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  #11  
Old 10-05-2020, 09:21 AM
phuocdh phuocdh is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ponytail View Post
I changed it into 50mm.

The output was in a PDF, which can be converted into a JPG, Bitmap or so. Only then resolution is rather low. Gives much pixelation as in the PDF. Something be done about that?

Keep on!
I think the problem lies in PDF -> image conversion. Maybe you should use better conversion tool.
I will add support for image printing in the near future, stay tuned! :D
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  #12  
Old 10-05-2020, 09:55 AM
Ponytail Ponytail is offline
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I use Acrobat-Reader and the pdf opens at 172% with clear pixelation. Apparantly it's not vector. The same is visible in Irfanview, PDFill, PDF-viewer, GS-view and more...

Looking forward to a solution! ;-)
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  #13  
Old 10-05-2020, 12:41 PM
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Damraska Damraska is offline
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Hey phuocdh.

Papermaker is promising. To give it a decent test I created a bullet shaped object in Blender, imported the file, and unfolded it. The two images below show the results.





As you can see, Papermaker easily unfolded the bullet despite the fairly large number of polygons and sloppy construction. If it can do that, it can handle any fuselage or ship hull.

My thoughts in no particular order:

1) If I shoot for high resolution in Blender, the resulting object contains a very large number of polygons. When I bring that object into Papermaker, clicking every single cut line will take a very long time. A lasso function that grabs all line segments in a box and flags them for cutting would save much time.

2) I would like the ability to move the camera position when cutting. This would help when cutting up very long objects, like a hull or fuselage.

3) If I select a line segment for cutting, clicking it again should deselect it. Having to go down to the Undo button is cumbersome. If you click a bunch of line segments, then realize you made a mistake 20 clicks back, it kinda sucks.

4) Connecting tabs are E V I L. All connecting tabs should hang by the neck until dead. I know I can edit them out, but an option to leave off all connecting tabs would be lovely. :D

Also, thank you for including the show/hide inner lines function. Dashed fold lines are almost as evil as connecting tabs.

My apologies if the application includes any of the functions above and I missed them.

...

I was able to import the unfolded bullet into Inkscape and redraw the components in vector format fairly easily. Since this is an early test I will not attempt to actually build the bullet. :o

If Pagemaker included an option to export in Scalable Vector Format it would save much time.

Well done. I hope some of my observations help. Good luck with this project!

Last edited by Damraska; 10-05-2020 at 12:50 PM. Reason: This forum software sucks. Also, I am stupid.
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  #14  
Old 10-05-2020, 06:57 PM
phuocdh phuocdh is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ponytail View Post
I use Acrobat-Reader and the pdf opens at 172% with clear pixelation. Apparantly it's not vector. The same is visible in Irfanview, PDFill, PDF-viewer, GS-view and more...

Looking forward to a solution! ;-)
Oh I see. The PDF is indeed saved as bitmap PNG and not vector. If you need more resolution, you can choose larger paper size and scale model height accordingly. For now that is the only option, since implementing vector exporting is fairly big of a feature, but it is definitely on the todo list
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  #15  
Old 10-05-2020, 09:48 PM
phuocdh phuocdh is offline
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Re: Damraska

Thanks for your thoroughly testing!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Damraska View Post
1) If I shoot for high resolution in Blender, the resulting object contains a very large number of polygons. When I bring that object into Papermaker, clicking every single cut line will take a very long time. A lasso function that grabs all line segments in a box and flags them for cutting would save much time.
This is exactly what PaperMaker currently lacks. I have also replied to Ponytail on similar problem:
Quote:
Originally Posted by phuocdh View Post
I am planning to work more on this, there are two possible solutions:

1. One button unfolding: that is, you click one button and PaperMaker will do all the cutting and unfolding for you.
2. Multi-line cutting: cut one line and PaperMaker will try to guest logical lines that should also follow the cut. For example: In you stringing.stl, just click one line of the circle at the top and the whole circle will be cut.

Maybe I will implement both solutions.
Ofc the 2 solutions mentioned above are just my thinking, I have yet finalized those ideas.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Damraska View Post
2) I would like the ability to move the camera position when cutting. This would help when cutting up very long objects, like a hull or fuselage.
You can manually moving the camera by dragging using right mouse button :D

Quote:
Originally Posted by Damraska View Post
3) If I select a line segment for cutting, clicking it again should deselect it. Having to go down to the Undo button is cumbersome. If you click a bunch of line segments, then realize you made a mistake 20 clicks back, it kinda sucks.
Haha agreed. Will implement this for sure!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Damraska View Post
4) Connecting tabs are E V I L. All connecting tabs should hang by the neck until dead. I know I can edit them out, but an option to leave off all connecting tabs would be lovely. :D

