Designing Paper Models

Once you have a building modeled in Google SketchUp it is possible, if you have planned ahead, to create a folded/glued paper model of that model. I say if you have planned ahead for a very good reason: it is extremely difficult to reproduce in paper, all of the details you might include in your model -- as well as all of the mistakes you might have corrected along the way. Fixes that cover over mistakes that will be reproduced slavishly in a complex set of paper figures. The bottom line is that you have to keep it simple and give up some of the precision that is capable in Google SketchUp to produce a paper model.

I have decided to produce paper models of houses in Lexington selling printed copies of these models to benefit of the Lexington Historical Society. Although I am not giving my models away for free, I am willing to share how I created these models so that others can benefit from the knowledge I have gained after spending a year or so figuring out the best way to do this using two tools: Google SketchUp for modeling buildings and Ultimate PaperCraft 3D for unfolding these models so that I can produce 2D renderings of the faces of the models with the glue tabs and folding guidelines needed to construct 3D paper models. Google SketchUp is free, Ultimate PaperCraft 3D costs $40, and is worth it.

So, here are three pages detailing how I use Google SketchUp, Ultimate PaperCraft 3D and an image editor to produce paper models:



			Designing Paper Models Once you have a building modeled in Google SketchUp it is possible, if you have planned ahead, to create a folded/glued paper model of that model. I say if you have planned ahead for a very good reason: it is extremely difficult to reproduce in paper, all of the details you might include in your model -- as well as all of the mistakes you might have corrected along the way. Fixes that cover over mistakes that will be reproduced slavishly in a complex set of paper figures. The bottom line is that you have to keep it simple and give up some of the precision that is capable in Google SketchUp to produce a paper model. I have decided to produce paper models of houses in Lexington selling printed copies of these models to benefit of the Lexington Historical Society. Although I am not giving my models away for free, I am willing to share how I created these models so that others can benefit from the knowledge I have gained after spending a year or so figuring out the best way to do this using two tools: Google SketchUp for modeling buildings and Ultimate PaperCraft 3D for unfolding these models so that I can produce 2D renderings of the faces of the models with the glue tabs and folding guidelines needed to construct 3D paper models. Google SketchUp is free, Ultimate PaperCraft 3D costs $40, and is worth it. So, here are three pages detailing how I use Google SketchUp, Ultimate PaperCraft 3D and an image editor to produce paper models: Use of Google SketchUp Use of Ultimate PaperCraft 3D Use of Image Editor