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Pepakura is a powerful tool and it seems to be continually ignored by education.

At all keystage's there is something a pupil would like to manufacture that exceeds the size of all the machining in the building. Particularly if making a body for a greenpower car. I watched with dismay as a school used bout 500 kilos of wood making a mould for their Greenpower car in Data Practice.

If they had built the body using Pepakura and Jesmonite strengthening the department would be a years budget of wood better off. Some of the kitchens cardboard would have been recycled and the bodywork would be as strong as the result they produced. However of they made it wrong then the pepakura rough would allow a simple second build.

It may be worth making the project prescriptive at keystage 3.

After that I would let pupils surf the web as there are many ready to go free downloads online.

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Pepakura is Japanese for Paper Craft. It is also the name of a piece of downloadable software that will take an STL file or a 3D Studio file and turn it into a flat card pattern with all the glue tabs and pieces worked out to allow the construction of the original file to any scale. Most enthusiasts would print out and then cut these pieces out from card and then assemble then into the final article. Often strengthening the card with resin and fibre sheet. Two non toxic resin product are now available that can be used in schools. Jesmonite and AquaResin. With the addition of a Laser cutter the whole task can be turned into a pleasure instead of a labour of love.

This video shows the strength of Jesmonite for all those who have not met the new Non Toxic Resin. It can be mixed with colours including metal powders and then machined to relatively high accuracy.

 

This software inconjuction with a laser cutter will revolutionise the art department, D & T Rapid Prototyping now becomes a low cost exercise and the possibilities for media courses and school plays with regard to props and scenery is fantastic.

This software is open to the public as shareware so you can download and try it freely although some advanced features are limited until you purchase a license key.
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This Movie was made by amateurs using costumes made with the Pepakura system and a lot of home crown CGI.

The watershed point has been passed with regard to the home made movie and the only restrictions is the time and commitment that the group will put into a project. High quality movies are within the reach of anyone with the time and determination. Visit www.IndyMogul.com and see how special effects can be done on the cheap.

Halo 3 from Chan Aung on Vimeo. 

From the Halo3 the Microsoft Game, this cardboard replica is the first stage in the production of a film prop using the technique know as Pepakura - Translation from Japanese - Paper kraft.

The file was downloaded from the 405th website and printed out on the LS900 laser printer marking hill folds with chain doted lines and valley folds with dot dash lines.

The result being a very accurately cut card master that was then assembled using the software to guide your construction and a glue gun.

The next stage is to increase the mechanical strength with the application of Aqua Resin or Jesmonite and fibre tissue any fibre will help with the strength and if you wish to avoid fibre glass denim and textiles will also work well in the resin base.
 
Note: Pepakura Designer does not contain software to create the original 3D models, but instead translates them to a 2D printable format. Pepakura supports some 3D file formats from software such as 3D Studio, LightWave and Softimage. Pepakura also supports files in the freeware format from "MetasequoiaLE".