Just like students, no two snowflakes are alike! In this activity, students use Computer Aided Design (CAD) to create their own personal snowflake! Students will use sketch tools, mirror, circular pattern and snip tools to create the fractal-like qualities of their own snowflake. Additional instruction is provided to help students convert their 2D Onshape file to a .svg file using Inkscape.

Laser cutters and vinyl cutters are becoming increasing popular in school STEM classrooms and makerspaces because they provide limitless opportunity for students to create a wide variety of engineering models and multimedia artwork. In order for students to use these machines to bring their ideas to life, they need to know how to create the vector files (.dxf and .svg files) used by most CNC machines.

Onshape provides free, online CAD software in which students can generate .dxf (2-D) and .stl (3-D) files to create their own imaginative and orginal creations. Onshape can generate .dxf files and Inkscape is a free graphics software download that can convert the .dxf files to .svg files.