Currently, I am keen on papercrafts of objects from computer games. Recently I happened to find an interesting Companion Cube from the game Portal. Follow along with me.
Back then, when I was a child, I loved building papercrafts. That means I loved the result, not the work 😀 This was a time before the Internet as we know it existed – Yeah, I am getting old. Then, people came up with custom paper models of computer games – exactly my style.
Portal Companion Cube
Let me give you some context: As a beginner on this topic, I wanted to start easy, and the Weighted Companion Cube from Portal looked quite simple. I might have paid attention to the many tiny parts upfront.
Portal is a game in which you solve riddles with so-called portals that work as a wormhole. The Weighted Companion Cube is an artifact that helps you out, but a mad AI forces you to destroy it, which means kill it, later. I turned out that there are parallels to this project…
Unfortunately, the original website the cube is coming from doesn’t exist anymore. But you can find printable patterns with the Google image search. Click here for the search results I prepared.
Pro Tip
- Use a scalpel blade instead of a scissor. With a scissor you hardly cut straight lines
- Don’t score the paper on the folding lines for the sake of straight folding edges. Later, the white paper shines through the gaps.
The first success
I first built the inner cube, which was pretty simple, and I felt already a little proud of it.
That looks shiny, doesn’t it? I should have stopped at this point. But I went on and started the mini thingies that are attached to the edges of the cube. I always thought that my fingers were normal size, but it turned out, they aren’t.
By now, I was fine with the world. Okay – Let’s go for it. I cut out the first attachment and folded it.
Why do people hate each other?
Cutting out the peace was only a little problem, but you needed to fold each of these small edges twice. You need a child’s hand. I don’t know what happened to this guy that made him hate people that much. Look at the last picture of what it looked like! Is this beautiful? I don’t think so. But it got worse.
Tutorial – How to hate people
Eight of them! After doing this, additionally, the six corners had to be done. Have a look at the many cuts and curved lines. Slowly but steady, my emotional situation got out of control. I started hating people, too. Maybe I should design paper models myself to drive people insane.
Who doesn’t listen must suffer the consequences
Out of a sudden, the Companion Cube disappeared. Like in the game, if you know what I mean. We should call it an accident. Unfortunately, his big brother is out for revenge now.
Uh oh – It smells like trouble…
Don’t get me wrong – The pattern is great. I was just not patient enough for it 🙂 I admire people that spend a lot of effort and time to design such paper models
