Tutorial: How To Make Good Folds For Pepakura Armor

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Hehe, NOTE:
do ALL of the pen lines before gluing any piece to any other piece, or else some of your lines will not look so good...
:rolleyes
 
tecnicly you can do the folds anyway you want just once your consistent. if you did it wrong your numbers will jus be on the inside.

"behind you, man" and your like "how do I move my neck?" ---hahahahahahahahahahaha:lol:
 
Love this guide. Using it on my helmet AS WE SPEAK and the folding is soo much more accurate and easier. Good job on the tut. :)
 
Ok this might ound like a silly question but what exactly is pepakura? and where can you get it? Please and Thanks
 
its a legitimate question i am new here too and was wondering the same thing but it is listed in the other noob stickies and also tells you where and what to look for.
 
cant believe this hasent been said before. To make great score lines, use a metal tip mechanical pencil without the lead, personally i use the non-cutting side of my exacto, you will still be able to see your dash/dot lines to make your folds. this is the best way, used by most papercrafters, mainly because most papercrafts have textures printed out, and this method will not ruin the printed texture. it easier to use than a butterknife, and more accurate than a ball point pen.
 
Chuck-126 said:
You and I came up with the same idea, so I have a couple things to add.
First, I recommend a metal ruler (which I see you used but didn't mention). You'd be surprised at what constant tracing will do to a plastic ruler. I never thought it was possible to wear out a protractor.
Second, it helps to have something underneath your pattern pieces as you trace to get a nice, deep score. This can be a piece of cardboard or a couple pieces of cardstock. Just make sure what you're using doesn't have too much give because otherwise your lines will start curving slightly.

Hey guys first time posting here, thanks for this tut it's great and helping a lot on making my helmet. Back to the point, Chuck-126 makes a good point about having something underneath your pieces while doing this, unfortunately I didn't read his reply before I started so I went straight to work on my wooden desk and after 2 pieces my desk was not looking so great. Anyway good advice right there and I'd recommend everyone take it if they're doing this on a soft surface.
 
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Ummmm... I probably shouldn't bring this up as just about everyone's started... ;) BUT....

You really want to choose which lines you want to fold very carefully. Natural curved surfaces look alot better than faceted planes... Unless you want to look like a low-poly game sprite. ;)

If you are working directly from Pepakura & not pattern pics, you can go into the LINE settings and select a specific degree of angle that the program considers as a flat plane... Usualy a model only needs about half of the fold lines commonly printed.

I really can't recommend enough that when making armor this way, you really need to do it from the program, that way you can actualy look at the model's shape, how it's seamed, and exactly how it should look, instead of trying to figure out a numbered jigsaw puzzle... :)

Sharp folds definately come into play with this suit, but for rounded edges & soft folds, try shaping folds over wooden dowels of different diameters... 1/8", 1/4", 1/2", etc... Each will give a different look and curvature of an edge.

Wolf
 
Ok, so i've printed out my scaled right bicep, and I just have two(2) questiones.....

how far do you fold?
how do you know wich way to fold?

that's all
 
I doesnt really matter how far you fold-it kinda shapes itself. just fold it all the way and then open it up a bit.


by default:

----------=mountain fold( fold points to you, or up.)
_._._._._=valley fold(fold points away from you or down.)
 
I cannot stress how usefull and important this process is. If you pep your armor, i would say this step is a must.

This made my armor making so much easier and clean looking i really appreciate the hints. Thanks!
 
ims startin mine today should be done by around 26th got 1 leg cut out and everything gonna start rest of it tomrrow =D
 
Yeah i started about 2 weeks ago, took longer than i expected :cautious:

You can also use a kitchen knife and a ruler to score your lines too, worked pretty well for mine. :D
 
Zyclone said:
how far do you fold?
how do you know wich way to fold?

that's all

Well, it really doesn't matter how far you fold the piece because it usually end up forcing you to fold them in the direction that makes them fit flush with the other piece.

Just to give an answer anyways, I usually fold all the pieces at 90 degrees then fold them back straight so that later I may fold them in anyway I want.

*New* UPDATES COMING SOON!!!
 
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dannifood4less said:
cant believe this hasent been said before. To make great score lines, use a metal tip mechanical pencil without the lead, personally i use the non-cutting side of my exacto, you will still be able to see your dash/dot lines to make your folds. this is the best way, used by most papercrafters, mainly because most papercrafts have textures printed out, and this method will not ruin the printed texture. it easier to use than a butterknife, and more accurate than a ball point pen.

I tried that for a while and it worked well but partway through I just started using the can opener on my multitool, it seems to work really well
 
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that is great for card paper i am doing it right now and its dooing greeeaaattt but i still am confused
do put the lines where its going to bend?
 
spartan215 said:
that is great for card paper i am doing it right now and its dooing greeeaaattt but i still am confused
do put the lines where its going to bend?

Yes, you run your pen as perfectly as you can across it, while using a ruler of course.
 
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