5
extract
Scallop, 3D file and pdf file to download and experiment with.
Mon 25th Jul 2011
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I'm slowly but surely getting the hang of Blender. It seems both powerful and flexible. As from the previous post, I have been using blender to create a scallop shell. Having created the 3D shape in blender I have used a tool called UV unwrapping to make a net of the shape. I then dropped the shapes into illustrator and tarted them up as below.

Here are the parts glued together. I glued it together inside out to hide the construction lines.

Here's the inside view.

Blender is an open source project which is available for a variety of operating systems. You can download your own version at the Blender Website here. If you are a member you can download both the pdf file of the shell and the blender file so you can experiment at home.

I'm planning to write a few tutorials on using blender to create paper models just as soon as I'm up and running myself. Which would you prefer, written tutorials or video tutorials?


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Tuesday 26th Jul 2011 02:46

JayHavvic

JayHavvic's picture

Rob,

Am really envious

I am still trying to get acquainted with blender!

A combination of written and video would help.

You seem to be able to explain things very well.

Thanks!

J

 

Tuesday 26th Jul 2011 07:29

Smelter

Smelter's picture

Which would you prefer, written tutorials or video tutorials?

Why both of course!

Not because I/we are a greedy bunch of members, but sometimes I find it can take a couple of viewings or view points to get the idea. 

Tuesday 26th Jul 2011 12:19

frankenpaper

frankenpaper's picture

 

Blender is a great program and one of the most popular in the paper modeling world, however I prefer Sketchup. 
Sketchup is best for designing buildings and integrates well with the Buildings layer of Google Earth. It is also great for regular (and complies) objects as well. One great feature is the community of shared objects found at
You can have your own section in the warehouse too. Mine can be found here
 
Another great thing about Sketchup is the option to add custom Ruby script plugins. There are many free plugins available from 
which you can use as is or you can modify them to suit you needs. To add a plugin, just copy the file that you want into the Plugins directory,
C:\Program Files (x86)\Google\Google SketchUp 8\Plugins
then run Sketchup. The first one that I add to Sketchup is the Unfold Tool from 
With this tool I can easily unfold any model, one face at a time. I do wish it had a re-fold option, but what can you expect for free. 
Another amazing tool that is available in Sketchup is SketchyPhysics. 
With this tool you can set up simulations of machines. While not yet perfect it is still free and it even has its own active user group. Be warned that SketchyPhysics has a steep learning curve. 
 
General Sketchup Video Tutorials can be found at
A video of a Piston & Fly can be found at
A good example of a Simple 3 Piston Model download is available at
And if all that is still not enough you can search youtube for Sketchyphysics or Sketchyphysics Tutorial to find plenty of example videos. Some better than others.
 
I believe that Sketchup deserves a good look even if you have already decided to keep Blender as your primary 3d modeling tool. 
 
Tuesday 26th Jul 2011 17:23

rere

Hello Rob !

nice again !

I think it's time for me to spend some on practicing 3d sketching...

régis

Tuesday 26th Jul 2011 18:44

robives

robives's picture

No problem, a mix of written and video it is. 

I have had a look at blender and sketchup. I tried the unwrap module in sketchup, it worked but I ended up with a net at a weird angle across the screen and couldn't work out how to flatten it to the plane. I tried the same in blender without the same problem. It was really a matter of which one worked at the early stages and which one had good support on their forums. I'll certainly have another look at sketchup though.