Blender

[Kevin WS]

If you are drawing the 2D schematics you virtually have the paper model.

If you look at how to do "plan" drawings similar to the one I showed above, all you have to do is then project the lines to get any "flat" surfaces you need for the paper model.

Colour, print and go...

You don't need Blender to make architectural models. Have a look at Richard Vyškovský's models - all hand drawn.

[Burning Beard]

You were right Dave, there was a version of 2.7 out there that syncs with book Dane referenced.

[airdave]

Indyjets....

Sorry pal, but you want to jump from reading a novel to becoming a published author
without doing any of the interim work like going to English class, learning spelling and grammar, studying any sort of Literature!

If you are unwilling to source basic tutorials for Blender (of which there are plenty and they are easy to find)
...no, I'm not going to do all the work and post direct links for you
and if you are unwilling to put in the months or years of practice learning Blender,
then you have no understanding of what goes into making "paper models".

As Kevin illustrated, drawing a square on a piece of paper is one side of a 3D cube (or the flat side of a paper model of a cube).
No special tools or software required.
Although a Measuring Rule can help you draw to the right scale square.
How do you think paper models have been designed for the last 200 years?

Something like Pepakura is just a "cheat" software
...turning a 3D CG model into flat unfolded parts for lazy designers.
Only thing left is to add glue tabs, and theres a CG trick for that too! lol.
Blender is a serious design software that does all kinds of things, with understanding.

None of this "makes" a paper model.
Someone still had to imagine the concept, draw out the basics (with paper and pencil, or with draw software, or with 3D CG software.

You cutting out the paper parts, folding them, gluing them and assembling them is the process of actually "making" a paper model.

I applaud the guys who learned about, designed and built paper models with pencil, paper and glue...and then moved on to computer graphics.

[Dane]

Process of paper modeling has two sides. The first side is modeling. For architecture objects, Blender is redundant. How they say in RF it is like making a fire from artillery gun to sparrows.
But there is another side to the process. It is texturing of objects. And namely, at this point I had seen the charm of Blender. The texture can be done by an artist. But artists far from technic and his texture may not be plausible in many cases.
Blender builds texture on the base of the physical law of light. In this case, the texture corresponds to a real object. It is a very good method to texturing objects.
Thus, for architect objects, ACAD 2000 is enough or even easier software programs. After building a 3D model in ACAD it can be transferred into Blender before v. 2.8 for texturing. I think this is the most suitable way of building easy paper models with good realistic textures.

[IndyJets]

Originally Posted by airdave

Indyjets....

Sorry pal, but you want to jump from reading a novel to becoming a published author
without doing any of the interim work like going to English class, learning spelling and grammar, studying any sort of Literature!

If you are unwilling to source basic tutorials for Blender (of which there are plenty and they are easy to find)
...no, I'm not going to do all the work and post direct links for you
and if you are unwilling to put in the months or years of practice learning Blender,
then you have no understanding of what goes into making "paper models".

As Kevin illustrated, drawing a square on a piece of paper is one side of a 3D cube (or the flat side of a paper model of a cube).
No special tools or software required.
Although a Measuring Rule can help you draw to the right scale square.
How do you think paper models have been designed for the last 200 years?

Something like Pepakura is just a "cheat" software
...turning a 3D CG model into flat unfolded parts for lazy designers.
Only thing left is to add glue tabs, and theres a CG trick for that too! lol.
Blender is a serious design software that does all kinds of things, with understanding.

None of this "makes" a paper model.
Someone still had to imagine the concept, draw out the basics (with paper and pencil, or with draw software, or with 3D CG software.

You cutting out the paper parts, folding them, gluing them and assembling them is the process of actually "making" a paper model.

I applaud the guys who learned about, designed and built paper models with pencil, paper and glue...and then moved on to computer graphics.

All right that's it. Enough of the insults.
I'm probably going to be deleting my account very soon.

[rickstef]

Bruce,

All the help presented to you is valid, unintended insults not withstanding.

As you prepare to take on this massive project, set the software questions aside for the time being.
Create some items on the airfield, like the jetway, a simple rectangular box, with some funky bits(you can address those later.)
Create those parts that are simple polygons, either in a CAD program(tons of free ones out there) or SketchUp, or as Dave suggested, with a ruler and a pencil.
And in between designing those simpler parts, build a house, or some other building so you can gain some experience scoring, cutting, folding and gluing the model(you need to crawl before running a marathon)

I am not a designer, but I know what it takes to create a model, in my daily life, I am a Cartographer, I had to start at the bottom, learned how to draft maps with pens, a ruler and paper, now I do my work in the digital realm, I would be hard pressed to remember how to create maps by hand, but I know that knowledge is still out there, and could tap into that when needed.

