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 |  موضوع: كتاب Fundamentals of Paper Model Design With Blender 3D & An Illustration Program الثلاثاء 14 يونيو 2022, 7:21 am | |
| 
أخواني في الله
أحضرت لكم كتاب
Fundamentals of Paper Model Design With Blender 3D & An Illustration Program
By Angel David Guzmán – PixelOz
و المحتوى كما يلي :
1.0 Edition
Table of Contents
Important Note About Words With Asterisks .9
Introduction .10
Chapter 1 - Some Things To Clear First 13
First - A Little About The Old Method Of Paper Model Designing .14
Chapter 2 - Modern Paper Model Design .17
Some Very, Very Basic Things To Get Out Of The Way 18
Some Software That Can Be Used To Do The Job .19
A Few Important Basic Precautions When Unfolding With Blender .22
Some Other Free 3D Modeling Programs 29
Some Tips About Other Uses For Free 3D Programs .30
Some Commercial 3D Modeling Software 31
Some Commercial 3D CAD Software 34
Some Commercial Illustration Software 36
Some Commercial Bitmap Type Image Or Photo Editing Software .38
Some Free 2D CAD Software 39
Creating PDFs With CutePDF Writer .41
Unfolding Paper Models With Sheet Metal Unfolders .41
A Possible Alternative, A More Economic Option .43
The Confusion Between UV Texture Unfolders And Paper Modeling/Other Unfolders .44
B-Paperizer Script Installation 48
The Blender Unfolding Scripts Controls 51
Chapter 3 - The Methodology Of 3D Paper Model Creation 54
Chapter 4 - Some Important Fundamental Principles Not Well Understood .57
The Most Basic Shape - The Cube .57
Other Flat Faced Parts 61
Handling Compound Curves - The Biggest Problem In Paper Model Design .64
Page 6The Two Directions Of A Compound Curve 73
A Common Misunderstanding About Quads And Triangles 79
Higher Resolution Textures For More Quality .93
Learning From Other Paper Model Designers 95
Smoothing And Professional High Polygon Resolution Paper Model Creation 96
Combined High Polygons And Low Polygons .115
The Subsurface Division Problem 116
Low Polygon In One Direction Only Tricks 119
Using Path Extrusion 124
Exceptions To The High Poly Modeling Techniques .128
A Little More On How To Separate Some Parts 130
Chapter 5 - Internal Reinforcements Of 3D Paper Models .137
Most Common Internal Reinforcements 137
Material Thickness Compensation .140
An Old Common Internal Reinforcement Trick .141
3D Internal Reinforcements .143
Model Interiors .144
Chapter 6 - Designing Some Simple Models 145
Designing A Simple Cartoon Paper Model Airplane 145
Designing A Simple Airship .153
Creating A Simple Sea Ship .156
Waterline Sea Ships 163
Instancing And The Mirror Modifier 168
Unfolding The Hull Of A Boat Model 170
Handling The Gluing Tabs At Curves 176
Overlapping Tabs And Fixing Bad Looking Corners .187
A Submarine .190
Character Paper Models .191
Page 7Chapter 7 - A Bare Bones Way Of Creating Paper Models With A Computer 195
Chapter 8 - Recent Open Source Software Improvements 197
Chapter 9 - Other Basic Things That A Designer Should Know and Remember .199
• Include Calibration Lines .199
• Try To Use The PDF Format 199
• Specify The Scale Of The Model .200
• Include Wide Margins .201
• Try To Use Only A4 Or Letter Size Paper Whenever Possible 201
• Do Not Use Excess Compression 202
• Try To Create Your Model In Vector Format .203
• Give The File Names A More Adequate Or Descriptive Name 203
• Be Careful With The Page Size .204
• If You Decide To Publish The Model In A Bitmap Type Format Anyway .206
• Precautions With Bitmap Formats And Page Sizes .207
• You Don't Always Have To Make The Edge And Fold Lines Black! .209
• Anti-aliasing .211
Conclusion 215
Glossary .218
Acknowledgments .226
Glossary
24 Bit Color – 24 bit color is 16,777,216 colors and this is the mayor world standard for color at the
moment until HDRI* (see HDRI in glossary) or any other higher color standard of imaging becomes
the mainstream standard in the future. 24 bit is comprised of 8 bit for every RGB (Red, Green & Blue)
color channel. By using 8 bits in every channel it makes possible to create 256 gradations of color for
that channel and when combined with the 256 gradations of color for the other two channels it makes
the total of 16,777,216 colors possible. Sometimes you hear the term 32 bit associated with 24 bit color
(24 bit + 8 bit for alpha which is transparency) but this just means an additional channel with 256
gradations of alpha transparency. Do not confuse these 32 bits with 32 bits per RGB channel which is
for much higher number of colors in images such as HDRI because that would be really 96 bit of color
+ 32 bits for alpha for a grand total of 128 bits.
3D Printer – A rapid prototyping* (see Rapid Prototyping in glossary) machine that works by printing
tridimensionally in contrast to an image printer which prints bidimensional images. These printers work
by laying a special material layer by layer one on top of the other until they form a fully tridimensional
figure or part and they create this out of a tridimensional file that was made on a 3D program such as a
3D CAD program or others. This is considered a positive process because the part is created by adding
material and not by subtracting material like in CNC* machining (see CNC Machine in glossary).
Anti-aliasing – Anti-aliasing is a method of handling the jagged edges of bitmap based images as to
make those jagged edges blend into the objects beneath or into the background. It makes those edges
far smoother and it gives the illusion that the image was made with a higher resolution. (See more on
the subject on the Anti-aliasing section of chapter 9 - Other Basic Things That A Designer Should
Know and Remember .
Banding – Banding is the generation of ugly division bands that sometimes appear in the place of
smooth transitions or gradations from one color to the other. These ugly bands have a tendency to
appear more in areas with darker transitions or said in another manner in transitions toward dark colors.
Bezier Curve – This is the same type of curve with manipulation handles as those in illustration
software. Beziers are curves and lines that are made with mathematical descriptions and they are the
same ones that vector* (see Vector in glossary) illustration software use and they differ from the
straight vertexes, segments and polygons that comprise a 3D mesh* (see Mesh in glossary).
