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  #1  
Old 12-21-2017, 02:33 AM
selek7101 selek7101 is offline
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Star Trek Discovery- Help!!!

Okay folks- (I hope this is the correct sub-forum).

I found an excellent Sketchup model of Discovery and downloaded the .dae file so I could plug it in to Pepakura designer.

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/mod...rk-in-progress

So far so good.

When I go to unfold it, however, it gives me a couple of thousand fiddly bits and breaks what should be printable surface details into separate (and tiny) parts.

Worse, large structures which should be unfoldable as a unit are divided into three or four separate pieces.

The online "Help" files were less than informative.

Is there a simple and direct method to simplify the unfolding WITHOUT a PhD in CAD work?

I've done everything I can think of except sacrifice a virgin chicken under a full moon and I'm getting frustrated.

Somebody point me in the right direction, please!
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Old 12-21-2017, 11:32 AM
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Vermin_King Vermin_King is offline
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Around the holidays folks that would normally help are tied up with real life.

Until someone else jumps in, you might try doing a search on the forum for 'sketchup'.

I have no experience with this, but this seems like a question that was asked before
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Old 12-21-2017, 12:33 PM
Revell-Fan Revell-Fan is offline
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Yo, hi!

1) SketchUp is my weapon of choice for paper modeling. I have taken a look at the model and found several intersections. That means if you unfold it the way it is it will have some parts which do not fit together. You have to clean it up first to make it buildable. That can only be done in SketchUp, not Pepakura.

2) If you use Pepakura for unfolding the model will explode into tiny bits, as you have noticed (se attachment). There are ways to solve this issue but these require a massive rework of the original mesh. There are a few Youtube video tutorials addressing that matter. I can't tell you anything about that because I don't pay that much attention to that effect. I align the pieces close enough together that I can re-join them using Gimp later.

3) The texture is another issue. I DLed the collada file and unfolded it and the texture disappeared. Again this is something that can be avoided by using different versions of SketchUp. My workflow is this:

The model is saved as "Google SketchUp 6" file. Then it is loaded in SketchUp 6 (IMPORTANT!). Then all colours are deleted from the texture window. Leave only the bitmap textures in place. Then clean up the model and export it as Google Earth *.kmz(4) file (IMPORTANT!). Only SU 6 is able to do that. This *.kmz(4) file is loaded into Pepakura designer and the textures will show up. Unfold it and re-arrange the bits and pieces to get your buildable parts.

The editing in SU allows you to add internal formers if necessary.

4) The easiest way to avoid the bits and pieces explosion is to unfold the model using the SU unfold tool plugin. I use SU 8 for that, so I don't know if the latest SU version is able to support the plugin. The result is exported as *.svg and then finalized in CorelDRAW (texture, tabs, layout and *.pdf export). This procedure gives you full control of the look of the unfold. You get a vector pattern which can be easily up- and down-scaled without a major loss in quality.

I hope this helps!
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Star Trek Discovery- Help!!!-d1.jpg  
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  #4  
Old 12-22-2017, 09:40 PM
selek7101 selek7101 is offline
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Thanks, fellas!

Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but I definitely appreciate the feedback and direction.

Have a great holiday!
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Old 12-23-2017, 10:51 AM
Revell-Fan Revell-Fan is offline
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You too!
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Old 12-25-2017, 02:19 PM
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GaryPilsworth GaryPilsworth is offline
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21,700 odd faces down to 1600 faces
Star Trek Discovery- Help!!!-capture.jpg
just the dish (12,129 faces) to simplify and the sphere in the middle to do, then .....
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Old 12-26-2017, 06:19 PM
selek7101 selek7101 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GaryPilsworth View Post
21,700 odd faces down to 1600 faces
Attachment 333023
just the dish (12,129 faces) to simplify and the sphere in the middle to do, then .....
Awesome..... can't wait.

And thanks.
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Old 12-31-2017, 02:58 PM
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GaryPilsworth GaryPilsworth is offline
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Messin' with colours and textures
Star Trek Discovery- Help!!!-capture2.jpg
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Old 12-31-2017, 06:40 PM
Revell-Fan Revell-Fan is offline
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Gary, you are amazing!
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  #10  
Old 12-31-2017, 07:25 PM
selek7101 selek7101 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Revell-Fan View Post
Gary, you are amazing!
Second!

All in favor?

What do you think of the color schemes Hallmark and Eaglemoss are playing with?

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://s151.photobucket.com/user/selek_shipyard/embed/slideshow/"></iframe>

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...pso6ieziuj.jpg

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...psag0udcvm.jpg
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