Need help flattening a complex curved surface

[driesdegroot]

Hi, 

I have been modelling up a sort of box with a very specific shape. I've divided the model up into bodies that will be cut with a lasercutter. I've recently run into a problem with preparing a partially curved body (created using the loft command) for lasercutting. It needs to be flattened/unwrapped like when designing sheet metal. I've tried the method where you use Meshmixer (and a weird program called pepakura) to flatten the surface as well as using the sheet metal lofted flange function, neither of which worked. 

Does anybody know the solution to this problem? So either making this shape using sheet metal or a different solution entirely?

Thanks in advance. 

Kind regards,

Dries de Groot

[hfcandrew · Accepted solution]

Meshmixer never fails. Just might need to remesh it first.

Read here: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/fusion-360-ri-ben-yu/qu-mianno-zhan-kai-meshmixer/m-p/11549891#M40227

(if using chrome right click and translate to english)

[driesdegroot]

Thanks man, it totally worked after following the thread. Sorry for the late reply, hadn't had time to test it out until now. 

Cheers. 

[TrippyLighting]

@hfcandrew @driesdegroot rather than resorting to some other software or workflow, it often helps to analyze how a model was built. I am convinced this can easily be flattened with the sheet metal tools if it would be modeled appropriately.