Booleans – They are basically functions in 3D programs that allow you to add, intersect or subtract a
part to or from each other. So let's say that you create a sphere and a cube and you put the sphere in a
position in which half of it goes through the cube, you can then apply a Boolean function and have for
example the sphere hole subtracted from the cube so when you remove the sphere, the cube has a hole
on one side with the shape of the sphere or you could add the sphere and the cube and come up with a
cube that has a protruding half sphere on one side or you can do many other similar things.
CAD – CAD stands for computer aided design which are digital computer drafting, designing and
creation tools that can accelerate a lot the process of creating or engineering a new product. They come
in many varieties but mainly in two basic categories, 2D CAD programs which are to a drawing board
or drawing table what word processors are to typewriters and they also come in the much more
powerful tridimensional flavor which is becoming quickly the de facto standard way of designing in the
industry today.
Page 218CNC Machine – CNC stands for Computer Numerical Control which is a fancy name for milling
machines that are operated through electric motors that are controlled by a computer instead of the old
method in which they were controlled by hand by using rotary levers. The advantages for the computer
controlled ones are enormous like more precision and automated repetition of a similar part and others.
With the ability of special 3D software and CNC software they can carve or sculpt a tridimensional part
that was designed on some 3D software programs such as 3D CAD and others by converting those files
first to a special format that CNC machines can interpret. These are considered negative process
machines because they subtract material to carve a part from something such as a block of billet
aluminum, wood, wax and many other materials. These machines are considered rapid prototyping*
(see Rapid Prototyping in glossary) machines and also production machines because they can do both
things rather well depending on circumstances.
Compound curves – More complex than usual curved surfaces. More exactly, curved surfaces that
bend in two directions at the same time such as those in a sphere where it is necessary to create more
than one section or part that when combined or glued with other parts allows you to create an
approximation of those curved surfaces. They are different to simple curved surfaces such as those in a
cylinder or cone because those only bend in one direction.
CPU – Central Processing Unit. The main microchip on a computer such as the Intel i7 or the AMD
Phenom II which is responsible for the big majority of computations in a computer.
Create Boundary – This is a function in the program CorelDraw in versions X3 and X4 that creates an
outer shape automatically for all the shapes that are selected saving a lot of time.
Extrusion – In computer graphics it is a process in which a polygonal shape is pulled through a third
coordinate or third dimension by a specified measure or visually with the help of an input device such
as a mouse through a 3D program interface as to give that shape depth therefore changing it from a flat
2D geometric shape into a full 3D geometric shape. Also some group of faces or objects that are not flat
and are already positioned in a tridimensional way can be extruded or pulled to form a different shape.
In addition to that some polygonal faces or parts from an existing 3D model can be extruded to modify
its shape.
Face – (see Polygon in glossary).
Flattening – Flattening is the process of converting a multi-layered artwork into a single-layered
artwork.
GPU – Graphics Processing Unit. This is a microchip that is dedicated mainly to the task of computing
2D and 3D graphics in a computer but also other things. Today GPU chips are starting to compute more
than just graphics, they are also being used to compute physics such as the physics of a game (like
wind, water, explosions, etc.) and they are starting to be used for other general computing tasks that
were usually reserved for the CPU* only (see CPU in glossary).
Graphics Hardware – Graphics hardware is the electronic equipment usually inside a computer that
allows the machine to compute 2D and 3D graphics more quickly and that is also connected to the
monitor to allow the display of the images that it generates. This is usually in the form of several chips
but particularly a special chip called GPU* (Graphics Processing Unit) that are soldered/placed on a
card or board that usually plugs inside the PC chassis or that also can be soldered/placed on the
motherboard* (see motherboard in glossary) of the computer itself but that has an external connector
Page 219(or more than one) that is used to plug the monitor(s) in it (in the case of those chips being placed on a
motherboard the display connector[s] is/are on the motherboard itself).
GUI or Graphical User Interface –A GUI is a method utilized by most modern operating systems that
enables a user to interact with their computer in a graphical way with the assistance of input devices
such as a mouse, a touchpad, trackball, keyboard and others. This is done mostly by controlling a
cursor (a special icon usually shaped as an arrow but that can be customized to be other shapes or that
can change shape according to the use) that allows the user to point to and interact with graphic
elements on screen such as menus, icons, buttons, scroll bars, etc. and other things like text in order to
activate and/or manipulate different kinds of operating system or software functions. It contrasts with
older methods of interacting with a computer, mainly with character based systems which utilized an
alphanumeric keyboard and a character based display system (no graphics) to interact with the
computer by writing specific commands that told the operating system or software which functions to
perform.
HDRI – High dynamic range image. It means images with a much greater range of values between the
dark and light portions of the image than standard computer graphics and it can also be images with a
much greater range of colors. There are different methods to create such images and there are
photographic methods and computer graphics methods. In order to create or to store such a final high
dynamic range image it is necessary to use a more advanced image format such as Radiance HDR
format* (see Radiance HDR in glossary), OpenEXR* (see OpenEXR in glossary) or others. These type
of imaging formats can store pictures in which more than 24 bit* (see 24 bit in glossary) colors are
used. In HDRI imaging you could have up to 32 bits per RGB channel for a total of 96 bits instead of
the usual 8 bits per RGB channel of 24 bit imaging used in the mainstream today (this can be up to
79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,336 colors instead of 16,777,216) but depending on the format
used. This translates into octillions of colors or values instead of millions and also because of that
images created in HDRI formats do not suffer from banding* (see Banding in glossary) like 24 bit
images do and other problems. Sometimes you hear the term 32 bit associated with 24 bit color (this is
24 bit + 8 bit for alpha which is transparency) but this just means an additional channel with 256
gradations of alpha transparency. Do not confuse these 32 bits with the 32 bits per RGB channel which
is for much higher number of colors in some HDRI images because that would be really 96 bit of color
+ 32 bits for alpha for a grand total of 128 bits.
Instancing – To create an instance instead of a copy and what that does is that when you make any
changes to the original model those changes are duplicated in the instanced model. Instanced duplicates
remain linked to the original model or shape and as you make any changes to the original model or
shape those changes will be duplicated exactly in all the instanced duplicates no matter how many they
are even if you make a hundred or a thousand instances.
