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Alright, so, these are some of the models I've been considering, ordered from most to least likely, in terms of seeing them completed. Have a look, and if you're interested in seeing them built, vote for which you'd like to see next in the comments of this post.
At the top are items I've already laid out, but haven't built, laid out, but need to tweak, or items I think will be easy to lay out and build
Next down, we have items I'd like to do, but will require more work, or just aren't at the height of interest.
Third, items that walk the line between "challenging" and "impossible," but are mostly interesting enough for me to give it my best shot. (I'd put the Ark Angels in this category, so they aren't out of the question.)
Finally, we have a list of gag items I thought would be funny to include. These, I can all but promise you, you will never see laid out and constructed. Just thought you should see how crazy they look with all the fold lines. Seriously though, don't vote for the ones at the bottom, because I won't listen to you.
Keep in mind that the sizes are flexible. Difficult things will need to be larger, and whenever possible, I'm more than willing to aim for "life size." Also, whenever there's an option for multiple textures, as is often the case with NPCs, I'll do my best to include all textures, just to give you the options (also if you want to custom color stuff, which some basic experimentation has shown to yield very fun results).
(I'll group them according to the folder names I used when taking the screen shots)
Likely
These are just about ready to go, as-is. I laid out the Nomad Moogle back in June, and I'm quite confident in its construction, I just haven't built it for myself yet. They're set to 1/2 scale right now, which is about 39cm (15in) tall. I could go "life size," but they'd be exceptionally large, and eventually you just have to draw a line.
The hats. Ahh yes, the hats. The job that got me started and I uh, never finished. >_>
This option would entail me going back and properly revisiting all the AF helmets (including the simple act of retexturing for AF2) to make them wearably life-size, as well as a second set at about half scale, to have your pretty hat at half the ink and paper consumption. I've also got the models ready to go for a number of other headgear items, including the Moogle Caps (as shown), more Beastmen helms (like GoblinGuy's Coif), and a few fun items, like Maat's Cap or the Galka Horror Helm (pumpkin head).
Weapons!
Some of these are also ready to go at the scale I wanted them (Ark Angel weapons are all set to the same .375 scale that the first Angel was built in, but I'd be willing to try laying them out as large as I can.) I've got just a few items shown here, but in general weapons aren't too bad to lay out and build.
The bomb is one I'd love to do, just because it's a bomb, and it doesn't look too difficult. The other item is a Mandragora Lantern, a furniture item that Looks fairly easy to build, and I bet would look awesome with a flashlight placed inside, or something to that effect. No candles though, paper + fire = bad times.
Courier Carrie
This is most likely model I'll lay out next. I've been thinking about doing a crab for a while now, and I got a request recently for Carrie specifically, so I had a look at the model. Carrie is just a regular crab model, with the basket on top as an extra component. So with this one, I could do the model, and you could apply different textures (like for the grey crabs and whatnot,) and use the basket portion, only if you want your crab to be Carrie.
Also thinking I may try this as my first model without fold lines, since crabs have that nice curved shape.
Do-able
The beetle was one I thought of while leveling in Crawlers' Nest. The odd way the legs all connect to a base, and the body rests on top, it just looks like it would be fun to build. It could easily be a nightmare, I wouldn't know until I tried.
The chocobo is just an obvious choice, right? Eventually someone had to do it. The feathers are mostly single-layer, so I'd need to double-side them. Regrettably, I can't figure out how to get the textures for the alternately colored chocobos, but I could include the texture file for the basic yellow, and if you wanted, you could modify it yourself (I came up with a nice looking purple just playing with hues and stuff in Photoshop). Also, if you're interested, GoblinGuy's already done a chocobo chick and egg, which can be found over at his blog.
Classic enemies.
After the Mandragora, I started thinking it would be fun to make a model for each of the classic monsters you associate with low levels. Each has several textures, so you could use whichever you like.
The Worm would be relatively simple, but the tentacles, and especially the mouth, have quite a lot of tiny little folds (which could be remedied in MetaSequoia, I'm not sure, I haven't tried yet.)
