I figured that I would make a start on showing the world what it is that I do in the 3D world with Blender and also Pepakura Designer to help create Props and Costumes in the real world for myself and for other people most notably in the Pepakura Library on Facebook but also on theRPF forum.
OK, to begin with you have to take reference pictures from the internet or from comics or any other suitable sources, I prefer to use pictures of the front and side to make a start but the back and an angled shot also help as useful reference material.
Here's a few pictures that I used to create a Helmet file for a friend in exchange for some leather work for myself...
First I cut the picture up into usable images using the program GIMP so that they look something like this...
Next I import those pictures into BLENDER so i can create the basic shape in a 3D environment...
Once I have the final 3D model sorted and ready to be used I then export that as an OBJ file which I import into PEPAKURA DESIGNER to begin the unfolding process, in order to get to the final PDO file in a usable state like the picture below is to mark cut lines and then use the unfold button to create the basic cut lines which I then work on until I get them perfect to print out ready to be built...
Once the parts are printed out onto card stock (110GSM minimum) they are then glued together and stiffened with Resin before being covered in Car Body Filler which gets sanded into the smooth final product which will look something like this when painted...
I hope that has been of some use to someone, if you have any questions about any of the specifics of this work please feel free to comment below and I will try to answer them as soon and as fully as I can.
