No1laserjocks First MKVI started

[no1laserjock]

Well, here it is! My first Pepakura project and Halo MKVI Left Boot.

I used Robogenesis 3-part HD boot. I'm just blown away by the Pepakura technology; this is the greatest thing since sliced bread or Video Games!

What have I learned:
1. BE PATIENT!
2. Build in sub components e.g combine small pieces into larger pieces and then assemble those (where practical as this may not work on some objects) so you can get your fingers in tighter spots.
3. Have lots of little tools handy like tweezers, hemostats for holding small pieces, straight edges, etc. sticks for holding the tabs inside reinforcements while gluing.

4. Use toothpicks to apply precision amounts of super glue to tabs etc.
5. Making 3D file in 3DSMAX for Pepakura: my own custom Armor on the way!

IMHO, as a NOOB, I prefer the super glue over hot glue as the super glue lies very flat and bonds the paper to itself. Hot glue leaves a bump under the tabs, and like building anything, if that bump starts throwing off how the paper lies then your IDs will start getting offset...

Now on to the right boot!

Hours Committed: approx 12

 

[no1laserjock]

Two boots done!

HD MKVI 3-Part Boots (Masterchief-Size) by Robogenises Unfolded by? (Ral Partha?)
Left Boot: Scale= 65.923989 H= 195 W= 178 D=330
Right Boot: Scale= 65.724823 H= 194 W= 177 D=330

The second turned out a little better. I am very pleased with how they are coming out, although I am a little concerned about the width of the boots. I think my feet are going to clack together when I walk. I have gone over every scaling tutorial I could find on the net. I kept coming back to Halogoddess' tutorial found here:
http://www.405th.com/showthread.php...re-Tutorial?highlight=pepakura+scaling+sizing

I have tried other ratio percentage scales for the boots and they seem to come out significantly larger than the depth measurement suggested by Halogoddess.
At this rate, I am going to continue to build my way up saving the helmet for last. I learned this on my custom armor:

1. Do the Helmet LAST! It will be seen FIRST and the skills acquired on the other parts will help insure a higher quality helm. But I have not done a Halo Helmet yet with all of its level of detail... time will tell...

I also learned: How to rearrange the layout in Pepakura to save paper. Yay! I went through 18 sheets on the first boot and only 10 on the second!

Concerned about that boot width still.... I may cut them down the length and narrow them up a bit before applying the fiberglass. Hmmm...

Hours Committed: Approx 24

 

[soloknight6]

Very clean work. Have you thought of how you want your spartan to look? Color, armor perms, etc. I Love MkVI armor builds.

 

[no1laserjock]

Thanks Soloknight!
I was beginning to feel a little lonely as a NOOB, thanks for replying to my post!
As far as colors I like darker, grey tones. I may do some kind of dark urban camo paint job. I presume you meant "permutations" by "perms" above? As a NOOB it is probably easier to list the parts I am going to use. I did one stop shopping for my files here: http://halocostuming.wikia.com/wiki/Pepakura_File_Index

It seemed that everything was nicely consolidated there. Also, I am still going through some confusion as to sizes and scaling. E.g. Masterchief and Spartan proportions. So I am very carefully looking at the 3D file in Pepakura as I scale to see if it seems proportionally correct. I am using these Pep Files:
HD 3-pc Left Boot by Robogenisis
HD 3-pc Right Boot by Robogenisis
HD Codpiece by crackhead09
HD Left Hand Plate by Robogenisis
HD Left Mk VI Bicep (Spartan Size) V2 by Robogenesis
HD Left Shin by crackhead09
HD Mark VI Chest (FS vers) by Flyingsquirl
HD Right Hand Plate by Robogenisis
HD Right Mk VI Bicep (Spartan Size) V2 by Robogenesis
HD Right Shin by crackhead09
Left HD MkVI Forearm by Nugget
Left HD Thigh by crackhead09
Mark VI HD Helmet (Final FS version) by Flyingsquirl
Right HD MkVI Forearm by Nugget
Right HD Thigh by crackhead09
SmoothMKVI2.0_by_DF4L by Flyingsquirl

Many of these were unfolded by Ral Partha

Now, I have only played HALO for about 15 minutes against someone else who had already established their role in the game. So I really have no idea all of the different characters and armor permutations. The bottom line is I think the HALO armor (all the ones I have seen) look really awesome and I want the experience of building a suit from the data here. If all goes well, hopefully I will be able to join some of you at a CON someday!