Also, thank you for including the show/hide inner lines function. Dashed fold lines are almost as evil as connecting tabs.
Agreed that fold lines are evil :D But I personally always use connecting tabs :O TIL that they are sometimes evil too. May I ask how you will build the model if there is no connecting tabs?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Damraska View Post
I was able to import the unfolded bullet into Inkscape and redraw the components in vector format fairly easily.
If Pagemaker included an option to export in Scalable Vector Format it would save much time.
Wow, you can actually redraw it in vector format easily? (I am not familiar with Inkscape myself :p)
And yes, vector export is no doubt a must have feature. The implementation is fairly big so it will take some time For now I am hoping that bitmap export suits most people need.
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  #16  
Old 10-06-2020, 06:02 PM
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ShadowCory ShadowCory is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phuocdh View Post
TIL that they are sometimes evil too. May I ask how you will build the model if there is no connecting tabs?

I usually do use tabs, but on my last design, I edge glued the whole model. It was quite boxy, so this approach worked well for it. One can also make one's own separate tabs to glue on the inside of both joined edges. In the past, I have used paper tabs that I cut from copy paper to glue card stock pieces together to have a nicer seam. It's kinda like using a more permanent form of paper or masking tape. The tabs tend to make one edge a little bit bulkier than the adjacent edge because of the thickness of the paper stock.
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  #17  
Old 10-07-2020, 12:27 AM
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Damraska Damraska is offline
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Good day, phuocdh!

Quote:
Originally Posted by phuocdh View Post
Agreed that fold lines are evil :D But I personally always use connecting tabs :O TIL that they are sometimes evil too. May I ask how you will build the model if there is no connecting tabs?
For anything with a roughly barrel shape--fuselage, hull, torso--connecting strips provide a far superior visual result than connecting tabs. For barrel shaped objects, connecting tabs produce stair-steps in the finished form, just like the hull on a clinker built sailing ship. Connecting strips, which connect two barrel segments from behind, produce flat, perfectly aligned seams.

In the cases of bricks, cubes, and other low facet count polyhedral shapes, connecting tabs have more utility but still produce imprecise seams. In my experience, they also tend to produce unwanted flaring, even on the smallest items. Again, a connecting strip introduced from behind produces a superior result in almost all cases.

Some models use butt glued conic sections for barrel shaped assemblies. A given segment folds to form a cylinder with a former at each end. The cylindrical sections connect to one another by gluing the adjacent formers together. If one carefully sands adjacent formers to shape, this construction method can produce pleasing results. Any variance between adjacent formers results in unsightly mismatches.

Finally, as Shadowcory mentions, one may glue the edge of one part to the face of another. Doubling or tripling the thickness of the card stock creates a broader edge and thus a better connection. This method works well for small parts with a large edge relative to the size of the piece. Even in this case, adding a connecting tab greatly increases joint strength without producing any unsightly deformations at the joint.

I fully understand why most card models use connecting tabs. They are easy to model, easy to build, and produce strong joints. However, when striving for greater realism, one most employ other methods. I am not saying, "Get rid of the option!". An option to remove tabs would save time for someone like me.

Quote:
Originally Posted by phuocdh View Post
Wow, you can actually redraw it in vector format easily? (I am not familiar with Inkscape myself :p)
And yes, vector export is no doubt a must have feature. The implementation is fairly big so it will take some time For now I am hoping that bitmap export suits most people need.
Inkscape includes a function that automatically detects the boundaries of a bitmap object and produces a corresponding vector object. Another command automatically simplifies a vector object to reduce the number of nodes. Finally, one can drag the remaining nodes around. With practice, it becomes possible to trace a clean bitmap object fairly quickly.

Really complex, low resolution bitmap objects are a pain in the petunias to redraw. For example, a couple days ago, I redrew the grills on the warp pylons of Ron Caudillo's USS Enterprise model. It took me an hour to trace that one part and get the geometry perfect. :o
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  #18  
Old 10-07-2020, 01:55 AM
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Kevin WS Kevin WS is offline
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phuocdh thanks for starting this thread and your program.

And all the others thank you for your input - very interesting. I have been following along and enjoying the suggestions and discussion a lot.
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  #19  
Old 10-07-2020, 06:15 AM
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Lex Lex is offline
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I remember one thing Pepakura lacks is a quick way to edit tabs. It would be great if I could set a setting (width, angle) and click-apply or lasso it to any number of tabs.
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  #20  
Old 10-08-2020, 01:38 AM
phuocdh phuocdh is offline
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Update

Thank you all for all the suggestions and encouragement!

As suggested by Damraska on this thread, I have just released the ability to un-cut a line, along with model size helper (just a box to display model size in millimeter around the model) and some other improvements. Check it out!

https://papercraft-maker.com

(PS: it might be better to edit my first post but don't know how...)
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