Mesh Or 3D Mesh – A mesh is a 3D model in its most basic form of vertexes and/or segments and/or
polygons. This contrasts with models or shapes that are made of curves or other types of objects such
as Nurbs* (see Nurbs in glossary). Curves and the like can be usually converted to a mesh but meshes
are usually much more difficult to convert back into curves.
Motherboard – The main circuit board inside a computer where you usually find several things such
as the socket where you place the CPU, the memory sockets and connectors for many things such as
graphic cards, sound cards, hard drives etc.
Node – Nodes (they are sometimes called control points in some programs) are the points in a vector
Page 220object that you use to edit and change its shape such as the corners of a square or the ends of a curve or
the middle points in a curve or line that also allow you to modify its shape. In vector illustration
programs you can usually enter a node or control point edit mode/tool in which you can click them to
be able to see their respective control handles which allow you to manipulate the shape of the object,
line or curve to which the node or control point belong.
Normals – They are sort of like the direction toward which the polygonal faces or vertexes that make
up a 3D model point to. They are represented in Blender by some small blue lines (their size and color
can be adjusted) that are invisible by default but they can be made visible or invisible again with a
button called Draw Normals which is located in the Editing Panel (F9) in the Mesh Tools More section
but you have to enter Edit Mode (Tab) to see it. That button is for the polygonal faces normals. The
button below it which is called Draw VNormals is to toggle the visibility of the vertex normals.
Nurbs – Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines as they are also called. This is a fancy mathematical name
for surfaces that are generated with curves and controlled or shaped through some special nodes* (see
Node in glossary) and handles. They are usually used to generate complex curved surfaces of some 3D
models such as the hull of a boat but also for other things like the fender of a car, etc.
OpenEXR – It is an advanced bitmap type image format that can store a much greater number of
colors or values than 24 bits* (see 24 Bit in glossary). OpenEXR is the second most widely used HDRI
type format and probably the best. It supports up to 32 bits per RGB channel (4,294,967,296 colors per
RGB channel and alpha channel for a total of 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,336 possible colors
+ alpha). It also supports unlimited layers by just writing them sequentially. It is used a lot in the movie
industry and in other professional areas such as professional photography and professional 3D
animation.
Open Source Software – This is software that is released free of charge to the public under a special
license agreement. Open source software is created by the on-line community which usually creates a
group of associated people that connect themselves usually through the Internet but also through other
means such as telephone communication or other means or even special meetings and they dedicate
themselves to the update, development and preservation of the software and the maintenance of the
official software related web site(s) even though many of them do this out of their spare time. Open
source software is called like that because their coding is also “open” to the public which means that
you can access the software from a web site but also its programing code for your own modification.
You can also redistribute the modified or unmodified software but while preserving the original
licensing agreement which means that you have to release the modified or unmodified program as open
source too so you can't profit by it.
Package Manager – A software system in Linux operating systems by which you can download,
install, upgrade or remove software for a particular Linux version. There are several of them which
vary according to a particular Linux distribution and many of them posses today a GUI* (see GUI in
glossary) that makes them easier to use. So in many Linux operating systems if you want to install,
upgrade or remove an existing software you usually do it through a package manager in which you can
do a search in several ways for the particular software that you want to install, upgrade or remove and
when you find it you can indicate to the package manager what you want to do with the selected
software and the package manager takes care of downloading, installing, upgrading or removing the
selected software automatically including the installation or upgrade of any library (additional
necessary software) that your selected software requires to operate properly.
Page 221Pica – A pica is a unit of measure from the graphic arts or printing press world (a typographic unit). It
is 1/72 of its respective foot, and therefore it is 1/6 of an inch. The pica contains 12 points.
Plugin – A plugin is a special kind of software that you install so it attaches itself to another software to
give it additional capabilities. It is similar to a script* (see Script in glossary) but a script is usually
smaller and simpler with less capabilities than a plugin.
Point – A point is a measurement unit that comes from the graphic arts or printing press world (a
typographic unit). It is used mainly for type but it's also a unit of measurement that can be used to
measure things like line thicknesses, etc. It is a subdivision of the larger pica* (see Pica in glossary).
Nowadays, the traditional point has been supplanted by the desktop publishing point which is also
called the PostScript point, which has been rounded to an even 72 points to the inch (in the metric
system 1 point = 0.353 mm). In either system, there are 12 points in a pica.
Polygon – Polygons are the basic geometric shapes that make a 3D model. Those faces or surfaces that
make the outside shape of a 3D model or mesh* (see Mesh in glossary) are the polygons. They are
usually flat as in the case of triangles but not necessarily so as in the case of quads* (see Quads in
glossary).
Pre-Rendered – (See Rendering in glossary).
Primitives – The primitives are the basic geometric shapes that 3D software provide as a starting point
for the creation of many models, they can be a cube, a cone, a cylinder, a torus [a donut], a plane [a
rectangle] or many other basic geometric shapes. Blender primitives in particular can be expanded with
the use of scripts* (see Script in glossary) that provide additional shapes.
Procedurals or Procedural Materials – These are materials created without textures and just with
material settings inside a 3D program. A procedural texture can have better tridimensionality cause if
you break a mesh in half for example it can simulate the effect that happens when you break a real
tridimensional object in half in the real physics world in which the texture pattern follows the shape of
the real object and this contrasts with textured materials in which editing the shape of the 3D object or
shape can have a detrimental effect in the textured artwork in which case it may need to be redone or
adjusted. Procedural materials do not suffer from some of the ugly repetitive patterns that sometimes
occur with the use of some tiled textures (textures that are repeated many times similar to the
arrangement of bathroom tiles) in materials at the edge of a texture tile where one tile meets another.
Python - It's an open source* (see Open Source Software in glossary) computer programing language
available from https://www.python.org/ and the one in which Blender 3D is written. Blender scripts are
also written in Python and several of them require the separate installation of full Python in order to
work. Blender 2.5 to 2.6 will include its own full Python integrated so it will no longer require a
separate installation as Blender version 2.49b still requires. Many open source applications are written
in this language which has become quite popular nowadays.
Quads or Quadrilaterals – Quadrilaterals as they are also called are polygonal faces with four
vertexes. In 3D programs you see quads but underneath they are always two triangles, quads are always
formed by two triangles. This is better explained in the section called: A Common Misunderstanding
About Quads And Triangles in chapter 4 - Some Important Fundamental Principles Not Well
Understood.
