How to flatten 3D surfaces?

[SydDythers]

Hello,

I am trying to take a 3D surface and flatten it into 2D. For example,
imagine a pattern on a soccerball. We all know that we can take it and
actually flatten it out into a 2D pattern. My requirement isn't as
great as that though. I am designing a model airplane and would like
to create a 2D cutsheet for "skinning" the wings with balsa sheeting.
I would like to take the curved surface of the top and bottom and
create 2D templates for cutting the balsa.

Thanks!

J

[Nev Williams]

Your probablyout of luck with Soildworks to do this, unless the parts are
sheet metal, which I'm guessing they are not - esp with a wing.
your best bet would be to do this in Rhino http://www.rhino3d.com/

Neville Williams
Z-Axis Design - NZ
"remove the KNOT to reply"

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[alphawave]

I asked a similar question about 10 months ago and was steered towards
GeometryWorks or SurfaceWorks Flattener.

Try searching in this group for either.

GeometryWorks can be downloaded for a 30 day trial - it's not straight
forward to use but after a short while I was able to get some decent
results from it.

I've also been told that Rhino can do this - but I've not seen it
demonstrated or even seen any resultant flattened surfaces.

If it does work it's probably going to be less expensive than the other
two options, As far as I can recall Geometry works was £GB 1000+

Kev

[Jeff Howard]

Forget the soccer ball and figure out if your surfaces are developable or "flat
wrap". If they are it opens up a lot of possibilities.

[TOP]

I have done this using only SW. You have to use good old descriptive
geometry in a drawing. The object is to divide the surface into
triangles and project them onto a flat surface. It is a time consuming
process but it works. I used the biggest triangles I could and had the
resulting pattern laser cut. The welder did notice the triangulations
on the edges but they were well within the tolerance we needed. This
works best if the surface is not too distorted or stretched.

[Zander]

Hi J,

I've done this in sw sheetmetal with a lofted sheet metal part, I did
the top and bottom half seperately and they flattened pretty well.
Give it a try.

Zander

[CS]

Also take a look at LogoPress it is a 34d party addin that goes well
beyond the sheetmetal functionality of solidworks.

[mjewell]

Hi J:

the company I work for makes a product exactly for this www.exactflat.com