CHAPTER 1

TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES

U sing the right tool matched with the correct technique can make the difference between a perfectly fine automaton and one to be really proud of: the kind of paper engineering where the creases are crisp, the joints are accurately aligned and the right angles are square. In a quality build, the way the model is put together will blend into the background and instead it will be the story that the automaton is telling that will stand forth. Pick the right tools, use them the right way and create animated paper automata with maximal delightfulness!

The main tools that are needed for paper automata. A pencil for construction lines and for drawing, an eraser for correcting mistakes. Scissors and a sharp knife for cutting out. Glue, in a suitable container for joining bits together. There are other tools that will be useful, not least a computer and printer, but this selection makes a good starting point.

MEASURING AND MARKING OUT

Making parts for an automata project necessarily involves marking out the pieces onto paper or card. The degree of accuracy needed at this stage usually depends on whether the piece being designed is part of a mechanism or part of a character. Mechanisms usually require a high degree of accuracy to work well, whereas characters can be freer and more loosely made. Marking out accurate boxes and mechanical parts will involve either pencil and ruler or computer and printer.

Pencil and ruler design can work well. By working directly with the material, the process can be more spontaneous and free, bringing an immediacy to the design process that isn't as easy on the computer. Pencil and ruler designs also have a true sense of scale. Working with a piece of paper the exact size of the finished project gives a more direct and immediate sense of what size the finished result will feel like in three-dimensional space. The downside is the need to repeatedly draw out the project each time a change is made to the design. If it turns out that the box used as the project base needs to be 10mm wider, it will involve redrawing the whole thing right from scratch.

In a computer-based design, the model can be easily edited and a new version can be printed out ready for further testing. It is outside the scope of this book to give instructions on using individual suites of software, other than to say that the type of art packages that work well for automata design are known as vector-based illustration software. Vector-based software creates pictures from lines and shapes rather than the pixels used in drawing and painting programs such as Microsoft Paint or Adobe Photoshop.

There are several of these available for use on most computer platforms, from free to expensive. As examples for what is available, at the time of writing, Inkscape is an excellent and completely free piece of open-source vector drawing software; search for it online where you will find not only the software but a whole range of helpful supporting tutorials. Affinity Designer is a piece of paid-for software. It is flexible and useful and, although it is a paid-for product, you only buy it once, and then it is yours to keep. Finally, in this non-definitive list, Adobe Illustrator is the industry standard in vector design software. Sleek and powerful, it is very well supported online, with helpful communities and tutorial videos for just about anything you would like to do. The downside is that the software is paid for by monthly subscription, meaning that you need to pay to keep using it. There are lots of reviews and tutorials for vector-based software online; spend a bit of time checking through the different software and find out what works best for you. Most of the paid-for software packages have evaluation versions that are available for free for a limited amount of time.

Using Pencil and Ruler

When making boxes and mechanical parts, accuracy is key. Lines should be straight and parallel and right angles should be accurate right angles. The key is to use more than one point to mark out any one line and to keep these points as far apart as possible. Alignment points need to be measured out from a fixed reference so as not to introduce inaccuracy. For example, when measuring out a rectangle for the side of a box, start with a fixed reference, such as the side of the sheet of card.

Designing a box on paper using pencil and ruler involves a few simple construction techniques. Starting on an uncut piece of cardboard, the horizontal lines are constructed to be parallel to the top of the card then the vertical lines are measured from a vertical edge. This ensures that the shape being drawn is accurate.

As an example, measure out two points 20mm from the edge of the card then join these points together to form a line. This line is one side of the rectangle. In the example shown, the box side will be 100mm × 150mm. The next line needs to be parallel to the first and be 100mm away. Rather than measuring from the first line, it is good practice to measure from your original base line. This is so as not to compound small errors. Imagine measuring out ten parallel lines. If each line is measured from the last then even an error as small as a tenth of a millimetre on each line could add up to a 1mm inaccuracy by the time you have drawn the last line. So, starting from the base line again, the edge of the paper, this time mark out your two points 120mm from the edge and join them together. This will be the top and bottom edges of your rectangle.

Repeat the process for the two vertical lines, again using the edge of the card as a base line. Two points are always needed to define where a line goes and these points should be as far apart as possible. This is again to reduce possible errors. With points close to each other, small errors in marking or in lining up the ruler get magnified across the width of the page. All this may sound very complicated simply to draw out a rectangle, but it will soon become second nature. Moving from a simple rectangle up to more complex designs is just a case of more of the same. Keep making sure that an accurate baseline is used for the measurements and that the two marking points are as far apart as possible.

Using a computer for marking out can be considerably quicker, though do bear in mind that there is the extra stage of printing out the card sheet once the design is complete. As is so often the case, the two techniques for planning your parts have their own advantages and disadvantages. Use whichever works best for the situation. Small simple parts are quick and easy to make with paper and pencil, especially when factoring in the extra time needed to learn new software. More complex parts, especially those that need repeating, will be quicker with the right software, computer and printer.

Once the various parts are drawn out or printed, it is time to start bringing them into the third dimension. Working on a suitable cutting mat, you will need to cut out any holes with a suitable sharp knife (see 'Cutting' later in this chapter). Next, with the parts still in the sheet, the crease lines will need to be scored in preparation for folding.

SCORING

Making crisp sharp creases in a paper project can make all the difference when trying to create a neat-looking model. Scoring a line before creasing it has two positive effects: first, it ensures that the crease is crisp and neat; second, it makes sure that the crease is exactly where it is needed. Score accurately along a line and when it is folded up that is exactly where the fold will be.

There are two main ways of scoring a piece of card ready for folding: either cutting or crushing. When scoring by cutting, a sharp tool, such as a knife or the point of a pair of scissors, is run across the surface of the card with the aim of cutting into the surface but not right through it. When the card is folded, it will fold along the cut. While this technique can work well, especially on small models, it does have a number of drawbacks. Judging the depth of the cut can be tricky. Press too hard with the knife and the blade will cut through the card and out to the other side. Even if the blade does not cut right through, it can weaken the card to the point where it breaks along the score line as you assemble the model. Alternatively, don't press hard enough, and when you fold the card, the crease won't follow the score line. This makes folding up the model accurately difficult and can lead to untidy-looking projects. Even with the cut depth just right at roughly halfway through the card, it may be that for a hill fold, the inside of the card will be exposed to view. If the project has been printed in colour onto the card, this can end up with obtrusive white crease lines once the model is folded up. Sometimes these lines can be patched up with a suitable felt-tip pen but colour matching can be a problem.

The alternative technique of crushing the score lines gets around these problems and, although it can lead to slightly less sharp crease lines, it does work well in most cases. The right tool is harder to find when using a crush score. There are dedicated tools made from flat strips of plastic called bones or paper creasers but they tend to be a little wide at the tip and don't make a sharp crease. Some people recommend using an empty ball-point pen. These can work well but you will need to make sure that the pens really are empty and, as an everyday object, they can be hard to keep track of - 'which was the pen used for scoring?' Marking the barrel with coloured tape can help you to identify the special scoring pen. Perhaps the best tool...