 

[BUBBENSTEIN]

Looks excellent! Try to post your pictures directly too the thread though please. If you look on the left there is a box labeled links. Copy the bottom one and it should post a picture directly to the thread. Anyways good work and good luck! I'll be keeping and eye on this one!

 

[Sky Walker]

ya the boots look good... and i like the grey idea...
(its good yo see some customs around, Master Chief is a beast; but you are not him, its good to be your own self and make your own build)

 

[no1laserjock]

Hey Bubbenstein!
I'll be following YOUR build too! Thanks for the pic advice. It took a while to figure out photobucket. For me, when I open it in Firefox, the box to select img from is on the right. Probably different for flikr and so forth.
Ok, onto the left shin!

 

[vshore100]

Your pep work looks really nice. Keep up the great work!

 

[no1laserjock]

Hey Sky_Walker!

Yeah, I understand Masterchief is over 7-feet tall. I am only 5'9"! Maybe I'll be "MiniChief" lol. I am definitely considering Dark Camo as his (Masterchief's) colors are very distinctive.

 

[no1laserjock]

Hey Vshore!
Wow! Your work looks awesome! Since you have made boots, did you notice any width vs depth problems? I am using Robogenesis 3 part MKVI boots...
Maybe I am pannicking as this is my first Pepakura and HALO project. I guess I'd like to resolve this issue of width vs height vs depth in Pepakura so others can feel confident too. Man, it is a LOT of work to Pep up some of these parts! I sure don't want to have to do them over. If I have to I have to...sigh

 

[Shade88]

Looking good, keep it up!

 

[Pyronari]

Project is looking good. I would have liked super glue better as well but i had it where when i finished a piece I had glue build up on my fingers, and that stuff is a pain to get off.

 

[no1laserjock]

Left Shin Done

HD MKVI Left & Right (in progress) Shin / Greave (Spartan-sized) by Crackhead09 Unfolded by Ral Partha
Left Shin:Scale = .422788 H= 351 W=153 D= 209
Right Shin:Scale = .421686 H= 351 W= 208 D=208

Well, after tearing my hair out over scaling and building one shin that was too big, I finished the correct sized one:

I used a bit different of an approach to scale this piece. Rather than going with height measurements, as per Halogoddess' suggestion, I went with width.
I am 5'-9" tall, 165 lean muscular pounds. I have very even proportions where Masterchief (at least the images I have) appears longer in proportion.

This is how I measured for my shin:

1. Measured the circumference of my calf around the widest area = 14 inches divided by PI (3.1415) to get diameter = 4.46 inches + 2 inches for fiberglass & padding = 6.46 Inches
I multiplied 6.46 X 25.4 to get 164.08 (164)MM. I entered 164mm in Width in Pepakura. Now my height proportions look about right.

Regarding scaling, Yes I IM'd the moderator on scaling. I know; BAAAD! I'm lucky to be here still! LOL

I was looking for a Panacea formula that would always work to scale the parts in Pepakura. THERE IS NONE! YOU MUST BE WILLING TO BUILD A PART OVER UNTIL YOU GET A "FEEL" FOR THE CORRECT SCALE TO YOUR PROPORTIONS. You may have to use a mix of measuring and scaling methods!

Now with that said I would like to help standardize the files for scaling.

Here is what I have so far:
HD 3-pc Left Boot by Robogenisis Scale = 86.0
HD 3-pc Right Boot by Robogenisis Scale = 86.0
HD Codpiece by crackhead09 Scale = 2.547
HD Left Hand Plate by Robogenisis Scale = 86.0
HD Left Mk VI Bicep (Spartan Size) V2 by Robogenesis Scale = 86.0
HD Left Shin by crackhead09 Scale = 0.619
HD Mark VI Chest (FS vers) by Flyingsquirl Scale = 2.414
HD Right Hand Plate by Robogenisis Scale = 86.0
HD Right Mk VI Bicep (Spartan Size) V2 by Robogenesis Scale = 86.0
HD Right Shin by crackhead09 Scale = 0.619
Left HD MkVI Forearm by Nugget Scale = 465.522
Left HD Thigh by crackhead09 Scale = 1.308
Mark VI HD Helmet (Final FS version) by Flyingsquirl Scale = .253
Right HD MkVI Forearm by Nugget Scale = 465.522
Right HD Thigh by crackhead09 Scale = 1.308
SmoothMKVI2.0_by_DF4L by Flyingsquirl Scale = 12.646

