Your Opinion on Pepakura....

[Gilmortar]

well 466 hit the nail on the head. If you have fun doing it than its all that really matters. Just don't be offended or surprised if there isn't much reaction to another Iron Man Pep thread.

In the end its not about impressing anyone, unless thats your motive. Just again, don't be surprised if you don't see some of the pros and vets of this board posting in your thread.

I don't speak for anyone but myself. But it is a large investment. I started out when I was about 15, making lightsabers from sink tubing. And now I Sculpt, form, cast, make most of my own items. 10 years of trial and error. And I've spent thousands as well, of money that I barely had to do so.

And yeah, maybe I am an elitist. This board is home to hundreds of elite artists. But you say you would have to buy a full size mannequin and make a life cast. Yeah...thats what we do. There are simple ways to do those things. But to me, its just like paint-by-numbers. Just because put the paint in the places it told you to on the Mona Lisa outline, doesn't make you Da Vinci...

So you find it discouraging and condescending...I find it funny that some people who only use pepakura, call themselves "master craftsmen" or artists. But this is like the recasting topic.

People will say its ok, and others will say it isn't. I am one that I find pepakura as a cheat or means to an ends for those who can't take the time to learn another medium.

 

[Supa troop]

i have no vested interest in Pepping but what i would like to know is where you guys get these kits from, surely the art is in the way the kit is made not the way its put together to get the finished product

 

[Mattastic13]

I wish I could give thumbs up to a post...I would thumbs up Gilmore's post.

I am by no means good at prop making, but I come here to learn, and I read almost every topic whether it pertains to what I like or not. I have to agree whole heartedly with Gilmore. With this Pep stuff it is all identical to a certain degree. The scratch builds have different methods that everyone can learn from.

 

[EyeofSauron]

you have to allways account the supplies available at ones place.
for example, i have not found a supply for clay to sculpt yet, and everything that you guys in the us get for cheap at your standard hardware stores, are either not available at all here, or come at 10 times the price

also, i have yet to make a pep build, that it didnt have to modify before continuing
(except maybe the whole iron man thingie, because lets face it, everyone makes those, and therefor the pep models are perfected)
but still, that doesnt account for details etc. nowhere in a pep model are screws, cutlines etc, its just a flat surface.
im in no way an advanced prop builder, but if you cant get any supplies, other than paper and maybe resin and filler, then you dont have a lot of choices.
also, a pep build is what you make out of it, its not a foolproof way to build something. (unless you dont to finishing and just keep the pep with resin and fibreglass)

 

[davy]

For me pepakura is perfect thing, i know that there are very much work and dirty work but the results are Amazing . And i can change everything what i want. Thanks to the Guys what making pep files for us !

 

[Lord Magneto]

I would say as a beginner to this entire medium Pep files fit perfectly for me. I need a bit of hand holding in order to get me going in the right direction... however after I've created that pep piece it's up to me to get it to the finish line.

I'm currently working on a Magneto helmet that I've wanted to try and build for years now. I actually attempted to build one about 4 years ago and I had no idea how to go about doing it. I took a foam head wrapped some chicken wire around it and started applying clay... it was a gah damn nightmare and put me off wanting to try anything else.

I then stumbled on this site and was able see what other people are doing and the techniques that they were using.

For me I'm just looking to build some kickass props of stuff that I love so I can show it off here in my home. How I end up with the final product is up to me.

Pepakura might be for "noobs" or for less creative people but hell if I care are long as I put in some hard work and see some great results I'm one happy camper.

 

[Fullmetalsam]

I like this thread very much.
I've been thinking about this (love/hate pepakura and why) for the last few days.

IMHO, I feel the same way as Gilmore of OK.
I also want to point out that I don't consider myself to be a master craftmen or prop maker... I do that for fun and I chose my favorite material based solely on price so I could make what I want, when I want and not to think too much about budget when I want to get into a new project.

However, what gets me the most about pepakura is that I feel that in general it is actually promoting a certain way of doing things that is not encouraging creativity at all. Again, I use the term in general because it's always depending on how the builder is taking on the project.

Most likely it's the kind of situation where a few bad apples will spoil the bunch... but I just am so disappointed when I see the kind of thread when someone is just asking for a pep file. It just demonstrate how much you want to be involved in this hobby... first, you don't even want to spend the time figuring out what you're trying to build (using pepakura takes care of that for you)... but you don't even want to spend some time looking around for the file.

