Papercraft Tools and Lego Experiments

Hey there,

It’s that time again, and I’m writing another intro. I’ve spent the last couple of days working on Brush Ninja - mainly tweaking and fixing small bugs I’ve spotted recently. Nothing major, but it’s satisfying to get them sorted.

I also added a few “How to Animate” videos to the Brush Ninja video channel. These aren’t made by me and aren’t specific to Brush Ninja, but they’re solid introductions to animation skills. I think they’re a great addition to the channel and should help people new to animation.

I’ve also been working on the Beep8 game I mentioned last issue. It’s coming along nicely, and in the process, I’ve made various tweaks and improvements to the core Beep8 library, which should make future games easier to build. If you’re interested you can try an early version of Prime Time (name subject to change) on beepmini.com.

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Unfolder (and Pepakura)

In the last issue, I mentioned Fold Up Toys and how I’ve made some of these papercrafts myself. You can see my papercraft models (I call them toys) on my personal website.

To make these toys, I modelled the objects using Blender, exported the models as OBJ files, and then imported the 3D models into an app called Unfolder. Unfolder is a Mac app that takes a 3D model and flattens it into a 2D shape you can cut out and glue together to recreate the shape as a physical object.

Once flattened, you can tweak the layout, disconnecting and reconnecting parts to make them fit together more cleanly. I then export the file as an SVG and import it into a vector graphics app (Sketch) to add colours and details.

I usually make three or four versions of each toy before I’m happy with the design and build. Sometimes I print them without colours and use felt pens to work out how they should look.

It’s a great way to make your own papercraft toys, though it does require a bit of effort and some 3D modelling knowledge. If you want to try it, I’d suggest starting with something simple - like a cube - just to see how it all comes together. The app is fairly inexpensive and available on the Mac App Store.

If you’re on Windows, there’s an app called [Pepakura Designer][pepakura-designer] that does the same thing. It’s a bit more complex and slightly pricier, but it’s powerful and well-featured. As a Mac user, I haven’t used it myself, but I’ve heard good things.

• Try Unfolder
• Try Pepakura Designer

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Making Lego Cars Cross Narrow Bridges

I’ve seen these videos a few times and they’re always fun to watch. Not just because they involve Lego, but because I enjoy the engineering approach to the problems. I like how the vehicles are improved over time, with later versions still capable of handling earlier challenges.

The videos are made by the Brick Experiment Channel, run by an anonymous software engineer from Finland. They have an FAQ on their website, which I found surprisingly interesting. One detail I liked: they buy most of their Lego from Bricklink, and they sell two of their models on BuildAMOC (MOC = My Own Creation). These kits are expensive but made from genuine Lego bricks.

If you’re a geeky adult with disposable income, chances are you’ve already discovered the world of adult Lego communities. Adult fans are a big market for Lego now, with larger and more expensive sets targeted at ages 18+. These fans are known as AFOLs (Adult Fans of Lego), and there are plenty of communities online.

The channel features all sorts of engineering experiments using Lego. As I mentioned, I enjoy the ones that iterate and refine their designs with each version.

Some of my favourites:

• Lego cars crossing increasingly narrow bridges
• Cars crossing increasingly widening gaps
• A car climbing obstacles
• Different doors opening and closing

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Sparked Discoveries

Here’s a handful of links I found intriguing recently:

Unreal Engine 2.5D game course

I’ve talked a bit about game development with different engines over the last few issues. If you’re interested in making more complex games, Unreal Engine is a great option. This course is an introduction to 2.5D game development, made by the Unreal Engine team.

Side note: it uses assets from Kenney.nl, a well-known source of free game assets.

One Million Chessboards

This is a fun project featuring one million live chessboards you can play on. It’s by Nolan Royalty, a developer trying to keep the web weird and fun - something I really appreciate. His other projects, like One Million Checkboxes, are quirky and oddly addictive.

Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze Documents Life at the Top of Hong Kong’s Soaring Architecture

I love architectural photography - especially of brutalist or densely packed buildings with loads of detail. This project, by Romain Jacquet-Lagrèze, captures Hong Kong’s high-rise life from above, and the photos are stunning. The mix of colour, texture, and built environment is beautiful.