Quick Start

Quick Start

This walkthrough takes a 3D model from import to a printable PDF in five steps. It assumes you've already installed the app.

📸 Screenshot placeholders below — capture one per step and drop them in.

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1. Import a mesh

Load Mesh (toolbar) → pick an .obj or .pdo file.

• .obj — Wavefront OBJ, with optional .mtl material and UV texture images.
• .pdo — Pepakura Designer v3 files (binary, embedded textures).

The model appears in the 3D viewport on the left. Rotate with drag, zoom with scroll.

🖼 Screenshot: model loaded in 3D viewport.

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2. Unfold

Press Unfold. The app:

1. builds a graph of which faces touch which,
2. picks a spanning tree that prefers flat seams (Kruskal MST by fold angle),
3. flattens the faces into 2D paper space,
4. adds glue tabs and marks fold vs. cut edges.

A Setup dialog lets you target a real-world size (e.g. "model should be 150 mm tall"). The flat pieces show up in the 2D canvas on the right, measured in millimetres.

🖼 Screenshot: 2D pattern with tabs and fold lines.

Red pieces = overlap. If any piece is flagged as overlapping, see step 4 before printing.

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3. Adjust edges and flaps (optional)

On the 2D canvas you can refine the pattern:

• Click an edge to toggle it between fold and cut.
• Join / disjoin adjacent pieces — a preview arrow shows where a piece will reattach.
• Change a glue-tab shape (trapezoid / rectangle / triangle) or per-edge flap mode.
• Drag a piece to move it; use the rotate handle to spin it.
• Lasso-select multiple pieces (hold Shift to add); group them so they move together.

A dedicated Editing Edges & Flaps page is planned for the full reference.

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4. Fix overlaps and lay out pages

• Use Auto-Arrange to pack pieces onto pages without overlap.
• Pick a paper size (A4/A3/Letter…) and portrait/landscape in settings.
• Manually drag any remaining red (overlapping) piece to empty space, or cut an edge to split it.

The goal: every piece sits inside a page boundary, nothing red.

🖼 Screenshot: pieces arranged across A4 pages.

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5. Export

• Export SVG — vector, best for editing in Illustrator/Inkscape or cutting machines.
• Export PDF — print-ready, page-accurate.
• Toggle grayscale if you're printing without color.

✅ Print at 100% scale / "Actual size" — do not use "Fit to page", or the model will come out the wrong dimensions. See FAQ → wrong print size.

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6. Save your work (optional)

Save Project writes a .4hu file — a self-contained bundle with the mesh, textures, your edge/flap overrides, piece positions, and groups. It's cross-platform: a .4hu saved on Windows opens on macOS and vice-versa.