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RichardPF
05-01-2013, 06:04
I decided to move this project to a new thread to keep everything a bit more together.
The content in this post consilidates the posts from a few days ago...

So Cory's comment/question got me thinking about this idea of paper models a bit.

My 3D fort and HMS Surprise virtual models are off at the printing bureau for that part of the development process so I had a bit of SGN development "down time" there.

It has probably been 25 years or more since I did any paper modeling, but I thought it might be worth a shot.

The initial project idea was to make a set of modular coastline pieces as 3D paper models that could be mixed and matched by the person assembling their coastline (as opposed to me) to come up with unique costal designs.

That was my project for the weekend. It has included learning a new piece of software along the way which is always fun for me.

4518
The first step was to design the concept for the pieces so that a limited number of modular paper model pieces could build varied costal designs.
What I settled on was coastal component pieces that were 2 inches wide and from 1 to 6 inches long. Some of the components have square coast profiles, that is, the pieces are the same length on each side. Other components have angled coasts. That is, there is a 1 inch differential in coast length from one side to the other.
I built two different 6 inch long pieces. The shorter side of the angled 5/6 inch pieces have the same profile, but one of the square 6"ers has a sloped terrain while the other is a flat bluff/cliff design (where a fort could live).

4519
The longer front to back pieces also reach a higher elevation. The angled coastal pieces are also used as the height transition pieces.

4520
A view sighting more or less down the coast.
Realize that the square coastal pieces can be added in quantities of 0 or greater at each transition.
(But wait, there's more to come in a bit on this flexibility)

4521
A view from "behind" the pieces showing the elevation changes a bit more.
The 6" long pieces are about 1 1/2" tall.

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From here, there object files were exported from the modeling software and imprted into my newly purchased piece of software that lets me "unwrap" the geometry to flat surfaces. This is Japanese software with only marignal english translation directions, but all went rather smoothly.

4523
All of the components including mirrored angle coast pieces in my favorite vector graphics package ready for final cleanup.
The dotted lines on the top surfaces will be removed and replaced by actual grass/rock type image texturing.
Fold instructions will be recreated as arrows and moved off the edges of the top pieces so as not to be visible on the final components..

In total, there are 18 pieces.
In the above image, these are arranged left to right from longest to shortest.
The top row contains the square coast pieces, the second and third rows contain the angled coast pieces in each direction.
It turns out that because of the left to right side angles present in the elevation changes, the top surface sides of the angled coast pieces are not completely straight.
This can probably be seen most clearly in the lower left components in this last image.

The elevation topology of any of the pieces of a given side length will match that of any other of that side length.
This allows for the coast you build to snake in and out.

There will be notches in the bottoms of the pieces so that they can be connected with paperclips.
The top surfaces are really all that need color printing, so the pieces will be arranged on the pages to group the tops together to minimize color printing costs.

I will build out the prototypes so that I am sure that all of this works before turning it loose on everyone, but all that should be complete by next weekend.

4524
This is actually coming together quite quickly.
It looks like all parts of all 18 land chunks will fit into 15 spaces of 7.5 x 10 inches.
I actually squeeze in one extra 4" straight coast object, so we get a total of 19.

Of these, the top 5 have all of the ground surface segments and would be suitable for printing in color.
I will be adding painted grass, rocks, sand and such and removing the dotted lines on those.
The other 10 could be printed in black.

It may make sense to distribute these as image files as well as Word docs or pdf's so that the user can scale them as desired more easily.

I know that A4 is just over 8 1/4 wide, so this may be a tight go.
I will work on narrowing the chunks down a bit, but those bluff/cliff top surfaces are pretty big.

When I build out a set of these, I will add a second layer of card stock on the parts of the sides where the paper clips will go as reinforcement.
I did not create cutting templates for those on the plans but may.
I will definitely be adding the notches for where the paper clips are to go.

A paper model fort of any size will require two of the bluff/cliff sections to sit on, so I may make some changes to this page layout for that consideration.

RichardPF
05-01-2013, 06:35
Here is the update I had promised to post by this morning:

4525
At this point, the project includes 18 pages.
This let me narrow the pages so that they would print on the narrower A4 paper.
The pages also include two of the 6" bluff pieces so that a 4" wide fort can be placed on the land with just a single print of these pages.
The first row of pages are those that should be printed in color. The others can be printed using black ink or toner.
The left two pages in the second row are actually duplicates as these are the bottom and sides of the two 6" straight bluff/cliff components.
The layout does still include the one extra 4" straight segment, so the 18 pages include a total of 20 modular terrain components.

