Sheet metal UV mapping

[jean-michel_legoff]

Hi,
Is it planned to generate UV's on flattened pattern?
It could be useful to place artwork on flat surface and see what happen when folded. (Or the opposite)
The use case is for packaging or any folded printed stuff.
Many thanks
JM

[promm · Accepted solution]

@jean-michel_legoff,

That is a great question and I appreciate you describing the workflow behind it.  I have a grain direction feature planned that will allow users to define the direction while the model is bent and then translate the orientation properly when it is flattened.  The intention for grain direction is for nesting, but you have inspired me to ask the team if this would be possible for decals.  Do you have any feedback on your overall preview experience thus far?

Thank you,

Mike Prom

[jean-michel_legoff]

hi,

yes, the grain direction is not so bad, but for me we need something more.

The case could apply to people who want to use printed material and drape 3D rigid bodies (as trunks for example).

Trunks have generally a main body and a top cover.

the two pieces are draped in a single piece of Canvas and is is very convenient to use Sheet metal features to define the pattern.

But as the pattern is cutted in a printed canvas, it could be key to adjust the position of this pattern regarding the motifs printed on the canvas.

So it should be valuable if we can generate proper UV on the flatened surface and use thes UV's on the folded representation in order to adjust the placement.

this could be simulated now by modifying the planar projection manually but they are not linked and it's quite difficult.

Best regards

[promm]

@jean-michel_legoff,

Thank you for your feedback.  I understand your workflow, but it does not align with my current targets and I do not know what the demand will be.  May I suggest you creating a Idea on the IdeaStation?  If it becomes a highly requested workflow, I can then see where it fits in our priorities.  If you create some visuals, it will help you sell your workflow.

Cheers,

Mike Prom

[jean-michel_legoff]

Hi,

I've understood, and you are right, as UV's are not supported for meshes for now in Fusion360 it's probably too hard and useless to handle it in sheet metal.
On the other hand, could it be possible to have a feature which allows sketching or projecting some curves on the flattened pattern and see it wrapped again on the folded surface?
At least it could be helpful to fine tune the model.

Thanks

[promm]

@jean-michel_legoff,

One workflow you could try is to unfold your model, create a sketch on the face, project the profile of the model's perimeter and then export the sketch as a dxf.  Next bring the dxf into the tool that your are using for art work to define the profile.  Check out what another customer has been able to accomplish.  https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/preview-functionality/sheet-metal-for-folding-paperboard-and-packagin...

Cheers,

Mike Prom

[jean-michel_legoff]

Thanks for the link,

It's very close to what I want to achieve, except that having a dynamic link between the 2D and 3D representation could help to refine the final model.

If the texture is the most important you may want to adjust the 3D model mm by mm in order to get the optimized result.

Going back and forth from 3D modeling, flattened model in Fusion, then export 2D as DXF work artwork in Illustrator or any other 2D package...

Anyway, I've registered to sheetmetal preview program and hope to be able to test some workflows.

Many Thanks