The Rarab seems straightforward, but I imagine it would become a contortion act, trying to glue at odd angles and whatnot. Plus you'd need an inventive way to prop up the finished model on those tiny little legs.
The Crawler would definitely be my favorite, but would be the most difficult, by far. Lots of little spines, legs, feelers, etc. I'd be willing to work on it though.
Unlikely
Either of these would be an homage to GoblinGuy, no question. I've always wanted to do a Moblin to complement his Goblin. The Bugbear would just be plain awesome. But either one would require a lot of planning and work. I'd want to lay them out at the same scale he did his, so I'd need to ask him for the ratio, or an unlocked .pdo.
After the Ark Angel TT, I've sworn off Player Characters for a while. Not saying I'll never do one again; I really want a full AA set. However, if there's any model that can convince me to do a PC before I get back to the angels, it's the Star Sibyl (and yes, I realize that they're technically NPCs, but you know what I mean). Generally speaking, she's pretty simple. Lots of large open shapes, and that gigantic hair. Her face would be as rough as the Angel was, but I now know it isn't impossible.
The Orcish Warmachine is one that really makes me think. Something about the mouth reminds me of Howl's Moving Castle, and I'd bet the construction would be similarly difficult (too bad I could never design a layout or instructions as good as those.) All the same, I think it would be a fun challenge, and the warmachine has a secondary texture, I believe, so more fun with choices.
Cait Sith was requested recently, and while I can see the appeal, I just don't think it's going to happen. Those tiny little arms and legs, finely pointed ears, and a tail that is consistently way-too-thin mean this build would just aggravate the crap out of me. The red lines around the eyes also make me worry that they'd be about as insane as build the Angel's eyes, only larger. If it's what the people really want, I'd look into it, but I doubt you'll see this one on my site.
Ifrit, however,
Ohh boy would I ever like to build that. And I use the Ifrit model to symbolize a larger avatar set. He just looks the coolest. These would be difficult, no question, but the almost complete lack of red on the Ifrit model (red as in disconnected folds, not red like his skin...scales...whatever) makes me think it would go more smoothly than it might seem at first glance. Definitely something to consider.
Here's what scares me. These models have almost no red, meaning the model is one solid piece. As insane as it looks, this means the model is actually buildable, in some twisted sense of the word. I've always figured a Shadow Lord model would just be the definition of awesome, but after seeing that new resin statue Square-Enix is trying to sell for like $200+, I figure I could be doing the die-hard FFXI addict a favor by giving him a model he could build for free (or as close to free as paper and ink will ever get).
The demon is kind of a symbol, like Ifrit. I'd love to do more Beastmen, to continue on what GoblinGuy started. When considering this option, consider a Yagudo, Quadav, or Orc as well. Each has several model types, so think over which would be the best looking (probably whichever crazy NM one for each).
This was another request I recently received. While the majority of the body is one solid piece, the foliage on top is mostly single-layer, which would need doubling up, the teeth are lots of tiny little pieces, not really connected to anything, and the tiny little limbs mean the finished model would need some interesting additions to stand on its own. Still though, sure would be fun to have a big Goobbue on your desk.
Don't Hold Your Breath
Bahamut. Never going to happen. Look at that thing! Plus, I didn't really care for SE's design of him in this one. Not much red on him either though, which is a little frightening. If you want this model, just to try playing with it in Pepakura, I'd be happy to upload it somewhere, but I am most definitely not going to be authoring such a thing.
Behemoth's a little more reasonable, but with most of these, the sheer size of their models ingame mean there are several gigantic polygons, surrounded by way too many tiny ones. It'd just be a nightmare to find a size where the small folds are even fathomable, but the big folds aren't larger than a single page.
Odin. Red lines. Yowza. I'm sure someone would be willing to try, but he sure isn't me.
The Soulflayer just looks so cool. Maybe I'll try laying this out some day, but not before I make simpler, more immediately rewarding things.
Finally, Vrtra. Flying and standing. Almost no red. I tried unfolding this at 1/1 scale, and the measurement estimate was something like twenty feet tall. I think you'd need reinforcing structures for a model of this kind.