4526
The bottom sections of the terrain pieces are labelled.
They have also been marked for the slots to insert the paper clips used to hold the components together.
The paper clip holes are also strategic in that the paper clips can be used as clamps when gluing the top and bottom parts of each component together.

4531 4532
Here the dotted scoring lines have been removed from the face of the top surface of the terrain and moved, wherever possible, to just off the edges.
These dotted edges can still be used as guides to crease the card stock for the folds, but there is no marking of the terrain surface.
The squared edges at the front are for the optional inclusion of 1/2 inch of beach at the shoreline.
This beach section does not have any angular height.

4528
Here the first color pass has been applied.
At this point, these are solid colors with a very slight transitional fuzzy area between the grass and beach colors.
The next steps will be to mottle the sand to grass transitition area, add some patches of rock and darker dirt here and there, and then use the software filters to add irregular variations to the terrain surface so that it looks more organic and less painted.
I could spend forever on that step, but will cut it a bit short and wrap things up in a day or two.

I do want to actually print and build these components to make sure that it all works the way that I have envisioned before releasing them on the world (or at least the Anchorage), but if all goes well the pdf files and a bit of assembly instructions should be available by the end of the weekend.

7eat51
05-01-2013, 09:01
You have given us something to look forward to.

I, for one, have never printed anything like this before, so if there is any advice as to printer settings, etc., please let us know.

Best wishes on your test run.

CHolgren
05-01-2013, 11:31
Looking forward to this Bruce. I've been getting paper craft practice working on the Roman Seas ships.

RichardPF
05-02-2013, 02:05
Terrain Update!
Terrain is ready to go for color printing.
I will be printing the black and white pages but having the color pages printed on card stock at Kinko's tomorrow (Thursday).

4545

As I mentioned before, I was going to just do a quick job on creating an organic looking surface for these terrain pieces so that they could get into the world sooner rather than later.

CHolgren
05-02-2013, 04:52
Terrain Update!
Terrain is ready to go for color printing.
I will be printing the black and white pages but having the color pages printed on card stock at Kinko's tomorrow (Thursday).

4545

As I mentioned before, I was going to just do a quick job on creating an organic looking surface for these terrain pieces so that they could get into the world sooner rather than later.

Bruce, they look great can't wait to try them out.

Sea Gull
05-02-2013, 06:44
They look really good Bruce. I can't believe how quickly you've manged to knock them up, especially considering the 3D fort project and the ship project you're also busy with.:hatsoff:

Devsdoc
05-02-2013, 13:11
Hi! Bruce,
You made it look so simple! I know it is not so. I love the simple idea of paper-clips. I have made shore-lines. The time and money I spent on them, which I could have spent on ships. Shore-lines are, but are not importent. You can spend time modelling them or use bits of paper, card or cloth. All work, some are better looking. Your shore-line cuts across them all. You could leave them or mount them on boards. I'm so looking forward to gaving them a go. Thank you Bruce :salute:
Be safe
Rory

RichardPF
05-02-2013, 20:09
You have given us something to look forward to.

I, for one, have never printed anything like this before, so if there is any advice as to printer settings, etc., please let us know.

Best wishes on your test run.


Looking forward to this Bruce. I've been getting paper craft practice working on the Roman Seas ships.


Bruce, they look great can't wait to try them out.


They look really good Bruce. I can't believe how quickly you've manged to knock them up, especially considering the 3D fort project and the ship project you're also busy with.:hatsoff:


Hi! Bruce,
You made it look so simple! I know it is not so. I love the simple idea of paper-clips. I have made shore-lines. The time and money I spent on them, which I could have spent on ships. Shore-lines are, but are not importent. You can spend time modelling them or use bits of paper, card or cloth. All work, some are better looking. Your shore-line cuts across them all. You could leave them or mount them on boards. I'm so looking forward to gaving them a go. Thank you Bruce :salute:
Be safe
Rory

Thanks for the encouragement everyone!

