my stuff is either too simple or too complex for the math i'm capable of to be useful. a ruler, logic, some string, and the document info (object) window in illustrator is all I use.

I use the ruler and string to measure lines from my handmade roughs and then i trouble shoot the design in illustrator using it's super precise tools. i use this method for everything including complex shapes like dome's and such.

despite my cave man like instruments i still think of my self as an engineer and a sculptor. With papercraft you are both making a sculpture and designing the method to manufacture it from paper. given how complex this task can be and how much potential variation there is in it i think it is fair to call it engineering.

I don't think this works for everyone, but I eyeball a lot of my stuff. I can usually visualize how something will fit together when folded. I usually make a couple of prototypes. First one is a plain paper one, where I figure out size and so forth, plain paper makes it easy to cut and fold adjustments to the model. The second is on card stock and is usually as close to the finished model with just minor tweaks needed. I'm sure if I knew (or remembered) some Geometry or something, it would make life easier, but who knows.

Stay Ghoul!
Uncle Ghastly

you know those moments in high school math when you ask yourself, "when am i ever going to need this?" well i just had a flashback as i tried to remember how to figure out the circumference of a circle. thankfully there's this thing called the internet with an answer for just about everything [except for the continuing popularity of bieber...}

 

anyway, i fall more into the line of mash it together until it works, takes a lot of time, but then again, so does going back and learning all that math.