Ask E.T.: 3D papercraft models

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3D papercraft models

A delightful link from boing boing via Paper Forest:

http://www.amago.jp.lv/papercraft/papercraft2.html

Presented are pdf files for printing out (in color, please) and constructing 3D papers models of fish.

One of my colleagues will construct a fish and we'll have some pictures.

For other amazing paper constructions, see Paper Forest

http://paperforest.blogspot.com/

and also

http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/global/entertainment/papercraft/animal-global/index.html

-- Edward Tufte, August 29, 2005

...or, if you have digital 3D models ready to go, you can use Pepakura to make your own paper models.

-- Alex Merz (email), August 30, 2005

This is just the tip of the iceberg known as Card Modeling. For more info, please see

http://www.cardfaq.org/faq

Just about anything can be modeled in paper, and just about everything is!

Matso Limtiaco Everett WA

-- Matso Limtiaco (email), January 15, 2006

Here is another fantastic resource for paper animation kits.

http://www.flying-pig.co.uk/index.php

-- Dug North (email), March 2, 2006

PaperRobots1999.com
I spent the summer developing paper action figures that kids could download, build, and play with. These figures could really move with full articulation. However, it turned out that the biggest challenge was not the design, but rather the instruction!

I used Tufte's principles of integrating image and word, making comparisons adjacent in space, and using small multiples to implement my instructions as lucidly as possible. To me, the end result is just as fun as the models themselves!

Example: A paper robot with multiple instructions

Example: A paper robot with simple instructions

Sincerely,
Eric Martens
(Graduate of Tufte's "Presenting Data and Information," December 2005!)

-- Eric Martens (email), March 8, 2007

BSD

Dr. Tufte,

This fellow presented at TED, and I saw a photo of the TED presentation on flickr. Enjoy the site.

http://www.langorigami.com/art/compositions/compositions.php4

My favorite practical origami is at http://repocketmod.com/, mentioned previously ,within a different topic, on your bulletin board.

B Wasserman

-- Ben Wasserman (email), March 11, 2008

Threads relevant to tools for creative thinking:
Artful Sentences: Syntax as Style by Virginia Tufte now published! Collaboration in creative work and performance The blank page, the empty space, the paradox of choice		Thinking and Paper properties of ghost-grid graph paper