Papercraft Objects: First Phase Prototypes

For this assignment we were tasked with creating a paper crafted object that was significant to us from a three dimensional model. This required cad modelling, flattening, printing, and crafting. As my object of significance I chose to do my house that I grew up in, and lately that I miss.

This project began with creating a basic footprint of my house. In order to create my house *close* to proportion and scale, I got photos from my family so I could use it for reference in order to model it correctly. The sky shots from my bothers drone helped extremely well in order to model the roof of the house.

Creating the model for my house turned out to be more challenging than I had originally thought. Creating the roof with an equal overhang and connecting the angles and overhang together on my roof challenged me in a software that I am still learning. A tool that proved to be most helpful was to be able to move the gumboil handles so I could extend a line without distorting its angle. It seems fairly simple, but sitting in the classroom I felt I made a huge discovery.

My 3D model came out exactly how I had imagined for this first phase project. It has the basic structures and correct roof for my original house. Folding down my house also went fairly smoothly, It only took a minute to really  plan out how I was going to unfold it, although once I started it was a breeze. I had to divide the entire project into five parts. Altogether I had individual shapes for my house base, roof, stairs, and two pillars.

 The printing process worked great after trying 15 different computers only to realize that indeed it was me that was looking in the wrong place to access the fifth by pass tray on the printer.

 The bright blue card stock was not in my initial plan although the bookstore only had obnoxious bright coloured card stock paper in 11x17 paper so I went with it. The folding process went well and brought me back to when I would constantly make simple paper objects as a kid. I grew up doing paper crafts so this felt like playtime. Although it was meticulous, The stairs and pillars turned out quite well. I just want to clarify that the size of the house and these small objects was intentional. I knew they were going to be small but I like the satisfactory of creating such detailed small objects.

 As far as the design goes, I have a couple fixes to make that I noted just as I was folding it. The pillar design can be adjusted so it is easier to fold. Tabs on all objects need to be a bit larger. The underside of the roof needs a guide so that there is even overhang in the paper copy as I designed, with the flexibility of the paper it could be glued anywhere and look distorted. I can also add more detail to the house like windows, doors, and the details on the top of the garage. As you once mentioned about uploading designs in into Adobe illustrator, I would like to put colour or words on the final design.

All in all I am quite pleased with how the project turned out and what it means to me. 

I now have a model of my home in my little dorm.