Page 222RadianceHDR – An advanced bitmap type image format that can store a much greater range of colors
or values than 24 bit* (see 24 bit in glossary) imaging. This format was the first HDRI* (see HDRI in
glossary) type format and therefore one that has a lot of support from many different programs. It stores
information as RGBE which means that it's stored as one byte (8 bits) per RGB channel plus one byte
for exponent value that is shared among the three RGB channels therefore creating the equivalent of 32
bit total (4,294,967,296 colors – over four billion colors or values). This is not as many colors as
OpenEXR* (see OpenEXR in glossary) can store but it is much better than the standard 24 bit colors
used mostly today. RadianceHDR doesn't support alpha like OpenEXR does but alpha can be created as
a separate file (to be used as a blocking mask) for processing outside the original program as can be
done with other image formats that do not support alpha natively such as JPG even though this is more
limited.
Rapid Prototyping – Rapid prototyping is a way to manufacture 3D test parts very quickly and even
some final production parts in some instances using very sophisticated equipment such as 3D printers*
[definition in glossary], CNC machines* [definition in glossary] and other similar equipment. This is in
contrast to the older manual prototype parts manufacturing methods that were far slower, more difficult
and less precise.
Real-time Animation – Animation that is calculated on the fly, at the moment. This type of animation
has to be calculated and displayed usually at least over 20 times per second (most of the times, for most
modern games is above that) but it starts to look much more fluid and smooth when it is above 60
frames per second.
Render Farm – That's the name given to a setup of multiple computers dedicated to the task of
rendering* (see Rendering in glossary) 3D pictures which are connected with each other through a
computer network.
Rendering – Rendering is a method by which a vector image is converted from mathematical vertexes,
segment lines, polygons and/or curves to a pixel image. It is usually associated with 3D software which
create tridimensional models with vertexes, segments, polygons, curves and other methods and then
generate pixel images through the process of rendering. Pre-rendered graphics is another name by
which these renderings are called and they can take a lot of time to draw even a single frame, this time
can vary from fractions of a second to even days or more depending on the complexity of the scene or
3D model, the desired quality of the rendering, the resolution of the rendering and/or the type of
rendering method. This is different to real-time 3D graphics* (see Real-time Animation in glossary)
such as those of a video game in which many frames of the animation are generated several times per
second to allow interactive manipulation of a 3D scene or world. 2D vector illustrations have to be
rendered too, what happens is that this is usually far less complex than tridimensional rendering and
therefore usually much faster, this is performed on the fly at the moment of exporting or saving a 2D
vector illustration to a bitmap type format such as JPG or PNG, it is also performed at the moment of
printing.
Ring – Is the name of the vertical sections of the sphere primitive in Blender 3D software, it could be
any other name in another 3D program.
Score or Scoring – Is to mark the folds of a paper model pattern by depressing them with a semi-sharp
object as to make it much easier to fold without damaging the cardboard as many experienced paper
model builders know. This makes the folding of paper model parts much more easier and it yields far
better results. Different tools are used for this purpose, a blunt blade such as an old blade from a hobby
Page 223knife or other types of knives, the edge of an empty mechanical pencil with the mechanical pencil used
at an angle, the best in my opinion which is a kemper ball stylus (used for ceramic crafts) which comes
with different ball tip sizes and other tools. It is usually guided by hand for curves and by a ruler
(preferably with a metal edge) for straight lines.
Script – It's a piece of programing code that you can attach to another software to give it additional
capabilities. It is similar to a plugin* (see Plugin in glossary) but it is usually much shorter and simpler
than a plugin and therefore it usually has simpler capabilities.
Seams – They are specially marked edges that are used by unfolders of different kinds for the purpose
of allowing the designer to have much better control of where the 3D model is “opened” or “cut” for
unfolding.
Segment – 1. Segments are in 3D programs the lines that connect vertexes with each other. In meshes*
(see mesh in glossary) they are always straight lines but in other types of objects such as Bezier curves*
(see Bezier Curve in glossary) and Nurbs* (see Nurbs in Glossary) they can be curves. 2. It is also the
name of horizontal sections of the sphere primitive in Blender 3D, it could be any other name in any
other software.
Sneaker Net – To walk or run from one computer to the other on foot to exchange files between
computers by hand with files transported in a portable media such as a USB electronic memory device
or other type of computer media.
Surface Development – That is the term that is used in drafting and engineering for the flattening of
curved surfaces, for the creation of a flattened pattern from a 3D shape that can be used for cutting,
folding, welding and/or assembling in sheet metal fabrication and/or for cutting, folding, gluing and/or
assembling paper models and the like.
Textures – The artistic designs painted or laid out over the polygonal surfaces of 3D models and paper
models.
Truncated Cones – A truncated cone means one that doesn't end in a point and has the top chopped off
so to speak. This truncation can be flat (perpendicular to the base) or at an angle.
Unfolding – Unfolding, Paper Unfolding or Sheet Metal Unfolding is the opening and flattening of the
geometric faces or shapes of a 3D model or 3D shape as to make a cutting, folding, gluing (or welding
in sheet metal) pattern for paper or for any other flat material such as sheet metal or others. Not to be
confused with UV unfolding* (see UV unfolding in glossary).
Unix – Is an operating system that originated at Bell Labs in 1969. Unix has evolved as a kind of large
freeware product, with many extensions and new ideas provided in a variety of versions of Unix by
different companies, universities, and individuals.
UV Unfolding – Is the process of opening and flattening of the geometric faces or shapes of a 3D
model or 3D shape as to make a pattern that serves as a guide for applying textures* (see Textures in
glossary) or artwork to its surface. UV unfolding should not be used for paper model unfolding cause it
sacrifices the proportions and sizes of the shapes for ease of use (see more information about this on the
section called: The Confusion Between UV Texture Unfolders And Paper Modeling/Other Unfolders in
chapter 2 - Modern Paper Model Design).
Page 224Vector – A vector illustration drawing is basically a drawing made of lines and curves which are saved
by the software as a mathematical representation as opposed to a pixel drawing which is comprised of a
series of dots. This mathematical handling is invisible to the user, the user draws things such as lines,
curves, circles, pentagons etc. but beneath the software always keeps such a drawing as mathematical
lines or curves and saves all those to a file and when the software opens it again it recreates those lines
and curves exactly as the user laid them down in the page. The main advantages of these are mentioned
in more detail in chapter 9 - Other Basic Things That A Designer Should Know and Remember in the
section called: Try To Create Your Model In Vector Format.