I have just had a look at this thread on the monitor in my office at the college.
If your monitor is like this one, the grass green may look a scary neon green shade!
The green RGB values on the actual pieces are fairly sedate.

The paper clips should work well both for gluing the terrain top surfaces to the bases and for connecting the full terrain pieces when in use.
Someone gave me one of those round clear plastic bins of paper clips one upon a time. The kind that has section dividers creating compartments with many different sizes of paper clips.
I have had it for a couple of years and have rarely used any but the very standard sized clips.
I was absent mindedly looking at it while working out how to build the terrain sections so that they could be joined together in different ways to make dirrerent coastlines with the same pieces when it struck me how the clips could be used in the project (especially clips of different sizes).
I know that they make these clip assortments in fancy coated and even plastic versions, but the ones I have are just plain metal paper clips, and the whole bin of 1000 probably only cost a couple of dollars from Wal-Mart or wherever but they should be perfect for this type of work.

I will be posting a recounting of the assembly of the terrain sections and include shots of the clips and various other tools and supplies that I am using.
The tools are all pretty inexpensive.
I purchased a number of varieties of stick/liquid type glue to try on these models.
I also have cycranate and white glues I may try, but I have found from other occasions with plain paper that the cycranates can turn paper translucent and the white glues will usually warp/wrinkle the paper so I am counting on the glue sticks..

If all goes well, I have a few other paper model ideas to try but I don't want to get too far ahead of myself.

I should also see something back from the 3D printing service bureau soon which may slow this effort a bit.

On a good note, the semester at the college ends Monday so I should have a bit more free time to work on these projects!

RichardPF
05-09-2013, 00:09
So except for final tabulation and submission of grades that needs to happen by the end of next Monday,
the semester has come to an end and I am back on the card model terrain project.

I have had the color pages printed and have printed the B/W pages myself.
I have also assembled all of the tools that I will need.
Compared to other types of modeling, very few tools are needed for this.
I would bet that those following this thread probably have at least most of these tools already.

4704
I had the color pages printed at my local Kinkos.
Color printing on 80 lb index (the heaviest that they would print).
They get a buck a page for this.

4705
The remainder of the pages I printed on a BW Laser printer that I have.
These were printed on 110 lb index

4706
I made 3 full sets of the 18 (6 color 12 B/W) pages

4707
Here is the bin of assorted size paper clips that I mentioned.
I also purchased an assortment of stick type glue from Hobby Bench to try.
The ZAP A GAP cyanoacralate glue I use in my wooden boat modeling. I am doubtful about it working for this medium, but I will be experimenting with it.

4708
Other tools that I will be using include a metal straight edge ruler.
A standard tableware knife (the back, non serrated side) for making creases.
Some nice scissors that I "borrowed" from :girlieangry: for a while.
Not pictured is a #1 Exacto Knife with #11 blades.
This is a hobby knife of a kind that most modelers have used on projects of all types for decades.
It will only be needed to cut the slots for the paper clips.
The scissors could be used, but a hobby knife will do a cleaner job (just don't do it directly on a good table!).

I also printed out some patterns of the top surfaces that show the way that the creases work to be an assist to the little register fold marks.

7eat51
05-09-2013, 08:07
So except for final tabulation and submission of grades that needs to happen by the end of next Monday,
the semester has come to an end and I am back on the card model terrain project.

I also printed out some patterns of the top surfaces that show the way that the creases work to be an assist to the little register fold marks.

Very exciting Bruce. The colors look pretty good; I like the texturing. Looking forward to seeing the final builds.

Congrats on finishing the semester. :beer:

Cmmdre
05-09-2013, 08:42
I have greatly enjoyed the tutorial Bruce. Very cool. Thank you for sharing your experience with us so we all may learn. :hatsoff:

Devsdoc
05-09-2013, 11:20
Bruce,
Thank you for all your work and shareing it with us. Who would think that 19th century naval gaming would lead to 3D printing and paper hills (shore-line) and paper clips. To a outsider it would seem mad. To us its normal. :erk:
Be safe
Rory

David Manley
05-09-2013, 12:53
Who would think that 19th century naval gaming would lead to 3D printing .......

i'm currently working with a modeller on a naval project well before the 19th century - can't say more just yet in case it doesn't come off, but its something fun! I'll let you know as and when.

