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Unfolder for Mac – A 3D model unfolding tool for creating papercraft

unfolder.app

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Re: Unfolder for Mac – A 3D model unfolding tool for creating papercraft

#11

Post by 1-more »

allenu wrote: post #4

I like the clean design of the landing page. I downloaded it and started the app and it needs an OBJ file to even do anything, so I wasn't able to play with it at all. It would be cool if it included sample OBJ files to entice me to find my own later. Otherwise I feel like I just hit a wall immediately in the app will probably not try it again.

The way I tested was search Thingiverse for "angular" and download an STL, then convert it online to an OBJ on the first search result for "stl to obj"

Specifically I tried this rook from this chess set. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5994219/files

Sadly, some of the crenelations on top of it are just cubes with 2 sides missing that would be impossible to attach to the folded up rook. I imagine there is a ton of loss between a file for a 3D printer, a random convert to Obj with no settings, and this net maker, so I'm not unsympathetic to the problem. It's just that this is a printout that would not be foldable into something useful.

Re: Unfolder for Mac – A 3D model unfolding tool for creating papercraft

#12

Post by Aurornis »

This is really cool.

As someone who is not into papercraft I'm intrigued, but it feels like it's not for me. If the app was advertised as having a small selection of simple models to get started with, people in my position might be more interested in trying it out.

Re: Unfolder for Mac – A 3D model unfolding tool for creating papercraft

#15

Post by aziaziazi »

ElijahLynn wrote: post #2

Mac only. Is there any reason this couldn't be a web app? And seems pretty restrictive to just have one platform, a desktop Mac.

You may use Pepakura if you’re running windows. Not sure if a web or linux alternative exist.

Re: Unfolder for Mac – A 3D model unfolding tool for creating papercraft

#18

Post by shahar2k »

ge96 wrote: post #17

I remember something like this was huge for rc planes 10-20 years ago as you could then make a plane out of thin bendable foam You'd make a 3D model from 3-views then use something like this to unfold it

You're thinking of the same app i used to use! I think it was a Japanese app called Papakura? It's what helped me learn 3d modeling back in the day

Re: Unfolder for Mac – A 3D model unfolding tool for creating papercraft

#20

Post by davebranton »

I wrote something like this for windows 20 years ago, a friend of mine used it to make some cutout models for an art exhibition.

It's an interesting problem to try to solve. Anything but the simplest model requires more than one cutout, which you then (in my app at least) have to position by hand onto sheets of paper for printing. Performing the unfold to minimise the number of separate sections was not something I even attempted.

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