Anyhow... the technique does yield some very impressive results when done properly and there are some pepakura thread out there that I've liked to read... but it's usually because the builder will go beyond the pepakura (like actually designing a new way to make your ironman helmet face plate open and stay up). I enjoy the foam/pepakura build a lot better - just because the pepakura files can't be used as is for a foam suit and I think that being able to adjust your pepakura file to work with foam shows at least a bit of creativity.

 

[sgtski]

I am a noob to costumes, prop making, and all mediums. I am not very skilled at sculpting, building, drawing, or manufacturing of any kind. Since I started with my first costume, I have been hooked. I am slowly gathering parts for a screen accurate ROTJ Boba Fett and in the meantime, I am trying my hand at an IronMan build from Pep, and yes, i have a thread on here for it.

I don't understand the hostility towards Pepakura (Japanese term that roughly translates to papercraft). It does seem that a lot of the skilled craftsman and women are upset about pepakura. If Pepakura puts tools in peoples hands and gets creativity going and the process to create something from nothing, this community should praise and encourage those people. You never know what they might want to take on after that confidence building experience. For me, I also have a Vac table and I helped my brother make a GhostBusters proton pack shell from scratch, that we molded and made copies with fiberglass and resin. Some people just want to make a cheap, Haloween costume that is better than something that is licensed*cough, Rubies, *cough.

I am not naive, I realize that there are some shoddy builds out there from Pepakura that are cut, glue, resin and paint. If they are happy with their build and can say they didn't spend a small fortune and that they built it, then we should be happy for them. Lets accept Pepakura for what it is, and not judge the builders before we know what they are truly capable of.

I am very grateful that all of the builders share their projects and lessons learned with each other on this forum no matter what medium they choose to use.

 

[ONEYE]

Paper is weak? Thats why we fibreglass it then coat with a filler on the outside

Well the good Pep artists will glass then filler + sand for many hours.

Thanks. Is the inside of the paper also fiberglassed? Both sides?

I don't understand the hostility towards Pepakura (Japanese term that roughly translates to papercraft).

I don't think it's hostility, for me it's papercraft. What's wrong with English? Does it make it "sexier", "cooler", to use a non-English term for it? I think it's more to do with my dislike of poor grammer, ill use of words in movies and media today. "Where you at?" "My bad." "Represent." Are just some examples of poor, sloppy speech. Then again, I may be too uptight about this, or maybe I have a corncob stuck up my butt in a sideways position.:unsure

 

[EyeofSauron]

Thanks. Is the inside of the paper also fiberglassed? Both sides?



I don't think it's hostility, for me it's papercraft. What's wrong with English? Does it make it "sexier", "cooler", to use a non-English term for it? I think it's more to do with my dislike of poor grammer, ill use of words in movies and media today. "Where you at?" "My bad." "Represent." Are just some examples of poor, sloppy speech. Then again, I may be too uptight about this, or maybe I have a corncob stuck up my butt in a sideways position.:unsure

its only fiberglassed inside. outside its bondo or similar

i think papercraft and pepakura still are different things.

for me, papercraft are those simple shapes, while pepakura has a lot of details and a lot of faces.

 

[Laffo]

I think it's more to do with my dislike of poor grammer, ill use of words in movies and media today.

Or spelling.
Laffo.

 

[ONEYE]

Or spelling.
Laffo.

Oh no, did I spell something incorrectly? :$

 

[Fullmetalsam]

I don't understand the hostility towards Pepakura (Japanese term that roughly translates to papercraft). It does seem that a lot of the skilled craftsman and women are upset about pepakura. If Pepakura puts tools in peoples hands and gets creativity going and the process to create something from nothing, this community should praise and encourage those people.

I don't think it is hostility - well for most people.
But I think that the opinions is actually based on what you're saying here.

Some think that pepakura is not getting people creative... because it makes you skip over a very "creative-intensive" part of the whole process of making a prop/costume: which would be designing the thing (figuring what material you're going to use, how you're going to have to recreate what you're seeing on paper/screen/whatever).

The same could be said of the remainder of the process, which is always the same thing: resining, bondo, sand, bondo, sand, bondo, sand, paint.

This whole thing is a difficult topic... because - yes - not all people are that straightforward with there pep builds (meaning they are very creative in solving problems and in finishing their project to their liking). However, the ones we usually see are the "shoddy builds" you're referring to.

 

[sgtski]

its only fiberglassed inside. outside its bondo or similar

i think papercraft and pepakura still are different things.

for me, papercraft are those simple shapes, while pepakura has a lot of details and a lot of faces.