RichardPF
05-09-2013, 21:39
...
Congrats on finishing the semester. :beer:

You should be about finished as well, yes?

7eat51
05-09-2013, 22:08
You should be about finished as well, yes?

Spring semester, next week. I just started a 7-week accelerated grad class on leadership ethics, but it is far more enjoyment than work.

RichardPF
05-09-2013, 22:11
The next step was to cut out the top surface color printed pieces.

I left a bit of extra material on the sides when cutting these out so that the crease guides would still be visible.

4728
The creases on these pieces do not need to be very sharp but need to be done in such a way as to avoid maring the printed surface.
The technique that I came up with was to hold the ruler with one hand on each end with an overhand grip, place the terrain top surace piece on the center of the ruler between my hands, align the crease guide dashes with the far edge of the ruler, and then press down on the top surface of the terrain piece with my thumbs to create the creases.

4729
Here, all 18 unique pieces plus the second cliff/bluff piece have been cut and creased in this fashion.
This actually took a bit of time.

The initial creases made with the ruler all run in the same direction, however, some of the creases on the actual pieces (like those at the beach transitions) need to crease in the opposite direction.
In the image above the beach creases have all been creased back in the opposite direction.
Once the first pass crease had been made with the ruler, reversing the crease direction was extremely easy and did not require use of the ruler guide.

The next step is to trim the sides to the edge of the terrain image and make the creases on the sides for the gluing tabs.
The bottoms of the V notches along the sides will be the guides for the folds from one notch to the next.

Coog
05-09-2013, 23:18
The ethics of torture.


Spring semester, next week. I just started a 7-week accelerated grad class on leadership ethics.

The torture of ethics.:happy:

RichardPF
05-10-2013, 15:57
4742
Top surfaces all final cut and folded and finally starting to look like something.

The severe front to back angle of the upper left outside (angled length) pieces is completely intentional.
These pieces have substantial altitude change at an angle going away from the beach.
As these are matched to the side profiles, this angle straightens out.
Piece at far upper left has as much angle as mirror piece three over, but does not show as much in picture because of camera angle to terrain piece crease angle interaction.
This front to back angling is present on all of the non straight side to side pieces, but as the cliff/bluff pieces have the most significant angled altitude change the angle is most visible on these pieces.

The more worn looking grass on the bluff/cliff sections (upper left) is intentional as that is where a fort can live.
Straight sections doubled to provide a 4" + wide footprint for a fort.
Remember that all sections of a given front to back length have the same side profiles so can be joined to any other piece of the same side length.

4743
Close-up of individual segment.
The lighter color at the side edge here is a highlight caused by the camera flash and slightly shiny printed index card surface,
though no doubt with use these edges will eventually wear and need touching up with something like a green marker.

CHolgren
05-10-2013, 19:20
4742
Top surfaces all final cut and folded and finally starting to look like something.

The severe front to back angle of the upper left outside (angled length) pieces is completely intentional.
These pieces have substantial altitude change at an angle going away from the beach.
As these are matched to the side profiles, this angle straightens out.
Piece at far upper left has as much angle as mirror piece three over, but does not show as much in picture because of camera angle to terrain piece crease angle interaction.
This front to back angling is present on all of the non straight side to side pieces, but as the cliff/bluff pieces have the most significant angled altitude change the angle is most visible on these pieces.

The more worn looking grass on the bluff/cliff sections (upper left) is intentional as that is where a fort can live.
Straight sections doubled to provide a 4" + wide footprint for a fort.
Remember that all sections of a given front to back length have the same side profiles so can be joined to any other piece of the same side length.

4743
Close-up of individual segment.
The lighter color at the side edge here is a highlight caused by the camera flash and slightly shiny printed index card surface,
though no doubt with use these edges will eventually wear and need touching up with something like a green marker.

Looks great Bruce, can't wait.

RichardPF
05-10-2013, 19:42
Looks great Bruce, can't wait.

Pedaling as fast as I can...

Diamondback
08-26-2013, 12:20
Just wondering... how goes it? :)

Naharaht
08-28-2013, 23:53
This all looks amazing to me!

Devsdoc
08-29-2013, 06:21
This all looks amazing to me!

Me too.
Be safe
Rory

Andy Blozinski
08-29-2013, 20:20
Why not use all that 3-D design work and....a 3-D printer?

