the technique in the video tutorials which used a lot of the curve tools and finally using a network surface and then a sweep2, closing it off with a cap. After that I had difficulty keeping the whole thing a closed polysurface. I made some mistakes as I was splitting the objects and ended turning it into several open polysurfaces. I fixed this with a lot of "create solid" and creating curves, extruding them, and them capping them off to make a solid again. I also experimented with the tools bend and taper for the mouse clickers. Other tools I used for some minor details were boolean difference, fillet, and boolean join. 

Materials: I really like modern designs which is why I used a metal material for the "support" or base of the mouse. It also helps to think that it would be able to support the weight of whoever is using it while they click away. The scroller is a rubber material as most mouse scrollers are and for the "body" of the mouse I made it a wood finish to contrast with the metal support. The LR-clickers are from a black plastic.