Saturday, March 28, 2009

Final Fantasy VII / Kingdom Hearts Cloud Strife papercraft model release

Whew, finally finished:

Have fun building!

How to keep your paper models from falling over

With the cape and the wing on his back, I foresee many e-mails in my future of people that might have problems keeping Cloud from falling over...

It is quite possible to have him stand upright though, and this is how; and it works on other models as well! ;o)

Stay tuned, release coming (real) soon!

(download the script for the spoken text here)

You been in a fight again, Cloud?

Luckily it's just paper, and I can adjust the nose a bit just by pinching/pulling/pushing it, so that it will look less crooked. ;o)

Nearing completion, obviously. If the instructions don't give me too much trouble, release might be later today, otherwise probably tomorrow.
Stay tuned!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Almost there...

I just glued on the last parts I finished during the last weekend, so the head and sword will need to wait until next weekend.

Well, maybe I'll find the time to finish the sword before then, but the head *really* has to wait until the weekend: finding a way to make "logical" instructions for particularly the hair will probably take some time. ;o)

Stay tuned!

Sunday, March 22, 2009

I'm sorry..

I had another bad dream again last night and I found the red hollow cylinder sitting on top of my computer and when I turned it on this video file was on my desktop...

I think I know what it wants now and I'm sorry but I'm too afraid of what might happen if I don't do what it wants.... I only hope you are stronger than me....

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Bad dreams

Okay so I actually kicked "it" out of the train at one of the stops so I thought I was rid of it (again...) but after having a really bad dream last night I woke up to find this.......

I'm not sure I can get rid of it anymore.....? :o((

Friday, March 20, 2009

Okay this is getting creepy.....

Okay, so I'm happy that I can take pictures again with my camera without that red cylinder showing up in every single picture (I have no idea how it got fixed I'm just glad that it did) but now this...

I mean...

Did it... follow me...???

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Cloud (neck up)

Yeah I know, I haven't fixed my camera yet (mainly because I have no idea what the h#$* is wrong with it????)

That red cylinder is still showing up in every picture I take, so I used the same "trick" as before so you can still see what I wanted to show you guys: I finished test building Cloud's head! ;o)

I kept the ears 3D on this one, and the hair is also more complex than on my other Final Fantasy models, certainly not something you can try and rush. ;o)

For me it didn't prove all that difficult, but of course I have the advantage of knowing what I was thinking when I modeled it... ;o)

I think the "trick" will be to just take it one step at a time and make all the parts one by one and glue them on, before cutting out the next part, and for me to make the instructions a bit more extensive than usual.

I'll think of something. ;o)

Stay tuned!

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Cloud hand test build (sorta.....)

So yesterday I made two small tutorials about small cylinders and cones for Cloud's fingers, and somebody mentioned there was a flash of the red hollow cylinder at the end of the small cones tutorial.

Maybe my camera is acting up and overlaying my newly taken pictures with some old images that haven't been erased properly, I don't know, because after I finished the test build of the hand myself, I took some pictures to show you guys, but this happened...

Red cylinders everywhere. I took a bunch of pictures to choose the best one, but in every one of them where I tried to focus on the hand that I built, instead this damned red cylinder shows up??

I'll try to fix it (because it's damn annoying of course!?) but in the meantime, I just took a new picture while *not* focusing the hand in the center, and I guess it did the trick: you can see the hand I made now.

Monday, March 16, 2009

"Making small paper cones"-tutorial

Cloud's left hand has a glove with metal "claws", and I'll make them out of small cones instead of cylinders, to get that "sharp" feeling.

Making small cones is not very different from making small cylinders though, they only have a pointy end, instead of two open sides. ;o)

Here's the script for the spoken text again, and if you want to get start practicing already, you can download some practice parts here.

Have fun!

"Making small paper cylinders"-tutorial

Many people seem intimated by small parts on papercraft models. My Cloud model will also have some small parts again, mainly the fingers. They're basically just cylinders and cones though, which are normally not that difficult to make (they're just smaller ;o)

I'll show you how I make them using a toothpick to pre-shape them, so the parts basically almost "fold" themselves and all you need to do is apply some glue to the glue tab. ;o)

As with my other tutorials, I made a small txt-file so you can read back the spoken text.

Have fun watching!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

I could have sworn...?!

I just noticed something on that last picture of Cloud's test build: I distinctly remember throwing that out in the trash after all the trouble it caused me!?

...

Didn't I...??

Cloud test build: legs

Test building continues, and at the size it is right now (about the same scale as my other Final Fantasy models) it's a remarkably easy build (so far... ;o)

Why he has only one leg, you ask?

Well, you didn't expect Cloud to come out of all that fighting he does completely unscathed, did you?

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Cloaks hide stuff

Every time I make a new paper model, I try to come up with easier ways of how to assemble the tricky parts. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't, that's why I test build them.

I'm happy to say though, that the new method (this as opposed to this) I wanted to use to attach the cloak to the torso is working out perfectly. All the work of making new shoulders and a new upper chest and texturing them to be able to use this method was well worth it!

Even if in the end, it all does get covered up by the cloak in the end and you don't actually get to see any of it anymore... ;o)

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Hm, that ain't right...?!


I don't know if you can tell (wait, let me add a few lines - there) but the test build of Cloud's buster sword is not quite straight...

Now of course it can't be a mistake of mine (I'm guessing Pepakura did "something" to my 3D model to make it crooked) but I guess I'll fix it before going on.

Can't have Cloud running around with a crooked sword, can we?

greetz ninjatoes

Sunday, March 8, 2009

Ah, that looks better...

There's no doubt about it, Cloud looks better *with* his hair. ;o)

So, that means that after almost 2 months of 3D editing (luckily not 24/7 of course!) I can begin unfolding all the parts to test them. Hopefully everything works out the way I planned, but if it doesn't, this way I'll find out soon enough. ;o)

Stay tuned!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Cloud, trying to look tough but really missing his hair

As you can see, I only have the hair left to do. First I think I'll try to simplify the "spikes" to see if it still looks good.

Making the "spikes" as real spikes may make the hair more difficult to build than it needs to be, because the spikes would really need to be folded neatly, whereas the fingers can just be rolled around a toothpick to shape them.

But we'll see how it turns out when I start test building my ideas. And after that, I'll probably have to change everything again... ;o)

Stay tuned!

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Cloud's "claw-hand"

Taking a break from working on Cloud's head (figuring out how to make the mess of hair easier to build is really something to during a weekend, not a weeknight... ;o) I started working out the hands.

It's difficult to decide on simplified or detailed hands, but especially Cloud's "claw-hand" with the pointy ends wouldn't look very good, especially compared to some other details that I decided to keep.

"Ten fingers" is what I'll try out when I test build the model. Each finger will basically be two small tubes glued together, and only the small size can make it more difficult than the average parts. But with just a toothpick as a tool, it can be done. ;o)

Maybe I'll make a "pre-shaping and building small tubes" tutorial when I release my Cloud model as well. ;o)

Stay tuned!