Hello Paper People

**FloatingFeather** · #1 01-26-2010, 11:35 AM

Hi, I'm Heather, I live in Akron, ohio, and I have been building paper models for about 2 years. i got into the hobby because I love taking something that looks like paper into a 3D model.

Right now, I have an interest in airplanes, airchitecture, figures, vehicles, and musical instruments (I am currrently working on paper guitars.

I don;t know ywt how to design and build my own models, I still have to learn some software program for that.

If anyone has any suggestions, or can direct me in the forum to info regarding software, I would appreciate it.:o

**Wyvern** · #2 01-26-2010, 11:57 AM

Hi Heather,

Welcome to the forum! You'll find some design tutorials and information in the Downloads section, and scattered throughout the model posts. A good place to start browsing for that kind of info is in the Designers sections. Also, there are design tutorials located in the forum section of an affiliated site and store run by one of our members, Chris Gutzmer, at ecardmodels.com. And lastly, check out posts by CT Ertz to see what kind of results you can get using free programs to design and color models, in this case, Google Sketchup and GIMP.

Again, welcome, and we look forward to seeing your builds!

Wyvern

**tazman3** · #3 01-26-2010, 12:02 PM

"Osiyo!" FloatingFeather...I have a few instruments as well...be glad to share them with you as they are all free downloads.

I have a number of guitars...drums...and a violin. One drum set and the violin can be found at Canon Creative Park - Paper Craft.

You will also find a bunch of other free card models there as well...

Thanks for stopping by!

**APA-168** · #4 01-26-2010, 12:03 PM

Hi Heather, welcome to the forum! I hope to be putting up a comprehensive tutorial for designing with Google Sketchup and Inkscape sometime in the next few weeks. Hopefully that will be of help to you! And of course, we'd love to see some pics of your work!

**Retired_for_now** · #5 01-26-2010, 10:02 PM

Welcome, Heather! You can see the basics as you build others' designs - designing your own is a matter of decomposing your overall vision into the needed parts. I'll defer to the brain trust on software but, personally, I start with a rough sketch on paper, figure out the measurements as best I can (it's just a little geometry), draw it in PowerPoint (not good for complex 3-D shapes, but cylinders, boxes, and cones are simple), then build/adjust/build/adjust/build/swear/etc. until done.

Try something simple like an upright piano to get started - then I'd like to see the multiple guitar from Animusic, please.

Yogi