So, have a look through them, leave a comment for what you'd like to see most (try to pick something in the first two sections), and I'll take all responses into consideration while I work on a few models for myself over the next few weeks.
At the top are items I've already laid out, but haven't built, laid out, but need to tweak, or items I think will be easy to lay out and build
Next down, we have items I'd like to do, but will require more work, or just aren't at the height of interest.
Third, items that walk the line between "challenging" and "impossible," but are mostly interesting enough for me to give it my best shot. (I'd put the Ark Angels in this category, so they aren't out of the question.)
Finally, we have a list of gag items I thought would be funny to include. These, I can all but promise you, you will never see laid out and constructed. Just thought you should see how crazy they look with all the fold lines. Seriously though, don't vote for the ones at the bottom, because I won't listen to you.
Keep in mind that the sizes are flexible. Difficult things will need to be larger, and whenever possible, I'm more than willing to aim for "life size." Also, whenever there's an option for multiple textures, as is often the case with NPCs, I'll do my best to include all textures, just to give you the options (also if you want to custom color stuff, which some basic experimentation has shown to yield very fun results).
(I'll group them according to the folder names I used when taking the screen shots)
Likely
These are just about ready to go, as-is. I laid out the Nomad Moogle back in June, and I'm quite confident in its construction, I just haven't built it for myself yet. They're set to 1/2 scale right now, which is about 39cm (15in) tall. I could go "life size," but they'd be exceptionally large, and eventually you just have to draw a line.
The hats. Ahh yes, the hats. The job that got me started and I uh, never finished. >_>
This option would entail me going back and properly revisiting all the AF helmets (including the simple act of retexturing for AF2) to make them wearably life-size, as well as a second set at about half scale, to have your pretty hat at half the ink and paper consumption. I've also got the models ready to go for a number of other headgear items, including the Moogle Caps (as shown), more Beastmen helms (like GoblinGuy's Coif), and a few fun items, like Maat's Cap or the Galka Horror Helm (pumpkin head).
Weapons!
Some of these are also ready to go at the scale I wanted them (Ark Angel weapons are all set to the same .375 scale that the first Angel was built in, but I'd be willing to try laying them out as large as I can.) I've got just a few items shown here, but in general weapons aren't too bad to lay out and build.
The bomb is one I'd love to do, just because it's a bomb, and it doesn't look too difficult. The other item is a Mandragora Lantern, a furniture item that Looks fairly easy to build, and I bet would look awesome with a flashlight placed inside, or something to that effect. No candles though, paper + fire = bad times.
Courier Carrie
This is most likely model I'll lay out next. I've been thinking about doing a crab for a while now, and I got a request recently for Carrie specifically, so I had a look at the model. Carrie is just a regular crab model, with the basket on top as an extra component. So with this one, I could do the model, and you could apply different textures (like for the grey crabs and whatnot,) and use the basket portion, only if you want your crab to be Carrie.
Also thinking I may try this as my first model without fold lines, since crabs have that nice curved shape.
Do-able
The beetle was one I thought of while leveling in Crawlers' Nest. The odd way the legs all connect to a base, and the body rests on top, it just looks like it would be fun to build. It could easily be a nightmare, I wouldn't know until I tried.
The chocobo is just an obvious choice, right? Eventually someone had to do it. The feathers are mostly single-layer, so I'd need to double-side them. Regrettably, I can't figure out how to get the textures for the alternately colored chocobos, but I could include the texture file for the basic yellow, and if you wanted, you could modify it yourself (I came up with a nice looking purple just playing with hues and stuff in Photoshop). Also, if you're interested, GoblinGuy's already done a chocobo chick and egg, which can be found over at his blog.
Classic enemies.
After the Mandragora, I started thinking it would be fun to make a model for each of the classic monsters you associate with low levels. Each has several textures, so you could use whichever you like.
The Worm would be relatively simple, but the tentacles, and especially the mouth, have quite a lot of tiny little folds (which could be remedied in MetaSequoia, I'm not sure, I haven't tried yet.)
The Rarab seems straightforward, but I imagine it would become a contortion act, trying to glue at odd angles and whatnot. Plus you'd need an inventive way to prop up the finished model on those tiny little legs.