Vertexes – Also called vertices in plural - from Latin which means corner. These are the corners points
or the points that connect segments* (see segment in glossary) with other segments of your 3D
geometrical shapes so a cube for example would have 8 of these. Even if they are usually connected
with one another by segments they can be separate too without any connected segment (floating so to
speak, still part of a 3D mesh but apart from it but this is usually unwanted). In the case of 2D vector*
(see vector in glossary) illustration programs vertexes are usually called nodes or control points.
Viewports – A viewport is a rectangular region in computer graphics, it can have different definitions
in different contexts but in the context of this book a viewport is a window in a 3D modeling or a 2D or
3D CAD* (see CAD in glossary) program through which you see, create and edit your design. These
programs more often than not can have one or more of these viewports, for example, the viewport area
on a program could show only one large viewport or it could be divided in other ways like in half to
show two viewports, in four viewports, etc. and each of these viewports could show different angles or
views of the design such as a top, front or side view or others and/or a perspective view of a 3D model
(in fully 3D programs contrary to 2D CAD programs) from any arbitrary angle. In full 3D programs
they can also show a view of the design from the angle or position of one or more 3D cameras that
have been placed and positioned by the user in the 3D world.
Virtual Printer Driver – A virtual printer is sort of a fake printer because it doesn't have a real printer
in the physical form, it is just a software printer that creates a file instead of printing it physically to a
media such as paper. You choose this one the same way that you choose any other printer driver as it
was a real printer but instead it will ask you to specify a file name and for a directory where to put that
file and it will create a file instead. This file can be different things depending on what type of virtual
printer software you have installed, it can be a PDF file or a bitmap format file such as JPG. Fundamentals of Paper Model Design With Blender 3D & An Illustration Program
By Angel David Guzmán – PixelOz
1.0 Edition
Table of Contents
Important Note About Words With Asterisks .9
Introduction .10
Chapter 1 - Some Things To Clear First 13
First - A Little About The Old Method Of Paper Model Designing .14
Chapter 2 - Modern Paper Model Design .17
Some Very, Very Basic Things To Get Out Of The Way 18
Some Software That Can Be Used To Do The Job .19
A Few Important Basic Precautions When Unfolding With Blender .22
Some Other Free 3D Modeling Programs 29
Some Tips About Other Uses For Free 3D Programs .30
Some Commercial 3D Modeling Software 31
Some Commercial 3D CAD Software 34
Some Commercial Illustration Software 36
Some Commercial Bitmap Type Image Or Photo Editing Software .38
Some Free 2D CAD Software 39
Creating PDFs With CutePDF Writer .41
Unfolding Paper Models With Sheet Metal Unfolders .41
A Possible Alternative, A More Economic Option .43
The Confusion Between UV Texture Unfolders And Paper Modeling/Other Unfolders .44
B-Paperizer Script Installation 48
The Blender Unfolding Scripts Controls 51
Chapter 3 - The Methodology Of 3D Paper Model Creation 54
Chapter 4 - Some Important Fundamental Principles Not Well Understood .57
The Most Basic Shape - The Cube .57
Other Flat Faced Parts 61
Handling Compound Curves - The Biggest Problem In Paper Model Design .64
Page 6The Two Directions Of A Compound Curve 73
A Common Misunderstanding About Quads And Triangles 79
Higher Resolution Textures For More Quality .93
Learning From Other Paper Model Designers 95
Smoothing And Professional High Polygon Resolution Paper Model Creation 96
Combined High Polygons And Low Polygons .115
The Subsurface Division Problem 116
Low Polygon In One Direction Only Tricks 119
Using Path Extrusion 124
Exceptions To The High Poly Modeling Techniques .128
A Little More On How To Separate Some Parts 130
Chapter 5 - Internal Reinforcements Of 3D Paper Models .137
Most Common Internal Reinforcements 137
Material Thickness Compensation .140
An Old Common Internal Reinforcement Trick .141
3D Internal Reinforcements .143
Model Interiors .144
Chapter 6 - Designing Some Simple Models 145
Designing A Simple Cartoon Paper Model Airplane 145
Designing A Simple Airship .153
Creating A Simple Sea Ship .156
Waterline Sea Ships 163
Instancing And The Mirror Modifier 168
Unfolding The Hull Of A Boat Model 170
Handling The Gluing Tabs At Curves 176
Overlapping Tabs And Fixing Bad Looking Corners .187
A Submarine .190
Character Paper Models .191
Page 7Chapter 7 - A Bare Bones Way Of Creating Paper Models With A Computer 195
Chapter 8 - Recent Open Source Software Improvements 197
Chapter 9 - Other Basic Things That A Designer Should Know and Remember .199
• Include Calibration Lines .199
• Try To Use The PDF Format 199
• Specify The Scale Of The Model .200
• Include Wide Margins .201
• Try To Use Only A4 Or Letter Size Paper Whenever Possible 201
• Do Not Use Excess Compression 202
• Try To Create Your Model In Vector Format .203
• Give The File Names A More Adequate Or Descriptive Name 203
• Be Careful With The Page Size .204
• If You Decide To Publish The Model In A Bitmap Type Format Anyway .206
• Precautions With Bitmap Formats And Page Sizes .207
• You Don't Always Have To Make The Edge And Fold Lines Black! .209
• Anti-aliasing .211
Conclusion 215
Glossary .218
Acknowledgments .226
Glossary
24 Bit Color – 24 bit color is 16,777,216 colors and this is the mayor world standard for color at the
moment until HDRI* (see HDRI in glossary) or any other higher color standard of imaging becomes
the mainstream standard in the future. 24 bit is comprised of 8 bit for every RGB (Red, Green & Blue)
color channel. By using 8 bits in every channel it makes possible to create 256 gradations of color for
that channel and when combined with the 256 gradations of color for the other two channels it makes
the total of 16,777,216 colors possible. Sometimes you hear the term 32 bit associated with 24 bit color
(24 bit + 8 bit for alpha which is transparency) but this just means an additional channel with 256
gradations of alpha transparency. Do not confuse these 32 bits with 32 bits per RGB channel which is
for much higher number of colors in images such as HDRI because that would be really 96 bit of color
+ 32 bits for alpha for a grand total of 128 bits.
