Simplifying a development with pepakura

[astrospud]

Hi all,
If you have been looking in the Sci fi section of the Forum, I have been trying to convert some Eve-Online ships to develop in pepakura. I have noticed in several forums that I really need to look at optimising the model for a development and one of the ways I noticed The4ace has done for his with the Hawk model. I see the model is broken in to several sections, allowing for a "section by sections" build.
Was this done outside of Pepakura in Metasequoia (or some other 3D app)? Or can you pull the model apart in Pepakura (I cant seem to find a function like this anywhere in the program)?

As this would be my first foray into designing, you might say that I try something a bit simpler...I couldn't agree more, but I just love those ships and want my very own fleet!
If I can just wrap my head around the development concepts, I can run with the ball, so to speak...

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Marc

[Lex]

I'd say it's best not to touch the model in Pepa, it does an absolutely horrible job editing... Besides there's great programs like Meta lying around for free, so use those to your advantage ^^ I am definitely looking forward to your designs!

[bclemens]

I agree with Lex- Use Pepakure for what it does best- unfolding simple constructions. I have found it very difficult to fix things in Pepakura if they are complicated. If you import small simple files you can edit them easier and use the zipper tool to put together parts that it separates if you need to.

Personally I don't put colors or textures through Pepakura. I do that last in another program after the parts have been unfolded.

Best wishes,
Bruce

[astrospud]

There is so much about designing that I am yet to understand. So far I have only attempted building 4 models, finishing 2. I have to learn to design developments to secure the models I want, as Eve-Online is a niche genre in the Scifi category.
As the late Peter Brock has said, "bite off more than you can chew, then chew like hell!"
That seems to sum up my modelling ambitions!

[Lex]

Don't worry we've all had that experience

[sjsquirrel]

If you haven't found it already, go over and work through Jay's tutorial for Meta. Better Modeling with Meta/Pep/P.N – Tutorial 1: Introduction

It will get you a great kickstart, with a great, free program. There is a program available that will extract the 3D models from Eve online. See this thread, post #63. Once you get the models extracted, you can clean them up in Meta, then unfold in Pepakura.

Best of luck, and don't hesitate to ask for help.

SJ