pattern for a model

[Mylenium]

[bahare] “hello out there,

I’m architect and modelling a organic form. I would like to print out something like an pattern to be able to build a physical model of my form. is it possible to put a mesh over the form and create a unfolded map of the object?

thanks,
b.”

In theory yes, in practice your chances aren’t that good. Your best bet is to create several planar UV maps for all axes and merge them into one, but it requires Bodypaint and is still prone to distortions. You could then use this UV map as a template or bake your rendered data to it. another variant might be setting up several orthographic cameras and render out your scene from different views. Those images could then be put together in photoshop or other programs.

Mylenium

[Pour Myl

[Greg Serafin]

On the cheap side, try RHINO – will do withe extreme accuracy.

IQ

[Daniel Moore]

You could do it for free with Pepakura Designer. Lots of fun, if your into that sort of thing… : )