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Hello everyone,
Sorry it has been so long – both Cor and I have had a lot of other business to attend to, and of course a well earned holiday. The F7 A and B locomotives are now ready for publication (just waiting for a good cover picture). Check out my website.
So the decks are now cleared for the DC4 Skymaster. In my post of April 21 I explained the verious design steps. Step 2, the 2D drawings, were finished before the summer. You may remember that a great many reference points had to be put in: the computer cannot handle a neat curve, so it has to be built up by positioning a lot of dots (the more the merrier), which are then joined – giving the impression of a neat curve.
Now for step 3: converting the 2D drawings into a virtual 3D model, using a 3D app. This is a very time consuming, complex procedure, in which all the reference points of step 3 help to make the 3D ghost image. At the same time, the designer has to ‘cut up’ the model into parts which can be ‘flattened’ (the tecnical word is ‘devolved’) into the sort of shapes every builder of a paper plane model knows. Simple shapes (boxes, rings, cones) are easy; shapes with double curves take more time, and great experience.
For example, think of a half ball. This can never be flattened properly, so it is changed into either a number of conical rings, or a flower with a number of petals. As I explained before: neither solution gives a perfect result, but our eyes are easily cheated into seeing a neat half ball. We accept a compromise between near-perfect and buildable.
The designer is often confronted with this dilemma. After all, the computer makes near-perfection easy on paper – to the point where only top builders can actually build it… This is in fact a pet grumble of mine: great detail scares off many people who might have enjoyed paper modelling on a less exacting level…
Cor often solves this problem by giving optional solutions. For instance, detailed, movable flaps and rudders can be avoided by taking the simpler, printed option.
I hope the pictures will give you an idea of I have tried to explain.
#17: The ends of all lines in this picture are the reference points. By joining them the 3D impression appears. Magically, in the 3D app you can move and rotate this shape anyway you like – which helps decide how to ‘flatten’ part of it.
#18: Here, the fuselage has already been divided into the various parts.
#19: The wing section shows that the larger the number of reference points, the better the curve looks.
#20: Once this basic information has been created, our computerwizard can do almost anything wit hit – here he has created a shiny aluminium model.
More next time.
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