Diamondback
08-30-2013, 01:25
Because traditional printers and paper are still more economical than SLP, for those of us who still have basic ELEMENTARY SCHOOL cut-and-paste skills? :P LOL

RichardPF
10-27-2013, 23:08
Just wondering... how goes it? :)

So after a waaay too long pause, I have finally gotten back to this project.

74237424

RichardPF
10-28-2013, 00:58
OK, I have uploaded two word documents to a domain where I post math help pages.
These pages are the color and B&W sections needed to build the land modules that I have been showing in this thread.
Color pages shown in the post just before this one.

The B&W file is about 2.5 MB. It can be downloaded from:
HERE (http://www.math-prof.com/SoG/LandHo_Pages_01_17_BW.docx)

The Color file for the land is about 30 MB. It can be downloaded from:
HERE (http://www.math-prof.com/SoG/LandHo_Pages_01_06_Color.docx)

I will be posting detailed construction and assembly instructions within the next few days.
The images on my posts on this thread a few before this one show a bit of the instruction detail.
If you want to try this before I get the instructions posted my one suggestion is to not use Super Glue.
It will turn paper (even card stock) translucent.
I have been experimenting with craft store stick glue and the like and will post my choices in the instructions.
The top and bottom (Color & Black and White) sections can be held together during gluing using paper clips that go through the slots you cut in the bottom side edges.
These slots are used later with small paper clips to assemble the sections.
The sections are designed so that the topology of any section with the same edge length should line up.

More to come soon!

Diamondback
10-28-2013, 13:56
Bruce, if you'd like--assuming OpenOffice doesn't monkey with the margins--I could see about converting those into an Acrobat PDF for you.

Nice site, BTW--where was it when *I* was suffering the tortures of Stats and Calc ten years ago? LOL (And what's the highest level course you could see someone armed only with that site as a "text" successfully challenging for Credit By Exam?

RichardPF
10-28-2013, 14:10
Bruce, if you'd like--assuming OpenOffice doesn't monkey with the margins--I could see about converting those into an Acrobat PDF for you.

Nice site, BTW--where was it when *I* was suffering the tortures of Stats and Calc ten years ago? LOL (And what's the highest level course you could see someone armed only with that site as a "text" successfully challenging for Credit By Exam?

It would depend on the way that the curriculum was laid out at the school, but likely second semester calculus.

Sorry for being so Micro$oft-centric. I will post pdf versions of the files today.

RichardPF
10-28-2013, 14:43
PDF Versions are now available!

Color pages are
HERE (http://www.math-prof.com/SoG/LandHo_Pages_01_06_Color.pdf)
File about 2.5 MB

B&W pages are
HERE (http://www.math-prof.com/SoG/LandHo_Pages_01_11_BW.pdf)
File about 1.75 MB

RichardPF
10-28-2013, 15:12
PDF Files to build the land segments are now also available in the Files section of the Anchorage site.

Diamondback
10-28-2013, 16:07
Thanks, amigo--it's not about "Microsoft-centric", just that there are a lot less ways for computers to muck around with Acrobat. :)

Devsdoc
10-28-2013, 16:51
Hi Bruce,
I have down-loaded your shore-line. I must say THINK YOU! for them. I will have a go it making them soon. More to add to my "To do list".
Be safe
Rory

RichardPF
10-28-2013, 17:31
Hi Bruce,
I have down-loaded your shore-line. I must say THINK YOU! for them. I will have a go it making them soon. More to add to my "To do list".
Be safe
Rory

No problem.
If you get started before I get the instructions posted, there are a couple of other building tips I should add now:

1) While most of the tabs between the top and bottom pieces work about as you would expect, the ones at the shoreline DO NOT FOLD OVER.
Those should be left flat and glued together to make the flattest surface possible at the waterline.

2) The small shaded rectangles at the edges of the bottom (B&W) pieces are to be cut out. This is where the small paper clips go to link the pieces together.
You really do not need OR WANT to cut them all out. Maybe about half of them should be left uncut.

7eat51
10-28-2013, 19:34
Thanks for these, Bruce. This weekend, we had a big blue piece of felt spread across the table. These will be a great addition to that open sea, and enable some interesting scenarios and interaction with wind, as folks navigate around them or use them for cover.