New Design Methods

[Siwi]

Inkscape can't create 3D models like Sketchup/Blender/Metasoquoa can, although you can create isometric shapes. But if you are tracing over a 3-view it is a great program for drawing out the parts for a model.

[Revell-Fan]

Originally Posted by fishBait

I have used Sketchup in the past and still have SketchUp 8 on my system.

Keep it!

Originally Posted by fishBait

Question for Revell-Fan, you mention Blender. I tried Blender six years ago and found it very user unfriendly. Has Blender improved?

I'm sorry but I don't know how to operate Blender. I once tried it and failed miserably (it was the old version though). Airdave suggested Blender.

Originally Posted by fishBait

Question for Revell-Fan and Siwi. I have had problems unfolding SketchUp in the past with the plug in and unfamiliar with Flattery Papercraft Tools. Has either of you looked at Paper Maker, online papercraft unfolder? Not free, but not high. Looks like it might be a possible SketchUp unfolder.

I have never used Paper Maker, so I cannot comment on it (sorry). Flattery gives you full control of the outcome of the unfold. This video shows how to use it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdqLETdAAWg&t=367s

The main advantage is that the faces are not spread out all over the canvas like Pepakura does. The disadvantage is that you have to click on every single face to unwrap it. There are a few other options which can make the job easier:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X96f1bwXPWk&t=149s

[Mike1158]

If you look for a free Sketchup you should go for the last free version which is V.17. Much more likely to find plugins you need then.

[Mike1158]

For Sketchup 2017 make, https://web.archive.org/web/20220217...782-en-x64.exe

[Kugelfang]

I still like Wings3d as a modeling tool. But it does not have an unfold tool. So, lately I've been exporting my model to *.obj format, importing it into Blender and using the Paper Model extension to unfold it and save as *.svg. It works fairly well. It does take some practice to get Blender to unfold things the way you want (and it's not always possible).



The thing with Wings (and I think this is true for Sketchup, too--and maybe Pepekura) is that it produces triangulated models. There are no true curves. This is a requirement for the Blender function, too. Consequently, there's always a little fudging to get rounded shapes to fit together accurately.


Lately, I watched a tutorial using FreeCad to unroll a lofted model--which I believe produces true curves. I'm all set up to experiment with this workflow but a lot of it will depend on how much free time I have. The learning curve looks pretty steep.