Hey folks. You may not know me very well, because I've been a lurker on the 405th forums for a couple of weeks now. Reading, reading, and more reading. Now, however, I've decided that I'd like to post a tutorial to help you out with your beginning Pepakura modeling tasks.
Note: I do not believe that this tutorial should be in the Noob forum, since it can be used by anyone, and not just Noobs. However, since it is the only place that I can start a topic at the moment, I will let a moderator move it later.
Introduction
Please let me introduce myself. I am Droakir. You can try to pronounce it how you wish, but the real pronunciation is dro-uh-key-r. Some people call me Doc, or Dro, or Dr. Dro for short. I'm a professional computer programmer and graphic designer, and I have also begun working in amateur 3D modeling, gunsmithing, and (of course) armoring. I also speak two languages: English and Spanish.
But then, of course, you didn't come to hear about me! You came to learn how you could export your nifty little 3D Blender models into Pepakura!
This tutorial is generally based on the basic steps of moving a Blender model into the Pepakura software to make a physical, paper oragami-style model. These same steps, however, can be used to export from almost any 3D program. Just pay attention to the steps, and you'll get it!
So anyways, on to the tutorial!
What is Blender, and why should I be using it?
Blender is a 3D modeling program. The type that can be used to make those nifty special effects that you see in movies and television nowdays. Usually 3D modeling programs can cost a bundle - anywhere from $250 USD to almost $3000 USD. The difference between them and Blender, however, is simple.
Blender is free.
Yes, you heard it, 100% open-source freeware-style free. Now I can hear some of you probably moaning and groaning saying "We've seen freeware 3D programs before - they are horrible!" Well, although I can feel your pain, with Blender I have to beg to differ. Blender is a project that has been ongoing for several years with very positive results. As a matter of fact, their animation technology is so good now, that it is used to make fully animated 3D cartoons, along the same line of quality as something that you would see coming from a large scale animation company like Pixar.
You've got nothing to lose by getting a copy of Blender.
You can download a copy of Blender here.
The fact that Blender is free software is particularly appealing to those of us who would rather spend our money on some more fiberglass resin or on the materials to make a new mold because the last one that we made cracked. It's a wonder for someone on a tight budget. Can't get much better than free.
Moving on from Blender, we now come to our second program: Pepakura.
Pepakura? What's that?
Pepakura is a program that imports a variety of 3D models and converts them into a format that can be printed out on paper in 2D. These models can then be cut out, folded, and glued together in such a way that a real-world representation of the virtual 3D surface model is created.
Why is Pepakura so great? It gives us a way to convert our ideas and plans for armor or weapons into a real, tangible blueprint to work off of.
Pepakura comes in two flavors. Designer, and Viewer. Although Viewer is good to simply look at and print out the 3D models, the real fun stuff comes into play with Designer. They're both a free download, though to save the models after they have been imported, one must pay a small fee. You can, though, keep importing from set 3D models and print them out at no charge.
You can download a copy of Pepakura here.
For this tutorial, we will be using the program Pepakura Designer.
Model creation in Blender
The first thing that you have to do is create your model in Blender. I will not go into model creation in this tutorial. Blender has many excellent tutorials on the subject. When your object is created, however, we will be ready to begin.
Figure 1: Created Model
For this example, I have decided to create a simple object: A cube with a cylinder extending from the top. Two basic geometries to test out the features of these two programs.
Exportation process from Blender to Pepakura
Now that we have our 3D model created, we need to export it to a file format that Pepakura will understand. For this, we need to go to the export menu in Blender.
