Very VERY nice!!! the addition of the mirror sticker really made a difference! I am impressed with your ability to corral all of the "tiny bits" that are produced when using Pepakura, so was wondering..do you first modify the 3d file to help eliminate as much as possible, breaking the 3d file into parts and the like? I have worked with it for a long time and still have to fight with it to gather all the parts back together " as much as possible" so that they are not a ton of tiny triangles scattered all over the pages!!
Thx! I actually do all of that when making a template:
- First I load up the model in a 3D editor and simplify as much as I can. If needed I also pose the model during this.
- I usually move the separate parts like pauldrons, pipes hands, armor plates, whatnot to the sides so I can get at the things underneath later.
- Do an automatic quadrapulate on the model, because Pepakura usually freaks out if a polygon has more than 4 sides.
- Transfer the model to Pepakura. If the model is high on the polycount, I usually put separate parts to separate files. (If I made any internal/cross section parts those go to a separate file as well)
- I set up cutting edges on most the parts beforehand using the cut tool in Pepakura, but don't bother with some of the small details ... at least not before unfolding. This is why I move separate parts to the side otherwise it's hard to set the cuts, or see what you are doing in general. (Also CTRL+W is my most used hotkey in Pepakura, as it changes the camera focus point)
- When I'm satisfied the cuts I let Pepakura unfold. The part layout is ofc. horrible so I usually dump the whole thing outside the pages (top left corner).
- After that I go through the model and rearrange the parts more or less in the build order I imagine would work. I pick a random part move it to the page area and using join/separate edges tool to "pull in" all parts that will be needed. (You know clicking on an edge with the tool will pull in the part and join the 2, another click and they will separate but both remain in more or less the same place. Also the red line will help you determine which part will be pulled, so if its already on the pages area somewhere you can skip it.)
- Final step is arranging the glue flaps, because it's very rare that me and Pepakura are in an agreement where they should be
Yeah that's about my template making workflow. (I'm also experimenting with retopologizing parts/models instead of simplifying existing ones but haven't built anything from such a template to date. Pepakura bits should stay the same, but I expect I'd have to do some map transfers to the new geometry before transferring the models to Pepakura)