Papercrafting: a cheap, accessible start to low-poly 3D fabrication

This is a low-tech, accessible start towards low-poly 3D fabrication with paper, cardboard, and other flat materials. This is aimed at people who have little to no experience with 3D modeling, who might not have access to makerspace equipment like laser cutters and 3D printers after camp ends but who still want to make things! The most expensive part of this process will either be the full version of the program (optional but nice! $38) or the printer ink (??), and you can get very very far with just some cardstock (stiff paper), a blade/knife/razor, a metal straight edge, and glue.

Note: This session requires Windows to use one of the programs. There exists ways to unfold 3D models for Macs, but I don't know how to and will not be covering it. If you do know how, you're more than welcome to demonstrate for us! Please bring a Windows laptop with Sketchup and Pepakura Designer installed on it. I use sketchup 2016, linked below, but other versions definitely work as well. https://forums.sketchup.com/t/sketchup-make-2016-download-links/37503 http://www.tamasoft.co.jp/pepakura-en/download/index.html

We will be using Sketchup and Pepakura Designer to first create a low-poly shape, and then convert it to a template from which you can print or laser-cut and assemble! I will also cover using Meshmixer to simplify found models, and show some examples of cool things you can make.