The export menu can be found here: File > Export > (select file format that you wish to export in)
Blender offers the following export file formats:
3D Studio (*.3ds)
AC3D (*.ac)
Autodesk FBX (*.fbx)
COLLADA 1.3.1 (*.dae)
COLLADA 1.4 (*.dae)
DEC Object File Format (*.off)
DirectX (*.x)
LightWave (*.lwo)
Lightwave Motion (*.mol)
M3G (*.m3g, *.java)
MD2 (*.md2)
OpenFlight (*.flt)
OpenInventor (*.iv)
Quake 3 (*.map)
Raw Faces (*.raw)
SoftImage XSI (*.xsi)
Stanford PLY (*.ply)
VRML97 (*.wrl)
Vertex Keyframe Animation (*.mdd)
Wavefront (*.obj)
X3D Extensible 3D (*.x3d)
xfig export (*.fig)
Figure 2: Export menu in Blender
To decide which file format that we should export in, we should also look at the input formats that Pepakura Designer supports. It supports the following formats:
Pepakura Designer File (*.pdo)
Hexa Great (*.6kt, *.6ks)
Wavefront (*.obj)
AutoCAD (*.dxf)
Metasequoia (*.mqo)
3D Studio (*.3ds)
Lightwave (*.lwo)
STL (Binary format) (*.stl)
Google Earth (*.kmz, *.kml)
Looking at these export and import file formats, we notice a couple that are similar.
Wavefront (*.obj)
3D Studio (*.3ds)
Lightwave (*.lwo)
These three surface model formats are quite common and are supported by both programs. Therefore, exporting in one of these three model formats should result in a working importation into Pepakura. Now remember: if the model doesn't work very well in one file format, you can always try out another. It doesn't hurt to experiment with the different formats to see which one works for you.
In my case, I prefer 3D Studio. So we will go with this format.
Once you select your file format, you will be brought to the export screen.
Figure 3: The Blender Export window
The export screen might be a little hard to understand for people who are not used to Linux interfaces. Up on top is the file path, or the folder path for where the file will be saved. The little 'P' button in the upper left hand corner can be used to move into each 'parent' folder. This means that it will move up a level for each time you click it, until you eventually get to a disk like your C drive. The text box below the file path is the file name text box. Here you should give your 3D model a unique file name, so that you can recognize it later on.
After you have chosen your path and file name, click the "Export" button to save the file in it's new format.
Congratulations! You're halfway there!
Importing the Blender file into Pepakura
The importation process into Pepakura Designer is simple. First, open the Pepakura Designer program.
Go to File > Open
Figure 4: Opening the file in Pepakura
Browse through your folders until you find the folder containing the model that you exported from Blender.
Select it, and click "Open"
Figure 5: Model orientation in Pepakura
If you have done this correctly, and the model exported as it should have, you should now be taken through various steps in the Pepakura program to determine the orientation of your 3D model.
Pepakura Designer will take you through a series of steps to determine the different vertices of your 3D model. It will ask you the front, bottom, etc. Of course, you can always skip this step and just use the model as-is, but going through the extra effort does help with the basic model orientation in 3D view.
Unfolding your Pepakura model
After the importation process is complete, you should have a decent view of your 3D model in the Pepakura 3D view window on the left-hand side of the screen.
Figure 6: Blender model in Pepakura
Now that you have your file imported, you can look at it and orient it in the 3D view. Here also you may modify the model as far as the Pepakura program allows.
Following your modifications, click the "Unfold" button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
Figure 7: Unfolded Pepakura model
The model will be unfolded and placed automatically on the paper. Here you must scale it and modify it so that it will print out to the correct size. As there are many tutorials about how to scale models in Pepakura, I will not go over those steps here.
Now that you have unfolded your model, you may arrange the pieces in the right-handed 2D view as you see fit.
Special Design Comment: Note that the basic cylinder has many vertices. This is a good way to see if something will be quite complicated to actually construct in real life. You may consider reworking the model in Blender so that you only have to fold a few, and not many, vertices.
Remember that to save the Papekura model, you must purchase a liscence for the Pepakura Designer program. However, they have left in the ability to print your creations, which means that if you don't mind a little bit of extra work in re-importing sections of your 3D models for printing, you can get along for free. Of course, the convenience of being able to save your Papekura models is also important. The decision is up to you.
Conclusion
In conclusion, you have learned the following:
What Blender and Papekura are.
How to export a model from Blender.
How to import a model into Pepakura.
I certainly hope that this tutorial has been useful. Blender and Pepakura open up the options of 3D model creation to a very wide audience of artists and armorers. Of course, like all programs, they require time to learn. However, the results from this learning can be very fruitful.
