just a stick horse this time around. But I suppose a body will be forthcoming in the future, depending on how the creative inertia holds out.

Hi all(particularly Shawn), I just did this tutorial on the process you inspired me with. You can see the vectorising part in the middle of it. I suppose a sequel will be in order, concerning the cloth covering, but this at least is the foam part. I am so glad you told me how to do it!

Yep that is how it is done!  It really is easy isn't it? The vectoring of the shapes really does give you advantages.  With my pattern I actually made it into a PDF file and then when I printed it out I was able to print it in tile mode so it printed over four pieces of paper that I then put together. I had all my pieces in one file or page depending on how you think of it. I also used alot more layers of tape because I was afraid I would lose the shape. Good to know I don't really need to do that.

Yes Shawn, it is easier than you'd think (once again, I am thankful for your input) It has got me excited, but then, it is so easy to get a number of puppets on the way and none totally finished . because you still have to do the rest of the process of cloth covering, bodies and features... then what to do with them, when one has a thousand other things one must be doing instead?
   Yes, I found one layer of tape was fine as long as you overlap it a bit so it stays together, and having it  only a layer thick it is easier to cut through.
   Vectoring the shapes onto one per page has advantages of  being able to scale them to other sizes easily, and printing them page by page, so you can keep them backed up as hard copies, and you can then email them to anyone if you want to.

Nice idea. It looks so weird in inches, though. 8.5" would be 21,59 cm- it is so strange that my own conception of space and lengths depends entirely on the metric scale- I can't make anything out of other systems, even if I know how to calculate....
I love his head, too!

It is not so much the inches that is important but size of paper you are printing on. 8.5" x 11" is the standard letter size for paper in America. I assume you have the same in Europe but it is 216 mm x 279 mm.  You want to have your size for your image that you scan in either letter or legal size or that of the scanner surface. Found this cool paper size chart that gives both inches and metric values. http://www.dpandi.com/paper/index.html  Actually it looks like the equivalent in Europe to letter would be A4 which is 210 x 297 mm.  So have I totally confused you now.

I got to thinking more about the differences between metric and inches. I think if  you are making patterns for yourself this would not be that big a deal but if for some reason you wanted to share your patterns with others and they did not use the same units of measurement it might cause some issues. Not sure what you would need to do if anything really but did find this article on the subject at least when it comes to printing essays for SFU. http://www.lib.sfu.ca/sites/default/files/10048/A4_PrintingfromPDF.pdf  In this case they are converting to the North American standard.

What I meant (I noticed the difference between DIN A4 and American sheets when I went to Canada- I had no get new binders for school) is that I "think metric", so that any measurement in inches totally throws me of the rocker. I used to be a bit more acquainted with inches- but that's long ago and it took me 10 months...
I always use this: http://www.pats-pets.de/cm-inch.htm
Just put in your measurement and it will convert it if you press "umrechnen". "löschen" deletes everything.

You are right Shawn, it is not so much inches or  metric(we are actually  metric) but that your scan ,prints and project are all the same size ie:actual real size. In the tutorial the scanner program defaults to inches, so that was my reference. Yes, when you want to share your patterns you have that problem, like I am getting requests for having downloadable patterns for the Tutorial of the generic 'missionary' puppet pattern on my youtube channel. At the moment I figure that the viewer should be willing to do a little work and get the  info  off the screen. However I am toying with the idea as many of the requests have come from ministries, so it might  be nice to help them out... which then means you will need to have both metric and imperial sets available...or trust that they print out on full A4 sheets... which raises the question...what do others do? Anyone able to chip in on that?

Pagestep007, what software are you using?

Julie