3D Printer – A rapid prototyping* (see Rapid Prototyping in glossary) machine that works by printing
tridimensionally in contrast to an image printer which prints bidimensional images. These printers work
by laying a special material layer by layer one on top of the other until they form a fully tridimensional
figure or part and they create this out of a tridimensional file that was made on a 3D program such as a
3D CAD program or others. This is considered a positive process because the part is created by adding
material and not by subtracting material like in CNC* machining (see CNC Machine in glossary).
Anti-aliasing – Anti-aliasing is a method of handling the jagged edges of bitmap based images as to
make those jagged edges blend into the objects beneath or into the background. It makes those edges
far smoother and it gives the illusion that the image was made with a higher resolution. (See more on
the subject on the Anti-aliasing section of chapter 9 - Other Basic Things That A Designer Should
Know and Remember .
Banding – Banding is the generation of ugly division bands that sometimes appear in the place of
smooth transitions or gradations from one color to the other. These ugly bands have a tendency to
appear more in areas with darker transitions or said in another manner in transitions toward dark colors.
Bezier Curve – This is the same type of curve with manipulation handles as those in illustration
software. Beziers are curves and lines that are made with mathematical descriptions and they are the
same ones that vector* (see Vector in glossary) illustration software use and they differ from the
straight vertexes, segments and polygons that comprise a 3D mesh* (see Mesh in glossary).
Booleans – They are basically functions in 3D programs that allow you to add, intersect or subtract a
part to or from each other. So let's say that you create a sphere and a cube and you put the sphere in a
position in which half of it goes through the cube, you can then apply a Boolean function and have for
example the sphere hole subtracted from the cube so when you remove the sphere, the cube has a hole
on one side with the shape of the sphere or you could add the sphere and the cube and come up with a
cube that has a protruding half sphere on one side or you can do many other similar things.
CAD – CAD stands for computer aided design which are digital computer drafting, designing and
creation tools that can accelerate a lot the process of creating or engineering a new product. They come
in many varieties but mainly in two basic categories, 2D CAD programs which are to a drawing board
or drawing table what word processors are to typewriters and they also come in the much more
powerful tridimensional flavor which is becoming quickly the de facto standard way of designing in the
industry today.
Page 218CNC Machine – CNC stands for Computer Numerical Control which is a fancy name for milling
machines that are operated through electric motors that are controlled by a computer instead of the old
method in which they were controlled by hand by using rotary levers. The advantages for the computer
controlled ones are enormous like more precision and automated repetition of a similar part and others.
With the ability of special 3D software and CNC software they can carve or sculpt a tridimensional part
that was designed on some 3D software programs such as 3D CAD and others by converting those files
first to a special format that CNC machines can interpret. These are considered negative process
machines because they subtract material to carve a part from something such as a block of billet
aluminum, wood, wax and many other materials. These machines are considered rapid prototyping*
(see Rapid Prototyping in glossary) machines and also production machines because they can do both
things rather well depending on circumstances.
Compound curves – More complex than usual curved surfaces. More exactly, curved surfaces that
bend in two directions at the same time such as those in a sphere where it is necessary to create more
than one section or part that when combined or glued with other parts allows you to create an
approximation of those curved surfaces. They are different to simple curved surfaces such as those in a
cylinder or cone because those only bend in one direction.
CPU – Central Processing Unit. The main microchip on a computer such as the Intel i7 or the AMD
Phenom II which is responsible for the big majority of computations in a computer.
Create Boundary – This is a function in the program CorelDraw in versions X3 and X4 that creates an
outer shape automatically for all the shapes that are selected saving a lot of time.
Extrusion – In computer graphics it is a process in which a polygonal shape is pulled through a third
coordinate or third dimension by a specified measure or visually with the help of an input device such
as a mouse through a 3D program interface as to give that shape depth therefore changing it from a flat
2D geometric shape into a full 3D geometric shape. Also some group of faces or objects that are not flat
and are already positioned in a tridimensional way can be extruded or pulled to form a different shape.
In addition to that some polygonal faces or parts from an existing 3D model can be extruded to modify
its shape.
Face – (see Polygon in glossary).
Flattening – Flattening is the process of converting a multi-layered artwork into a single-layered
artwork.
GPU – Graphics Processing Unit. This is a microchip that is dedicated mainly to the task of computing
2D and 3D graphics in a computer but also other things. Today GPU chips are starting to compute more
than just graphics, they are also being used to compute physics such as the physics of a game (like
wind, water, explosions, etc.) and they are starting to be used for other general computing tasks that
were usually reserved for the CPU* only (see CPU in glossary).
Graphics Hardware – Graphics hardware is the electronic equipment usually inside a computer that
allows the machine to compute 2D and 3D graphics more quickly and that is also connected to the
monitor to allow the display of the images that it generates. This is usually in the form of several chips
but particularly a special chip called GPU* (Graphics Processing Unit) that are soldered/placed on a
card or board that usually plugs inside the PC chassis or that also can be soldered/placed on the
motherboard* (see motherboard in glossary) of the computer itself but that has an external connector
Page 219(or more than one) that is used to plug the monitor(s) in it (in the case of those chips being placed on a
motherboard the display connector[s] is/are on the motherboard itself).
GUI or Graphical User Interface –A GUI is a method utilized by most modern operating systems that
enables a user to interact with their computer in a graphical way with the assistance of input devices
such as a mouse, a touchpad, trackball, keyboard and others. This is done mostly by controlling a
cursor (a special icon usually shaped as an arrow but that can be customized to be other shapes or that
can change shape according to the use) that allows the user to point to and interact with graphic
elements on screen such as menus, icons, buttons, scroll bars, etc. and other things like text in order to
activate and/or manipulate different kinds of operating system or software functions. It contrasts with
older methods of interacting with a computer, mainly with character based systems which utilized an
alphanumeric keyboard and a character based display system (no graphics) to interact with the
computer by writing specific commands that told the operating system or software which functions to
perform.
