"Unroll" command

[benlorimore]

This is similar to what someone posted a while back about bending bodies, but the opposite. This command would be used to "unroll" bodies or surfaces with 3d curvature to what they would be as a flat shape as if they were laid out on a table. I posted screenshots below of an instance this would be used for. The black body is a piece of leather. As you can see it has 3d curvature, and if I were to make this, I would need to CNC the leather into this shape. There is no way for me to know the exact shape as a flat piece of leather though because it is currently curved. The unroll command would determine this for me. 

[roambotics_scott]

This would be awesome.. I'm cautiously optimistic that it (or a reasonable approximation) may come as part of sheet metal

[lokiidesigns]

@benlorimore, There is an Exact Flat add in that accomplishes this, albeit externally. Not sure if this is would fulfil your requirements? See link below for some further info in case you are unaware:

http://www.exactflat.com/fusion360.html

I don't know how successful it is for:

• complex shapes and forms
• when using it as representative of materials other than fabrics
• if you require the resulting pattern to be held with the design file as I believe this spits out an external file type

[amcfarlen]

I'm needing this feature as well for several projects I'm working on. Very hopeful that this will be available in an upcoming release.

[inger.lg]

@lokiidesigns 6250 dollars for this add in is a little bit above my budget :-). 

[keqingsong]

Hey there! Thanks so much for submitting your idea. Unfortunately, this idea did not get a lot of votes from the community, and now is 2 years old. We're changing its status to archived. If you still feel strongly about this idea, you can resubmit it. Check out some idea submission best practices here: https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/community-faq/ideas/m-p/5384681#M44