Pepakura is a program that was originally developed in Japan and that is why it has a Japanese name. It is the same program that is used to unfold the 3d models. It can be used for lager than life models, life size models, or smaller tabletop models of an AT-AT for example. Its all the same thing. The only difference i can think of is that since you don't have to re-scale the smaller models to fit your body type, they can be printed to PDF and distributed in a more common file type. Makers of costumes with the help of paper as a base use Pepakura Designer to manipulate the scale of the models and that is why we call it Pepakura, because it is the program that we use. We could still call it papercraft and it would be just as accurate. It is a little easier to say, still grammatically incorrect, "pep a file" than to say, "I am going to assemble the .pdo papercraft file".

 

[juntari]

I think its a great way to get a model nice and symmetrical, if you take the time to finish it properly

 

[sgtski]

In response to the lack of creativity argument, would you agree that any prop making that is something from a movie, has a lack of creativity since it is merely copying something that has already been created by someone else? The work is in the details and the same amount of work is in the higher quality pep-based costumes and props. Anyone can choose a medium to recreate their version of something made on screen and it could have the same range of quality regardless of the medium.
Could we agree on the topic of the discussion here? Are we discussing the validity of Pepakura as a prop making method or the quality of work that can come from it?
Someone said, and forgive me for not giving credit to who said it, that Pepakura builders are not master prop makers. Where did a Pepakura builder say they were a master prop maker? Most people say in one of their first posts that they are noobs. Some of these people make incredible props and go on to making molds and putting them on the JY.

Sorry for the rants, this topic is a little close to home.

 

[Gilmortar]

I don't think I have hostility towards those who do paper-craft (for you ONEYE ). In fact I really have no problem with it. But to give you the idea of what it is I do have a problem with, is this: THE 405th FORUMS

There are probably 5 people on there that don't use pepakura for their builds.

and sgtski, you are one of the few. Someone who stepped beyond pepakura. The mentality I see and hear of, well we don't have access to certain things, or we don't have the know how. Well there are lots of other things out there besides paper and resin, or clay for that matter. Look at Volpin. His choice medium is foam, or LeeKeegan, master of all things Woodcraft.

I in my years have used NUMEROUS things to make my items. Plaster, Clay, Wood, Foam, Plastic, GRANITE (yes I attempted to chisel granite), and even glass.

Hell, some of our members here will even tell you they have NO ARTISTIC TALENT WHATSOEVER. But they have knowledge of items, or processes involved. But they contribute how they know best. Lots of people have done that here, it's why we are what we are now. But it goes back to my point that 90% of the pepakura builders here have said it, they don't know anything else. Well how did you find out about pepakura? It isn't the only way to do things.

I just can't get past the fact that some call it master work, when all it is is resining some paper, slabbering bondo over it all and sanding it down until you hit paper and covering it with a little more bondo again until its smooth, then adding a few details.

Someone who I have seen grow from that here on the boards, TubaChris. I've known this guy digitally for about 5 years now, and he started doing pepakura, and now he is almost finished with a Darktrooper helmet sculpt. In a plaster/clay medium. He decided to take a leap of faith, and it has taken time, but it's quite incredible to see his progress as an artist.

It's also the way I look at CGI. Everyone is going CGI now and almost cutting out real props/costumes/sceneries. And it will NEVER be as good as the real thing, no matter what you can or can't do. It's an easy route.

 

[G33k]

Pepakura's a very handy tool. Like all tools the creativity lies in the use.

 

[Gilmortar]

Where did a Pepakura builder say they were a master prop maker?

Again, take a look over at the 405th forums.

But I'll give you a good example of why I don't like Pepakura.

Make me an exact replica of the ESB Yoda Puppet using Pepakura....

 

[sgtski]

I just can't get past the fact that some call it master work, when all it is is resining some paper, slabbering bondo over it all and sanding it down until you hit paper and covering it with a little more bondo again until its smooth, then adding a few details.

I would say that i agree with you on everything except 1 point and that may be that I missed something. I haven't seen anyone refer to Pepakura as "master work", except maybe as to refer to their product as a master for a mold they plan to make.

We should still be responsible and encourage the new builder who found Pepakura as a way to "get their hands dirty" and guide them to other mediums instead of belittling their first choice. We can pass knowledge onto them and point them in the right direction by sharing our experiences.

I also find it sad that more and more movies are going the cheap route and going with CGI. My first build was an Episode 3 Kashyyyk trooper costume and I had quite an adventure trying to create a costume that never existed in real life.