See attachment, assistance requested

3D printing is a process of making three-dimensional objects from a digital file. The creation of three-dimensional designs utilizes additive processes. Printing of a 3D object is aa process involving many steps (Vogt, B. 2016). The 3D printing commences with the making of a virtual model of the subject matter in mind. The object is in most cases a Computer Aided Design (CAD) file. The CAD file is produced using a 3D modeling application or with a 3D scanner to copy a preexisting objects. The process of 3D printing involves two major components 3D scanners and 3D modeling software.

3D scanners utilize different technologies to produce a 3D model. These techniques include time-of-flight, structured or modulated, volumetric scanning and much more. Today many companies such as Google are implementing 3D scanning in their hardware. 3D modeling software also comes I different forms (Vogt, B. 2016). There is industrial grade software that cost thousands of dollars per year. That is, you have to pay a license for the license on a yearly basis. However, there is also open sourced software like Blender.

The 3D is sliced first. Slicing is dividing the model into hundreds or thousands of horizontal layers. Slicing is performed using software for precision. In some 3D models, it is possible to slice them from within the 3D modeling software application. After slicing of 3D, the model is ready to be fed to the 3D printer (Hiekata et al., 2016). A USB device, SD or Wi-Fi is used to supply the data to the printer, but it all depends on the type of printer in use. When a file is uploaded in a 3D printer, the object is printed layer by layer. The printer reads every slice which is a 2D image and creates a three-dimensional object.

The main aim of the project is to produce 3D designs of buildings. Architects and construction managers have noted that it is tough to explain the model of a building to their customers.

This problem is brought about by the fact that most of the customers do not have the technical knowledge needed to interpret drawings. Drawings are the commonly used form of presentation (Hiekata et al., 2016). Multiple rejections and measurements characterize these drawings. Through the 3D models that are printed to scale, the technicians hope that their presentations will become understandable even to the non-technical minds.

The waterfall project design methodology is the most easily and most implementable method in this design plan. The waterfall model is a project management methodology based on the sequential design process. Much like the waterfall that fills lower levels with pools of water, the phases in the waterfall model flow from one to the other. The waterfall model finishes one phase before the next step begins. Waterfall methodology applies to this project because the project is small and the requirements of the project are determined upfront (Mahadevan et al., 2015). A waterfall model has six phases namely: requirements, design, implementation, verification deployment, and maintenance.

The waterfall model requires that the requirements are documented correctly before any other project work begins. Therefore, the project manager spends more time in this phase. The gathering of needs starts with the concept of what the customer needs are. The manager discusses the idea with the customers together with subject matter experts and other stakeholders (Schubert et al., 2014). The project aims at producing presentable 3D models of architectural structures for its clients. The primary customers are home builders, architects and everyone who is involved in the contracting business.

After the requirements stage, the project manager commences of the system design. This phase is concerned with studying the requirements and specifications stated in the first stage.

The stage helps in specifying hardware and system requirements and also helps in defining the overall architecture of the scheme. The logical design is an abstract representation of how the software data flow, the inputs and the outputs. After full completion of the plan, the team will review and approve the design.

After approval of the 3D design then comes in the implementation phase, this phase is concerned with building the layout into the actual software. The 3D design that was approved is then incorporated into the real software (Mahadevan et al., 2015). The code is written, debugged and then tested. During this stage, the programmers do the actual coding according to the stipulated needs.

Once the functional and the non-functional testing is done, the finished and tested product is launched into the customer base (Mahadevan et al., 2015). The product is released to the market for the customers to use it. Some complications come up after the product initiation, here, the maintenance phase comes in. These issues are mainly software related and not hardware related. Therefore, to fix these problems, patches are released into the market. Patches are just quick fixes to these complications and take various forms. To enhance the productivity of the system, then better versions are released to the market. Maintenance is performed to deliver these changes to the customer environment.

The waterfall model has various advantages, and they include:

• The arrangement of tasks in this model is comfortable.

• The documentation of processes and results in this model is good.

• Also, the stages in the waterfall model are defined.

• Waterfall model works well for smaller projects such as this one and requirements are well understood.

• In this model, the phases are processed and completed one at a time.

Waterfall model also has its disadvantages, and they include:

• The model is not appropriate for a project whose requirements are at a high risk of changing.

• When implementing the waterfall model, it is not easy to measure the progress of stages.

• The model cannot accommodate changing requirements i.e. the model is not flexible.

• The model is not appropriate for projects that take longer to complete.

• Waterfall modeling also has high amounts of risk and uncertainty.

The design input requirements must be documented, and the specified conditions verified. A system must be tested and validated before its presentation to the users (Mahadevan et al., 2015). After the 3D system has been designed and complemented, the system need be given to a group of users who test it. The users verify that the 3D system works as required and as stipulated.

The stakeholders of this project are the programmers, customers, system designers, and consultants. The role of the customers who are mainly people in the construction industry is to provide the market with the product. The programmers, on the other hand, are to write down the code of the 3D system or what is commonly known as implementation. Consultants offer technical advice to the team tasks with developing the system e.g. software or system engineers. Users are also stakeholders in the system the users are used in the testing of the scheme before its release to the market. System designers provide information about the system models.

Conceptual design stage of the scheme development incorporates a team of consultants who go through the original idea to solve the identified problem (Schubert et al., 2014).

The team outlines the specifications and a planning strategy. Procurement and program phasing plan is also a matter of concern at this stage. Various testing procedures are applied to verify and validate the system.

References

Development Architecture Comparison of Waterfall and Agile Using Reliability Growth Model. In ISPE TE (pp. 471-480).

Hiekata, K., Mitsuyuki, T., Goto, T., & Moser, B. R. (2016, October). Design of Software

Mahadevan, L., Kettinger, W. J., & Meservy, T. O. (2015). Running on Hybrid: Control Changes when Introducing an Agile Methodology in a Traditional" Waterfall" System Development Environment. CAIS, 36, 5.

Schubert, C., Van Langeveld, M. C., & Donoso, L. A. (2014). Innovations in 3D printing: a 3D overview from optics to organs. British Journal of Ophthalmology, 98(2), 159-161.

Vogt, B. (2016). CREATING THEORETICAL MODELS OF VAULTS WITH THE USE OF AUTOCAD SOFTWARE, ON THE EXAMPLE OF BARREL VAULTS. Technical Transactions, (8).