Sunday, January 31, 2010

So here's a question...

Obviously, it's a square(-ish) tube open at the top (for now) and closed at the bottom, but it seems to be missing some thing(s) (for a reason).

Does that make you use a different technique than you would normally use on square(-ish) parts?

12 comments:

  1. Since the top is open, no... I'd assemble it in the same order as if it was square.

    Actually, thinking about it, even if it wasn't, I'd still do it the same.

    The open and closed versions are different techniques, if that matters. :)

    (I assume you were looking for actual answers from people, and that wasn't a rhetorical question.) ;)

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  2. You assumed correctly! ;o)

    Although I didn't mean it was missing the top (it is, but that's just because it will be attached to another part there ;o)

    I meant although it is square-ish, would your first urge still be to score it and create sharp folds even if there are no fold lines indicated?

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  3. Yes, I usually print the lineless, and I score anything that has a sharp angle.

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  4. I probably wouldn't fold it, fingertips look fine without the folding for me (well except of course the tabs at the very end). Even if there were fold lines put there I don't think I would have folded it.

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  5. Yeah, I suppose you have blocky/polygonal paper models (like many N64 models) that look great when you score the fold lines and make sharp, crisp folds to recreate the polygonal style of the games.

    And more and more people started making "smooth" models, where you don't actually score and fold the parts, but rather curve them to get a nice and smooth, curved look.

    But I think there's also something in between, like Truffles said: some models are kinda blocky, but you don't want them to have really sharp edges. I think just bending/gently folding them instead of scoring and folding them creates a pretty nice effect!

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  6. If i saw that my natural reaction would be to pre-shape this peace by rolling it around my round craft knife its just what I do when I see curves. I do understand the middle ground your on about as some icthus7 models force you to gently fold things. If your looking for inspiration for that kind of gentle fold I would recommend looking at their work. I just want to say its great that you put so much thought into ease of build as well as the appearance of the model.you designs were great to begin with but they have just got better and better over time. thanks for all your great work and keep it up.

    A big fan of your work,
    Jon (from Jon and Hayley the Papercraft couple)

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  7. Haha hey again! ;o)

    That's what I was thinking about: a lot of papercrafters are so used to scoring+folding when they see a fold line, and "curving" when they don't see fold lines, but I seldom hear somebody talk about soft folds.

    And sometimes I have this whole idea that seems so obvious to me (because I thought of doing it that way) but I can imagine the way my mind works is not always that obvious for somebody else... ;o)

    So I think it's worth pointing it out in the instructions. ;o)

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  8. lol yeah i know the feeling! But yeah it is worth pointing out lol.

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  9. I fold every line of my papermodels ->but<- i dont fold it too extreme. i only put a sharp tool behind it und fold it gently 1 time over that tool. The fold then is not sharp and doesn't look that blocky.

    And to answer the question. I would have folded the lines even they weren't actually there..

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  10. So it goes to show again that everybody is different, and has his or her own ideas on how to tackle a part like this!

    If I understand you correctly So that's kinda like a "soft fold", if I understand you correctly.

    But even there, there are many gradations! Some people simply fold them by hand, while you use a sharp tool to guide your fold. And you can imagine of course, that if for example you use a toothpick to guide your fold, the fold will be even softer.

    Everybody has his or her favourite technique of course, but I think at least it's very interesting to know that there are more options than either scoring and folding a sharp, crisp edge, and not folding at all but curving the paper for a rounded look. ;o)

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  11. I usually do foldless builds, but when it comes to N64 models or parts with sharp angles, I score+fold. I do the soft folding thing with tabs when I'm to lazy to score.

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  12. Yeah, I also like the "sharp fold-look" on paper models from older games, so they kinda resemble the actual ingame, polygonal look. It's different on each model of course.

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