Good luck, and happy armoring!
-Droakir
Note: I do not believe that this tutorial should be in the Noob forum, since it can be used by anyone, and not just Noobs. However, since it is the only place that I can start a topic at the moment, I will let a moderator move it later.
Introduction
Please let me introduce myself. I am Droakir. You can try to pronounce it how you wish, but the real pronunciation is dro-uh-key-r. Some people call me Doc, or Dro, or Dr. Dro for short. I'm a professional computer programmer and graphic designer, and I have also begun working in amateur 3D modeling, gunsmithing, and (of course) armoring. I also speak two languages: English and Spanish.
But then, of course, you didn't come to hear about me! You came to learn how you could export your nifty little 3D Blender models into Pepakura!
This tutorial is generally based on the basic steps of moving a Blender model into the Pepakura software to make a physical, paper oragami-style model. These same steps, however, can be used to export from almost any 3D program. Just pay attention to the steps, and you'll get it!
So anyways, on to the tutorial!
What is Blender, and why should I be using it?
Blender is a 3D modeling program. The type that can be used to make those nifty special effects that you see in movies and television nowdays. Usually 3D modeling programs can cost a bundle - anywhere from $250 USD to almost $3000 USD. The difference between them and Blender, however, is simple.
Blender is free.
Yes, you heard it, 100% open-source freeware-style free. Now I can hear some of you probably moaning and groaning saying "We've seen freeware 3D programs before - they are horrible!" Well, although I can feel your pain, with Blender I have to beg to differ. Blender is a project that has been ongoing for several years with very positive results. As a matter of fact, their animation technology is so good now, that it is used to make fully animated 3D cartoons, along the same line of quality as something that you would see coming from a large scale animation company like Pixar.
You've got nothing to lose by getting a copy of Blender.
You can download a copy of Blender here.
The fact that Blender is free software is particularly appealing to those of us who would rather spend our money on some more fiberglass resin or on the materials to make a new mold because the last one that we made cracked. It's a wonder for someone on a tight budget. Can't get much better than free.
Moving on from Blender, we now come to our second program: Pepakura.
Pepakura? What's that?
Pepakura is a program that imports a variety of 3D models and converts them into a format that can be printed out on paper in 2D. These models can then be cut out, folded, and glued together in such a way that a real-world representation of the virtual 3D surface model is created.
Why is Pepakura so great? It gives us a way to convert our ideas and plans for armor or weapons into a real, tangible blueprint to work off of.
Pepakura comes in two flavors. Designer, and Viewer. Although Viewer is good to simply look at and print out the 3D models, the real fun stuff comes into play with Designer. They're both a free download, though to save the models after they have been imported, one must pay a small fee. You can, though, keep importing from set 3D models and print them out at no charge.
You can download a copy of Pepakura here.
For this tutorial, we will be using the program Pepakura Designer.
Model creation in Blender
The first thing that you have to do is create your model in Blender. I will not go into model creation in this tutorial. Blender has many excellent tutorials on the subject. When your object is created, however, we will be ready to begin.
Figure 1: Created Model
For this example, I have decided to create a simple object: A cube with a cylinder extending from the top. Two basic geometries to test out the features of these two programs.
Exportation process from Blender to Pepakura
Now that we have our 3D model created, we need to export it to a file format that Pepakura will understand. For this, we need to go to the export menu in Blender.
