Hi everyone. Does anyone know how to make .pdf templates?

[Silmarillion]

Hi all. I recently built Ray Keim's Liberty Mansion and I'm so hooked!



I started with one of the Marubun Java Sparrows on a site in Japanese. I'm still working on finding the designers name so I can extend my thanks.

I have a question about how to make the .pdf files on which the Sparrow Templates are found. I'm getting confused about different software pkgs and I wonder if someone can point me in the right direction. I would be very grateful.

I'm a 53 yo single father, living in Los Angeles and I started with 3D Modeling using Blender a few years ago. Now I'm working on figuring out how to create a model in Blender, Unfold it in Pepakura Designer and then (I'd like to paint it with whatever program will allow me to do that...) build the model.

I don't have money to spend here, so I'm stuck making things on my own. But this papercraft is such a cool thing.

Anyway, hi to all.

Mike

 

[Dragos]

Inkscape is free and work with files in vector format. You can export the unfolded model ( if you have Pepakura Designer 3 ) as a e.g. dxf and open it with Inkscape and the paint him

 

[Silmarillion]

Thank you Dragos. In order to produce a printed image for cutout and assembly, do I need to:

1. Create it in a 3D s/w program? (Preferably open source, like Blender

2. Import it to Pepakura Designer 3 for unfolding (Provided it can read the file type

3. Import the unfolded file to Inkscape or a similar package (simply photo manipulation software like photoshop?), paint it, then print and cut out/assemble?

Part of what is slowing me down is a real need to find as much of the software in Open Source as possible. Then they need to be compatible. So, I have my work cut out for me (no pun intended :<)

Again, Dragos, thank you for your help.

Mike

 

[Dragos]

You're welcome