Is ultimate papercraft 3d any good

[goodduck]

do consider it is a $40 program, not a $700 program. so for what it cost, it is not bad, again, for the beginners.

[murphyaa]

The main question is, what program are you using to design the 3D models that you want to unfold?

[terrinecold]

And if you are using MSPaint, do consider inkscape and the gimp which are both free and more powerful tools for 2D vector and raster images

[Lex]

And if you are using MSPaint, do consider inkscape and the gimp which are both free and more powerful tools for 2D vector and raster images

Undoubtedly seconded

[Jonny Tenebrous]

I was digging around the net trying to find reliable reviews on this software before I bought it as well, and information is pretty scarce. Having used both Pepakura Designer and Ultimate Papercraft 3d, though, I find that my personal preference weighs heavily in favor of Ultimate Papercraft 3d - I think it's a shame that seemingly so few papercraft enthusiasts have heard about or use it. I'm a full-time professional 3d modeller in the hobby wargaming industry, and an occasional papercraft enthusiast. I purchased UPC3D about a year and a half ago, and have spent oh.... maybe 40 hours with it, so I'm by no means an authority on it, but I've definitely used it a fair amount. I will say upfront - I think UPC3d is a pretty serious 3d tool, and it may seem somewhat daunting and/or unintuitive to those who are not already quite comfortable working in 3d modelling packages. On the other hand, making these models in the first place presupposes some level of familiarity with 3d modelling, so I doubt there should be any real problem - you might have to spend a little time getting used to its operation, but the learning curve isn't that steep.

Once you get to grips with the program, however, you'll find that there is much to appreciate. Its initial complexity quickly gives way to an abundance of options in the layout and presentation of your models - by the time you're finished, you'll have a document that looks exactly like you want it to. It's difficult to expound upon the details, because there is quite a lot of flexibility, but there a demo available HERE, which should give you some insight.

Importantly, UPC3D handles high resolution textures very well, and that's a humongous benefit to me over Pepakura (I don't have the expensive hi-res version of Pepakura). If you're using multiple 4k (or higher) texture maps on your model, which is not unreasonable because we are dealing with an object that is ultimately going to be printed and not just viewed on a screen, you'll be able to maintain that full detail all the way to your final printout, raster export, or whatever. In many cases, depending on the complexity of detail in your textures, this is critical in making your models look of professional standard, if that is import to you.

And finally, UPC3d imports a pretty wide variety of model formats, which may be worth consideration. I go to their website every couple of months or so and grab the latest update, which tends to keep compatibility up-to-date with the native file formats of various major 3d modelling packages, which can make unfolding more straightforward than with a generic format such as .OBJ. Not that OBJ is inherently problematic, mind. Also, some users in the post have indicated possible issues bringing in files from Sketchup. I've done that a number of times myself and personally find that Sketchup and UPC3D make a great pair... primarily because Sketchup is one of the few surface modelling programs that deals with real-world units much like a CAD modeller. The thing to be careful with in Sketchup, and this applies whenever you try to bring a Sketchup model into almost any 3d program, is that Sketchup has 2-sided surfaces and practically every other program dealing with 3d (including UPC3D) deals with single-sided surfaces... one side is visible, the other is not. This can cause so many headaches if you're not aware of it. So when you build a Sketchup model, review your model with the default material (which is sort white on the outside surface and blue-ish on the inside surface) and make sure that the WHITE side is ALWAYS facing outward. Any blue-side-out polygons are considered "inverted normals" in other 3d programs and will wreak havoc and confusion unless you flip them to the correct orientation before your export your model from Sketchup.

I hope that wasn't too much tech speak. Anyhow, I think UPC3d is a great program and for $40... I mean, c'mon... you're not really out of pocket even if for whatever reason you don't get on with it. Almost nothing of value in the realm of 3D graphics costs a mere $40 so, personally, I think it's a great value and I'm happy to have supported the (one?) guy who wrote it. And the only time I ever had a technical issue with the program, about 4 versions ago, I simply wrote a support request to the programmer, and he promptly responded and fixed the issue in the next version.

I hope that was useful .

Cheers,
Jonny

Note: I am in no way endorsed by or otherwise affiliated with papercraft3d.com.

[sparrowhawk]

Do you think they will import NIF files some day? Those are used in quite some computer games, among them the immensely popular Elder Scrolls series (Morrowind, Oblivion...) which has got quite some beautiful houses I would like to have as real models, not only on my PC.

Regards, Martin

[Jonny Tenebrous]

Wow - that's a *very specific file format, so unless the UPC3D dev is some kind of Elder Scrolls fanatic, probably not. You'll probably have to convert your model to something like OBJ... some manual mesh cleanup may be required? Anyhow, a quick Google search turned up this open source tool on Sourceforge, which apparently converts NIF to OBJ: NifSkope - NifTools

If that tool doesn't sort ya out, maybe something else along those lines will, and then you'll be able to use UPC3D or Pepakura to unfold your models. Good luck.

[sqwarsh]

pepakura is all I use for unfolds. It will import just about anything BUT skp files. However, metasequioa is, i guess, comparable to sketchup and will export to pepa fine. Meta is a basic modeler and is free and easy to learn how to use. But by all means use whatever software YOU are comfortable using.