This guy made a Dino cube out of cardboard!

http://home.connexus.net.au/~robandfi/Puzzle.html

Does anyone know of any other modeling tool that can draw you a connected net of a polyhedral form? I mean, can any tools for modeling solid forms create you a connected net that make an an outer shape?

It is indead very nice, in the early days David Signmaster also did make paper constructions designs. But I never saw a working cardboard puzzle. I made 20 years ago a 2x2x2 on a 3x3x3 using some cardboard caps. But it did weardown very fast.

I'm sorry guys but this dude is like waaaaay beyond my brain... Have you guys looked at some of his other stuff?

PLEASE do yourself a favor and check out this guys site!

You will be impressed....

Later all,
_pink

Juergen Brand also made first full working cardboard puzzles as a mockup before he do it in plastic material (or wooden). It´s a good way to see the real dimension or it and to found mistakes.

Hi, and thanks to everyone for the comments about my site. I am the one who made that cardboard puzzle. I have updated that page with a little more info. The puzzle was made back in 1985, so I don't know whether that makes it the first cardboard Rubik's Cube-style puzzle or not. It probably does make it the first Dino cube. I was surprised a year or two ago to discover that the puzzle really had been manufactured!

I only got back into polyhedra stuff in the last few years, and developed the "Stella" software shown on my site, which I have used to make all the paper models shown on my site. Here's an example:



I imagine there are others here, like myself, who have an interest in polyhedra as well as puzzles. The full version of my software normally costs $75, but I would consider swapping for obscure or custom puzzles, such as the 14-colour Rainbow Cube. Let me know if anyone's interested.

Robert, love the software. I would swap a 14 coloured Rainbow Cube for a Great Stella licence.

If you wanted to make Stella very desireable to people on this forum, you could turn it into a puzzle design kit! Would it be difficult to add cutting planes to the polyhedra? ie You could specify what type of cutting planes (dihedral, cubic, octahedral...), the order and the position and rotation within the polyhedron. The software would then cut up the polyhedron and allow you to drag to twist slices.

That would be a great way to prototype new puzzle designs and see how they twist. The 3d model could then be exported to 3d Studio and mechanics could be designed there.

Could be a lot of work, but you could probably get a loads of interesting puzzles from people here!

Email me about the Rainbow Cube, I have one new in sealed dome.

Max

Yes, that would be real helpful to have in this software package! BTW, could you guys tell what kind of cardboard or paperboard you use to create the polyhedron forms? I am having real trouble finding something suitable, other than some expensive folders. It's be great if you could point me to a site where I could buy suitable paperboard, or just for reference for me to know what to look or ask for. What I've been using so far does not keep straight forms. Thanks a lot!

Perhaps developeing a cut down version of the software, like a version that only runs for 10 minutes, so we can see how it works.

> could you guys tell what kind of cardboard or paperboard
> you use to create the polyhedron forms?

I use quite thin paper. It's amazing how much more solid the final model seems to be, and thinner paper makes much nicer edges and the additional flexibility can help during construction.

The paper I use is generally 120 gsm (grams per square metre), but this is an Australian unit and it's measured differently in the US. Normal printing paper is about 80 gsm, so it's about 50% thicker than standard printing paper.

I get A4 sheets of course, since I need to put them through the printer (using my "Great Stella" program to print out the nets). Canson Vivaldi paper comes in a nice range of colours (Stella will sort the different coloured parts into separate nets for printing on coloured paper).

For puzzles I would probably use something a little more robust, due to the moving parts and additional wear. Maybe 250 gsm.

> Perhaps developing a cut down version of the software,
> like a version that only runs for 10 minutes, so we can
> see how it works.

A demo version is available from the web site (See http://www.software3d.com/Downloads.html). It lasts forever but is missing some functionality.

Rob.

> I imagine there are others here, like
> myself, who have an interest in polyhedra
> as well as puzzles.

you bet!