topic Re: Develop, or flatten, a curved surface to a sketch ? in Fusion Design, Validate & Document Forum

Develop, or flatten, a curved surface to a sketch ?

Le_Bear — Sat, 24 Feb 2018 18:36:52 GMT

There are plenty of tips around about projecting a sketch onto a curved surface, but how about the reverse? WITHOUT using sheet metal.

I guess the best example I could give is a stich and glue boat. Say that I model something like this, using mostly Loft for the hull.

How could I extrapolate the developed surfaces to get the exact shape to cut, like in this example below?

if this is doable in Fusion right now, I would love to know how. If not, could this be a feature to be implemented?

Thanks for suggestions,

Bernard

Re: Develop, or flatten, a curved surface to a sketch ?

TheCADWhisperer — Sat, 24 Feb 2018 18:56:22 GMT

I would split up into the individual Components.

For all of the developable sheets I would use Sheet Metal (doesn't matter if the material isn't sheet metal) to get the Flat Patterns.

For all of the double curvature components I would use a combination of MeshMixer and Fusion as follows (the video is for Inventor, but the process would be identical for Fusion).

In this case I am doing the Sail, but it could be for any of the components.

Re: Develop, or flatten, a curved surface to a sketch ?

TrippyLighting — Sun, 25 Feb 2018 13:21:26 GMT

Very nice screencast. Thanks for that! I very rarely work with triangulated meshes or Meshmixer and this ability of Meshmixer was unknown to me.

Re: Develop, or flatten, a curved surface to a sketch ?

Le_Bear — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 11:44:11 GMT

Thanks you for this very interesting screen cast, did not know this feature was in MeshMixer. Still, what I don't understand, is how would I split each surface in a separate body or component, as originally it's a single body made by loft? The sail is obviously a single body to start with.

Maybe I am missing something obvious?

I do appreciate the help, and will refer to your screen cast in the future.
Regards,

Bernard

Re: Develop, or flatten, a curved surface to a sketch ?

TheCADWhisperer — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 12:11:17 GMT

@Le_Bear wrote:

..... how would I split each surface in a separate body or component, ...

Re: Develop, or flatten, a curved surface to a sketch ?

Le_Bear — Mon, 26 Feb 2018 12:49:21 GMT

Yes, I know the feature, but never thought I could use the edges of a surface as profile. Hum, OK, I need to try that. Thanks!

Re: Develop, or flatten, a curved surface to a sketch ?

Anonymous — Sun, 19 Jul 2020 15:14:21 GMT

Thank you very much for this screen cast. In a last two days a tired several methods to flatten or unwrap my small dingy hull design, non of them worked, but this one is working.

Re: Develop, or flatten, a curved surface to a sketch ?

pedro.tx — Sat, 22 Aug 2020 13:58:10 GMT

Thank you. It’s so refreshing to see a clear and complete solution that I don’t have to search everywhere for. I will be sure to check out your channel!

Re: Develop, or flatten, a curved surface to a sketch ?

SLOW.PROCESS86 — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 04:12:18 GMT

Sorry to bring up an old thread. Does anyone know if there's a way to take flat plans such as the ones posted above and then to form them into the completed boat?

Re: Develop, or flatten, a curved surface to a sketch ?

davebYYPCU — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 06:54:55 GMT

That would be the most counter productive way to do it.

Published plans I deal with are notoriously filled with errors, and making a model to unfold is a known reliable way to go.

Might help....

Re: Develop, or flatten, a curved surface to a sketch ?

TheCADWhisperer — Sat, 05 Dec 2020 11:40:56 GMT

@SLOW.PROCESS86 wrote:

....take flat plans s

Can you File>Export your *.f3d file to your local drive and then Attach it here to a Reply?

Re: Develop, or flatten, a curved surface to a sketch ?

odolyte — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 13:13:16 GMT

Here's a quicker way to do this with F360 and Meshmixer. You'll get an .svg file.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dalldQLphyo

Re: Develop, or flatten, a curved surface to a sketch ?

barry9UDQ6 — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 14:44:47 GMT

I am very curious as to the recommendations for flat patterning the developable surfaces.

In Inventor I used to loft as a surface between 2 splines, then thicken and flat pattern, but I have yet to find a way to do this in Fusion unless I am missing something.

Re: Develop, or flatten, a curved surface to a sketch ?

TrippyLighting — Mon, 09 Aug 2021 15:16:34 GMT

No, you're not missing any functionality.

This can only be done in Fusion 360 with developable surfaces/geometry with the sheet metal tools.

Flattening non developable surfaces will always result in some degree of UV-stretching.