HDRI – High dynamic range image. It means images with a much greater range of values between the
dark and light portions of the image than standard computer graphics and it can also be images with a
much greater range of colors. There are different methods to create such images and there are
photographic methods and computer graphics methods. In order to create or to store such a final high
dynamic range image it is necessary to use a more advanced image format such as Radiance HDR
format* (see Radiance HDR in glossary), OpenEXR* (see OpenEXR in glossary) or others. These type
of imaging formats can store pictures in which more than 24 bit* (see 24 bit in glossary) colors are
used. In HDRI imaging you could have up to 32 bits per RGB channel for a total of 96 bits instead of
the usual 8 bits per RGB channel of 24 bit imaging used in the mainstream today (this can be up to
79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,336 colors instead of 16,777,216) but depending on the format
used. This translates into octillions of colors or values instead of millions and also because of that
images created in HDRI formats do not suffer from banding* (see Banding in glossary) like 24 bit
images do and other problems. Sometimes you hear the term 32 bit associated with 24 bit color (this is
24 bit + 8 bit for alpha which is transparency) but this just means an additional channel with 256
gradations of alpha transparency. Do not confuse these 32 bits with the 32 bits per RGB channel which
is for much higher number of colors in some HDRI images because that would be really 96 bit of color
+ 32 bits for alpha for a grand total of 128 bits.
Instancing – To create an instance instead of a copy and what that does is that when you make any
changes to the original model those changes are duplicated in the instanced model. Instanced duplicates
remain linked to the original model or shape and as you make any changes to the original model or
shape those changes will be duplicated exactly in all the instanced duplicates no matter how many they
are even if you make a hundred or a thousand instances.
Mesh Or 3D Mesh – A mesh is a 3D model in its most basic form of vertexes and/or segments and/or
polygons. This contrasts with models or shapes that are made of curves or other types of objects such
as Nurbs* (see Nurbs in glossary). Curves and the like can be usually converted to a mesh but meshes
are usually much more difficult to convert back into curves.
Motherboard – The main circuit board inside a computer where you usually find several things such
as the socket where you place the CPU, the memory sockets and connectors for many things such as
graphic cards, sound cards, hard drives etc.
Node – Nodes (they are sometimes called control points in some programs) are the points in a vector
Page 220object that you use to edit and change its shape such as the corners of a square or the ends of a curve or
the middle points in a curve or line that also allow you to modify its shape. In vector illustration
programs you can usually enter a node or control point edit mode/tool in which you can click them to
be able to see their respective control handles which allow you to manipulate the shape of the object,
line or curve to which the node or control point belong.
Normals – They are sort of like the direction toward which the polygonal faces or vertexes that make
up a 3D model point to. They are represented in Blender by some small blue lines (their size and color
can be adjusted) that are invisible by default but they can be made visible or invisible again with a
button called Draw Normals which is located in the Editing Panel (F9) in the Mesh Tools More section
but you have to enter Edit Mode (Tab) to see it. That button is for the polygonal faces normals. The
button below it which is called Draw VNormals is to toggle the visibility of the vertex normals.
Nurbs – Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines as they are also called. This is a fancy mathematical name
for surfaces that are generated with curves and controlled or shaped through some special nodes* (see
Node in glossary) and handles. They are usually used to generate complex curved surfaces of some 3D
models such as the hull of a boat but also for other things like the fender of a car, etc.
OpenEXR – It is an advanced bitmap type image format that can store a much greater number of
colors or values than 24 bits* (see 24 Bit in glossary). OpenEXR is the second most widely used HDRI
type format and probably the best. It supports up to 32 bits per RGB channel (4,294,967,296 colors per
RGB channel and alpha channel for a total of 79,228,162,514,264,337,593,543,950,336 possible colors
+ alpha). It also supports unlimited layers by just writing them sequentially. It is used a lot in the movie
industry and in other professional areas such as professional photography and professional 3D
animation.
Open Source Software – This is software that is released free of charge to the public under a special
license agreement. Open source software is created by the on-line community which usually creates a
group of associated people that connect themselves usually through the Internet but also through other
means such as telephone communication or other means or even special meetings and they dedicate
themselves to the update, development and preservation of the software and the maintenance of the
official software related web site(s) even though many of them do this out of their spare time. Open
source software is called like that because their coding is also “open” to the public which means that
you can access the software from a web site but also its programing code for your own modification.
You can also redistribute the modified or unmodified software but while preserving the original
licensing agreement which means that you have to release the modified or unmodified program as open
source too so you can't profit by it.
Package Manager – A software system in Linux operating systems by which you can download,
install, upgrade or remove software for a particular Linux version. There are several of them which
vary according to a particular Linux distribution and many of them posses today a GUI* (see GUI in
glossary) that makes them easier to use. So in many Linux operating systems if you want to install,
upgrade or remove an existing software you usually do it through a package manager in which you can
do a search in several ways for the particular software that you want to install, upgrade or remove and
when you find it you can indicate to the package manager what you want to do with the selected
software and the package manager takes care of downloading, installing, upgrading or removing the
selected software automatically including the installation or upgrade of any library (additional
necessary software) that your selected software requires to operate properly.
Page 221Pica – A pica is a unit of measure from the graphic arts or printing press world (a typographic unit). It
is 1/72 of its respective foot, and therefore it is 1/6 of an inch. The pica contains 12 points.
Plugin – A plugin is a special kind of software that you install so it attaches itself to another software to
give it additional capabilities. It is similar to a script* (see Script in glossary) but a script is usually
smaller and simpler with less capabilities than a plugin.
Point – A point is a measurement unit that comes from the graphic arts or printing press world (a
typographic unit). It is used mainly for type but it's also a unit of measurement that can be used to
measure things like line thicknesses, etc. It is a subdivision of the larger pica* (see Pica in glossary).
Nowadays, the traditional point has been supplanted by the desktop publishing point which is also
called the PostScript point, which has been rounded to an even 72 points to the inch (in the metric
system 1 point = 0.353 mm). In either system, there are 12 points in a pica.
Polygon – Polygons are the basic geometric shapes that make a 3D model. Those faces or surfaces that
make the outside shape of a 3D model or mesh* (see Mesh in glossary) are the polygons. They are
usually flat as in the case of triangles but not necessarily so as in the case of quads* (see Quads in
glossary).
Pre-Rendered – (See Rendering in glossary).