My recommendation, is breathe, print off a simple house, assemble it, and get an understanding what it takes to build a model, and eventually design one.
And start small, with an eye on the big layout, and keep in mind, Rome, and Indianapolis International weren't built in a day.

Rick

[airdave]

I sure as heck am not trying to insult you...
but I am suggesting if you wish to be a "designer" of models (that you are going to share and/or sell to the public),
that you stop asking for easy routes to things.
If you are interested in Blender, as I was, get the program and hunt down the basic tutorials, and learn the program.
I did, and I found them easily.

Better yet, Rick's suggestions are the best approach.

My recommendation, is breathe, print off a simple house, assemble it, and get an understanding what it takes to build a model, and eventually design one.
And start small, with an eye on the big layout, and keep in mind, Rome, and Indianapolis International weren't built in a day.

[IndyJets]

Originally Posted by rickstef

Bruce,

All the help presented to you is valid, unintended insults not withstanding.

As you prepare to take on this massive project, set the software questions aside for the time being.
Create some items on the airfield, like the jetway, a simple rectangular box, with some funky bits(you can address those later.)
Create those parts that are simple polygons, either in a CAD program(tons of free ones out there) or SketchUp, or as Dave suggested, with a ruler and a pencil.
And in between designing those simpler parts, build a house, or some other building so you can gain some experience scoring, cutting, folding and gluing the model(you need to crawl before running a marathon)

I am not a designer, but I know what it takes to create a model, in my daily life, I am a Cartographer, I had to start at the bottom, learned how to draft maps with pens, a ruler and paper, now I do my work in the digital realm, I would be hard pressed to remember how to create maps by hand, but I know that knowledge is still out there, and could tap into that when needed.

My recommendation, is breathe, print off a simple house, assemble it, and get an understanding what it takes to build a model, and eventually design one.
And start small, with an eye on the big layout, and keep in mind, Rome, and Indianapolis International weren't built in a day.

Rick

Funny how you mention jetways... I found a template for a ready-made design that has almost all of the features of the ones found at Indianapolis.

Single boarding bridge - Opaque design - Paris Airport Diorama

Telescoping with 3 sections, 2 points of rotation, and height adjustable!

The main thing I would want to change would be to delete the HSBC advertisements as those are not found here (but are ubiquitous in Europe and Asia), and to replace the thick rolled tube support column with a 1/8" dowel rod.

This is going to be a huge project... you're right. But I've already started sketching out the layout for concourse A to get the overall dimensions, to be followed by either a 3D rendering or juts going straight to sketching out the parts.

[IndyJets]

Originally Posted by airdave

I sure as heck am not trying to insult you...
but I am suggesting if you wish to be a "designer" of models (that you are going to share and/or sell to the public),
that you stop asking for easy routes to things.
If you are interested in Blender, as I was, get the program and hunt down the basic tutorials, and learn the program.
I did, and I found them easily.

Better yet, Rick's suggestions are the best approach.

Thanks for your suggestions. I was just wondering if there is a way to build parts to exact dimensions in Blender rather than doing it all by freehand and eyeball and hoping for the best. None of the tutorials I've looked at say anything about dimensions at all and I was wondering if there was any way to control the size when creating content for use in a game or for printing.

[ssmeier]

YouTube videos by "Maker Tales":
Maker Tales - YouTube
Precision modeling in Blender v2.8 (and later, v2.9).
"Maker Tales" is using Blender to create models for his 3D printer, and wants to achieve "sub 1mm" precision.
He even has a Python script Add-on for Blender to output precision SVG files.

Every version of Blender ever released:
Index of /release/
You can download the versions of Blender "Maker Tales" uses in his videos.

• Download the Blender *.Zip file,
• Extract its contents to a folder,
• Create a shortcut to the "blender.exe" file for that version,
• Rename the shortcut "Blender v2.79" or "Blender v2.93 LTS", etc.

Because Blender does not need to be "installed", only extracted, I have multiple versions of Blender on my computer.

Additionally, there is an Add-on, "Import-Export: Export Paper Model" by Addam Dominec that is included with Blender.
To enable the Add-on, inside Blender Preferences, just check mark it.
Preferences are accessed via Blender's menu Edit.

Documentation for Export Paper Model:
Paper Model — Blender Manual

-Steve