Pepakura Designer 3.0.8

Paper set to USA letter size (8.5" X 11")

All files found here

http://halocostuming.wikia.com/wiki/Pepakura_File_Index

Hours committed = Approx 42

 

[Dh748]

Dude you will find scaling one of the worst parts in the whole process. There is never ONE formula for everything and sometimes the formulas dont work. I'll tell you what the best way to go is to. . .

Study the piece for whichever length or width looks easiest enough to measure, IE Height for shins? Measure from where you want it on your ankle (I suggest putting on a shoe and about a inch or so above that) And however long you want the piece to go For this particular shin, somewhere around the knee.

Know what im saying?

Helmets I usually take chin to top of head and add a couple inches, there are some exceptions to that rule but in general it works.

Chest usually a rib to rib or shoulder to shoulder measurement is needed, Any questions? PM me, here to help!


Just curious. . .Which Mod?

 

[no1laserjock]

Scaling confusion

Hey Troops!

I have been scouring the web trying to figure out how Pepakura scales its imported 3DSMAX files. No luck so far.
Fortuneately, I have 3DSMAX!

I tried two things:

1. Made a 12 x 12 x 12 -inch cube using imperial dimensions. I exported it as a .3ds file, then imported it into Pepakura. As I understand this, that cube is 1-foot square and therefore its normal scaling is 100% (In 3DSMAX, Autodesk Inventor, and Lightwave .

When imported into Pepakura it attains a scale of 3.658 and H, W, & D of 43mm (!) WTF?!

2. I made a 304.8mm (1-foot square 12x12x12 inches) cube in metric dimensions, imported that into Pepakura.... Guess what?!

H=43mm, W=43mm D=43mm scale = 3.658 Huh? Last time I checked there is 304.8mm in 12 inches / foot. Shouldn't Pepakura have imported the file accurately?

The answer is YES IT SHOULD! I confirmed this by importing both files into Autodesk Inventor (the really fancy version of AUTOCAD). The scale is 100% the dimensions are accurate etc.
Now as Pepakura builders we need a standardized scale factor. This is definitely a gripe with TAMASOFT.

Hopefully, we can work together and find some way to re-export and re-import the files so the scale is say either 100.0 or perhaps 1.0 for all files. If I can (and I need all the help I can get!) readjust these in 3DSMAX then we can make all of the builder's lives a bit easier for scaling their armor.

As we see in my post above #13 Many files are scaled at 86.0 (the MJOLNIR Masterchief "standard"), but many many others are all over the Pepakura map in terms of scale. I spot-checked the 405th PepPack 1.7 and we see the same diversity as found on the Wiki Halo site.

Please don't take this as me complaining. I am really not at all. If there is a way to standardize that we can agree on, I think it could rapidly progress our art. If I can use any of the tools I have to help I am glad to. I am just getting a handle on modeling, textures, meshes, nurbs and boolean functions. If I can apply any of my 3DS knowledge to help SIGN ME UP!

 

[no1laserjock]

Left and Right Shins Done!

After a minor set-back of making one shin a bit too big, and some confusion of the width and depth being opposite in Pepakura for the right shin, I copied my height value from before and printed the pieces out. Seems to have worked out fine.

Now its time to measure the left thigh and Pep it....

I expect that this may take a try or two as well to get the size right.

Hours Committed: Approx 51

 

[no1laserjock]

Wow! Ok, NOW I am intimidated by Pepakura! I just finished cutting out the pieces and marking the folds for Crackhead09 & Ral Partha's MKVI HD Thigh. There are some insane folds that look like they are going to push the papers integrity and my ability to integrate the folds and flaps. This is going to be tricky!

 

[Dh748]

It is pretty killer, And Haha. You are the FIRST person in 3 years I have ever seen even try to standardize scaling, kudos to you pal.

PS the files are looking pretty damn decent man, KEEP IT up!!! (CLEAN)

 

[Road Kill]

dang this looks great man =D keep up the fantastic work

 

[Fedgunner]

Nice work!
I've yet to make my first fold, so I'm watching this with great interest.