Paper starships
From RelicWiki
The Homeworld universe has never had a serious merchandising effort, leaving players wanting models of their favorite ships to their own devices. A few fans created hand-built models out of wood, plastic, or even Lego blocks, but no models were ever produced that could be easily obtained by the average fan.
This all changed on 5 July 2003. Jal-18 started a thread in the Homeworld 2 discussions forum about making inexpensive paper models of spacecraft from the Homeworld universe. A lengthy discussion was produced from this one suggestion, eventually becoming one of the longest threads in the forum’s history and spawning several websites and forums dedicated to this one topic. The thread is archived herein the forum Vault.
While the process of paper modeling is not a new one by any means, this was the first known time paper modeling had been applied to Homeworld. Suddenly it seemed everyone was making and building detailed paper models of their favorite Homeworld spacecraft. Several forum members took this up as a serious hobby and produced a large variety of ships and stations in various colors, sizes and configurations, eventually spanning most of the ships and in-game objects from Homeworld, Cataclysm, and Homeworld 2.
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Notable contributors
Major contributors to this effort were Enterprise-E, EH_AceTFL, Amglco, Cherel, Nerath and Gearz. Due to their work and the efforts of many others in our community, a large gallery of Homeworld craft may be downloaded and assembled for free by any interested modeler.
The basics of making a paper starship
Each object in the game is created using a combination of geometric shapes to form a 3-dimensional model. Using the correct procedure, this 3D model can be disassembled ( called “unfolding”) into a series of flat images. These images can then be printed out on any printer at home, cut out, and refolded back into a 3-dimensional form that is a very close copy of what the ship looks like in the games. The better models are designed with glue tabs and fold line indicators so they may be assembled by a newcomer to the hobby, and often come with a detailed instruction set and pictures of the model at various stages of construction.
Pictures of a few completed models
If all you are interested in is building your favorite ships from existing models others have already created, then you can skip down to the links section at the bottom and begin building your fleet ! If you would like to create your own custom models then continue to the next section.
How a model is created
Making a paper model from scratch is challenging, and involves several complex tasks performed in sequence. Each game has its own peculiarities and proprietary file and image formats, and must be approached using a different method. The actual models from each game cannot be used directly due to their formatting and must be processed a few times before any unfolding can occur. For specific instructions on the process check the sites under the Links section below. That said, the process may be generalized to an extent so that it may be understood to the newcomer.
- Using the appropriate un-archiving tool ( WinBig, BigViewer, etc.), the data from one of the Homeworld games is extracted into a new directory. This gives us access to the raw ship and object models.
- The raw 3-D models are processed using modeling software such as Metasequoia, allowing the modeler to fix uneven areas, overlapping edges, etc., which makes them easier to unfold later.
- The textures for each model are processed into a usable image format and any custom coloring is added such as team colors, striping or logos.
- The model and texture images are reassembled in the modeling software and exported to a format that the "unfolding" software can accept.
- The unfolding software (typically Pepakura Designer) processes the model and unfolds it. The careful modeler will not accept the software's initial suggestions but will make many adjustments to make the model easier to build.
- Assembly instructions created, so that anyone simply wishing to build the model will have less difficulty.
- Archive the model printouts and instructions and send to one of the model hosting sites !
The first tools were rudimentary. Relic Forum member Koloth wrote the first (and only to my knowledge) custom software that unfolds Homeworld ships. A very nice Kadeshi swarmer model was the result. Soon after, though, the community discovered other existing tools that performed the task in a more efficient way and development on Koloth's unfold was halted.
At present, the main tools of the HW paper modelers are:
- Pepakura Designer
- 3D Exploration
- Metasequoia
- and any .big-file archive tool.
Links and download sites
- Paper Starships Model hosting and downloads
- Paper Starships Discussion Forums Discussion, tips, and a nice model showcase
- Erick's models An excellent source for models, tutorials and tools