Primitives – The primitives are the basic geometric shapes that 3D software provide as a starting point
for the creation of many models, they can be a cube, a cone, a cylinder, a torus [a donut], a plane [a
rectangle] or many other basic geometric shapes. Blender primitives in particular can be expanded with
the use of scripts* (see Script in glossary) that provide additional shapes.
Procedurals or Procedural Materials – These are materials created without textures and just with
material settings inside a 3D program. A procedural texture can have better tridimensionality cause if
you break a mesh in half for example it can simulate the effect that happens when you break a real
tridimensional object in half in the real physics world in which the texture pattern follows the shape of
the real object and this contrasts with textured materials in which editing the shape of the 3D object or
shape can have a detrimental effect in the textured artwork in which case it may need to be redone or
adjusted. Procedural materials do not suffer from some of the ugly repetitive patterns that sometimes
occur with the use of some tiled textures (textures that are repeated many times similar to the
arrangement of bathroom tiles) in materials at the edge of a texture tile where one tile meets another.
Python - It's an open source* (see Open Source Software in glossary) computer programing language
available from https://www.python.org/ and the one in which Blender 3D is written. Blender scripts are
also written in Python and several of them require the separate installation of full Python in order to
work. Blender 2.5 to 2.6 will include its own full Python integrated so it will no longer require a
separate installation as Blender version 2.49b still requires. Many open source applications are written
in this language which has become quite popular nowadays.
Quads or Quadrilaterals – Quadrilaterals as they are also called are polygonal faces with four
vertexes. In 3D programs you see quads but underneath they are always two triangles, quads are always
formed by two triangles. This is better explained in the section called: A Common Misunderstanding
About Quads And Triangles in chapter 4 - Some Important Fundamental Principles Not Well
Understood.
Page 222RadianceHDR – An advanced bitmap type image format that can store a much greater range of colors
or values than 24 bit* (see 24 bit in glossary) imaging. This format was the first HDRI* (see HDRI in
glossary) type format and therefore one that has a lot of support from many different programs. It stores
information as RGBE which means that it's stored as one byte (8 bits) per RGB channel plus one byte
for exponent value that is shared among the three RGB channels therefore creating the equivalent of 32
bit total (4,294,967,296 colors – over four billion colors or values). This is not as many colors as
OpenEXR* (see OpenEXR in glossary) can store but it is much better than the standard 24 bit colors
used mostly today. RadianceHDR doesn't support alpha like OpenEXR does but alpha can be created as
a separate file (to be used as a blocking mask) for processing outside the original program as can be
done with other image formats that do not support alpha natively such as JPG even though this is more
limited.
Rapid Prototyping – Rapid prototyping is a way to manufacture 3D test parts very quickly and even
some final production parts in some instances using very sophisticated equipment such as 3D printers*
[definition in glossary], CNC machines* [definition in glossary] and other similar equipment. This is in
contrast to the older manual prototype parts manufacturing methods that were far slower, more difficult
and less precise.
Real-time Animation – Animation that is calculated on the fly, at the moment. This type of animation
has to be calculated and displayed usually at least over 20 times per second (most of the times, for most
modern games is above that) but it starts to look much more fluid and smooth when it is above 60
frames per second.
Render Farm – That's the name given to a setup of multiple computers dedicated to the task of
rendering* (see Rendering in glossary) 3D pictures which are connected with each other through a
computer network.
Rendering – Rendering is a method by which a vector image is converted from mathematical vertexes,
segment lines, polygons and/or curves to a pixel image. It is usually associated with 3D software which
create tridimensional models with vertexes, segments, polygons, curves and other methods and then
generate pixel images through the process of rendering. Pre-rendered graphics is another name by
which these renderings are called and they can take a lot of time to draw even a single frame, this time
can vary from fractions of a second to even days or more depending on the complexity of the scene or
3D model, the desired quality of the rendering, the resolution of the rendering and/or the type of
rendering method. This is different to real-time 3D graphics* (see Real-time Animation in glossary)
such as those of a video game in which many frames of the animation are generated several times per
second to allow interactive manipulation of a 3D scene or world. 2D vector illustrations have to be
rendered too, what happens is that this is usually far less complex than tridimensional rendering and
therefore usually much faster, this is performed on the fly at the moment of exporting or saving a 2D
vector illustration to a bitmap type format such as JPG or PNG, it is also performed at the moment of
printing.
Ring – Is the name of the vertical sections of the sphere primitive in Blender 3D software, it could be
any other name in another 3D program.
Score or Scoring – Is to mark the folds of a paper model pattern by depressing them with a semi-sharp
object as to make it much easier to fold without damaging the cardboard as many experienced paper
model builders know. This makes the folding of paper model parts much more easier and it yields far
better results. Different tools are used for this purpose, a blunt blade such as an old blade from a hobby
Page 223knife or other types of knives, the edge of an empty mechanical pencil with the mechanical pencil used
at an angle, the best in my opinion which is a kemper ball stylus (used for ceramic crafts) which comes
with different ball tip sizes and other tools. It is usually guided by hand for curves and by a ruler
(preferably with a metal edge) for straight lines.
Script – It's a piece of programing code that you can attach to another software to give it additional
capabilities. It is similar to a plugin* (see Plugin in glossary) but it is usually much shorter and simpler
than a plugin and therefore it usually has simpler capabilities.
Seams – They are specially marked edges that are used by unfolders of different kinds for the purpose
of allowing the designer to have much better control of where the 3D model is “opened” or “cut” for
unfolding.
Segment – 1. Segments are in 3D programs the lines that connect vertexes with each other. In meshes*
(see mesh in glossary) they are always straight lines but in other types of objects such as Bezier curves*
(see Bezier Curve in glossary) and Nurbs* (see Nurbs in Glossary) they can be curves. 2. It is also the
name of horizontal sections of the sphere primitive in Blender 3D, it could be any other name in any
other software.
Sneaker Net – To walk or run from one computer to the other on foot to exchange files between
computers by hand with files transported in a portable media such as a USB electronic memory device
or other type of computer media.
Surface Development – That is the term that is used in drafting and engineering for the flattening of
curved surfaces, for the creation of a flattened pattern from a 3D shape that can be used for cutting,
folding, welding and/or assembling in sheet metal fabrication and/or for cutting, folding, gluing and/or
assembling paper models and the like.
Textures – The artistic designs painted or laid out over the polygonal surfaces of 3D models and paper
models.
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