The export menu can be found here: File > Export > (select file format that you wish to export in)
Blender offers the following export file formats:
3D Studio (*.3ds)
AC3D (*.ac)
Autodesk FBX (*.fbx)
COLLADA 1.3.1 (*.dae)
COLLADA 1.4 (*.dae)
DEC Object File Format (*.off)
DirectX (*.x)
LightWave (*.lwo)
Lightwave Motion (*.mol)
M3G (*.m3g, *.java)
MD2 (*.md2)
OpenFlight (*.flt)
OpenInventor (*.iv)
Quake 3 (*.map)
Raw Faces (*.raw)
SoftImage XSI (*.xsi)
Stanford PLY (*.ply)
VRML97 (*.wrl)
Vertex Keyframe Animation (*.mdd)
Wavefront (*.obj)
X3D Extensible 3D (*.x3d)
xfig export (*.fig)
Figure 2: Export menu in Blender
To decide which file format that we should export in, we should also look at the input formats that Pepakura Designer supports. It supports the following formats:
Pepakura Designer File (*.pdo)
Hexa Great (*.6kt, *.6ks)
Wavefront (*.obj)
AutoCAD (*.dxf)
Metasequoia (*.mqo)
3D Studio (*.3ds)
Lightwave (*.lwo)
STL (Binary format) (*.stl)
Google Earth (*.kmz, *.kml)
Looking at these export and import file formats, we notice a couple that are similar.
Wavefront (*.obj)
3D Studio (*.3ds)
Lightwave (*.lwo)
These three surface model formats are quite common and are supported by both programs. Therefore, exporting in one of these three model formats should result in a working importation into Pepakura. Now remember: if the model doesn't work very well in one file format, you can always try out another. It doesn't hurt to experiment with the different formats to see which one works for you.
In my case, I prefer 3D Studio. So we will go with this format.
Once you select your file format, you will be brought to the export screen.
Figure 3: The Blender Export window
The export screen might be a little hard to understand for people who are not used to Linux interfaces. Up on top is the file path, or the folder path for where the file will be saved. The little 'P' button in the upper left hand corner can be used to move into each 'parent' folder. This means that it will move up a level for each time you click it, until you eventually get to a disk like your C drive. The text box below the file path is the file name text box. Here you should give your 3D model a unique file name, so that you can recognize it later on.
After you have chosen your path and file name, click the "Export" button to save the file in it's new format.
Congratulations! You're halfway there!
Importing the Blender file into Pepakura
The importation process into Pepakura Designer is simple. First, open the Pepakura Designer program.
Go to File > Open
Figure 4: Opening the file in Pepakura
Browse through your folders until you find the folder containing the model that you exported from Blender.
Select it, and click "Open"
Figure 5: Model orientation in Pepakura
If you have done this correctly, and the model exported as it should have, you should now be taken through various steps in the Pepakura program to determine the orientation of your 3D model.
Pepakura Designer will take you through a series of steps to determine the different vertices of your 3D model. It will ask you the front, bottom, etc. Of course, you can always skip this step and just use the model as-is, but going through the extra effort does help with the basic model orientation in 3D view.
Unfolding your Pepakura model
After the importation process is complete, you should have a decent view of your 3D model in the Pepakura 3D view window on the left-hand side of the screen.
Figure 6: Blender model in Pepakura
Now that you have your file imported, you can look at it and orient it in the 3D view. Here also you may modify the model as far as the Pepakura program allows.
Following your modifications, click the "Unfold" button in the upper right-hand corner of the screen.
Figure 7: Unfolded Pepakura model
The model will be unfolded and placed automatically on the paper. Here you must scale it and modify it so that it will print out to the correct size. As there are many tutorials about how to scale models in Pepakura, I will not go over those steps here.
Now that you have unfolded your model, you may arrange the pieces in the right-handed 2D view as you see fit.
Special Design Comment: Note that the basic cylinder has many vertices. This is a good way to see if something will be quite complicated to actually construct in real life. You may consider reworking the model in Blender so that you only have to fold a few, and not many, vertices.
Remember that to save the Papekura model, you must purchase a liscence for the Pepakura Designer program. However, they have left in the ability to print your creations, which means that if you don't mind a little bit of extra work in re-importing sections of your 3D models for printing, you can get along for free. Of course, the convenience of being able to save your Papekura models is also important. The decision is up to you.
Conclusion
In conclusion, you have learned the following:
What Blender and Papekura are.
How to export a model from Blender.
How to import a model into Pepakura.
I certainly hope that this tutorial has been useful. Blender and Pepakura open up the options of 3D model creation to a very wide audience of artists and armorers. Of course, like all programs, they require time to learn. However, the results from this learning can be very fruitful.
Good luck, and happy armoring!
-Droakir