The Crawler would definitely be my favorite, but would be the most difficult, by far. Lots of little spines, legs, feelers, etc. I'd be willing to work on it though.
Unlikely
Either of these would be an homage to GoblinGuy, no question. I've always wanted to do a Moblin to complement his Goblin. The Bugbear would just be plain awesome. But either one would require a lot of planning and work. I'd want to lay them out at the same scale he did his, so I'd need to ask him for the ratio, or an unlocked .pdo.
After the Ark Angel TT, I've sworn off Player Characters for a while. Not saying I'll never do one again; I really want a full AA set. However, if there's any model that can convince me to do a PC before I get back to the angels, it's the Star Sibyl (and yes, I realize that they're technically NPCs, but you know what I mean). Generally speaking, she's pretty simple. Lots of large open shapes, and that gigantic hair. Her face would be as rough as the Angel was, but I now know it isn't impossible.
The Orcish Warmachine is one that really makes me think. Something about the mouth reminds me of Howl's Moving Castle, and I'd bet the construction would be similarly difficult (too bad I could never design a layout or instructions as good as those.) All the same, I think it would be a fun challenge, and the warmachine has a secondary texture, I believe, so more fun with choices.
Cait Sith was requested recently, and while I can see the appeal, I just don't think it's going to happen. Those tiny little arms and legs, finely pointed ears, and a tail that is consistently way-too-thin mean this build would just aggravate the crap out of me. The red lines around the eyes also make me worry that they'd be about as insane as build the Angel's eyes, only larger. If it's what the people really want, I'd look into it, but I doubt you'll see this one on my site.
Ifrit, however,
Ohh boy would I ever like to build that. And I use the Ifrit model to symbolize a larger avatar set. He just looks the coolest. These would be difficult, no question, but the almost complete lack of red on the Ifrit model (red as in disconnected folds, not red like his skin...scales...whatever) makes me think it would go more smoothly than it might seem at first glance. Definitely something to consider.
Here's what scares me. These models have almost no red, meaning the model is one solid piece. As insane as it looks, this means the model is actually buildable, in some twisted sense of the word. I've always figured a Shadow Lord model would just be the definition of awesome, but after seeing that new resin statue Square-Enix is trying to sell for like $200+, I figure I could be doing the die-hard FFXI addict a favor by giving him a model he could build for free (or as close to free as paper and ink will ever get).
The demon is kind of a symbol, like Ifrit. I'd love to do more Beastmen, to continue on what GoblinGuy started. When considering this option, consider a Yagudo, Quadav, or Orc as well. Each has several model types, so think over which would be the best looking (probably whichever crazy NM one for each).
This was another request I recently received. While the majority of the body is one solid piece, the foliage on top is mostly single-layer, which would need doubling up, the teeth are lots of tiny little pieces, not really connected to anything, and the tiny little limbs mean the finished model would need some interesting additions to stand on its own. Still though, sure would be fun to have a big Goobbue on your desk.
Don't Hold Your Breath
Bahamut. Never going to happen. Look at that thing! Plus, I didn't really care for SE's design of him in this one. Not much red on him either though, which is a little frightening. If you want this model, just to try playing with it in Pepakura, I'd be happy to upload it somewhere, but I am most definitely not going to be authoring such a thing.
Behemoth's a little more reasonable, but with most of these, the sheer size of their models ingame mean there are several gigantic polygons, surrounded by way too many tiny ones. It'd just be a nightmare to find a size where the small folds are even fathomable, but the big folds aren't larger than a single page.
Odin. Red lines. Yowza. I'm sure someone would be willing to try, but he sure isn't me.
The Soulflayer just looks so cool. Maybe I'll try laying this out some day, but not before I make simpler, more immediately rewarding things.
Finally, Vrtra. Flying and standing. Almost no red. I tried unfolding this at 1/1 scale, and the measurement estimate was something like twenty feet tall. I think you'd need reinforcing structures for a model of this kind.
So, have a look through them, leave a comment for what you'd like to see most (try to pick something in the first two sections), and I'll take all responses into consideration while I work on a few models for myself over the next few weeks.
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