"Unfolding" applications

[skypoke]

Copied from elsewhere:

Sailfl,

Does Moi have unfolding capabilities? I'm not overly enamored with Sketchup but this plugin looks hugely functional, very similar to Touch3d but without the price or learning curve.

Chuck

[sailfl]

Chuck,

I do not know what unfolding is? Can you explain?

I would suggest you send an email to the MOI creator or leave a message on the forum.

[skypoke]

Sailfl,

Unfolding is the capability to draw a 3 dimensional object and then turn it into flat sheets with cut and bend lines. It's pretty amazing what can be done, if you take a look at the touchcad website you'll see diverse projects such as car bodies, boat hulls, ductwork, all drawn into 3d and then automatically "flattened."

Chuck

[grandpi]

Have a look at laminadesign.com. The software is much more advanced than wayby.weebly, more professional. But the interest of being include in sketchup is very nice ... MOI don't have the ability to unfold 3d volumes.

Pierre.

[Marc Shlaes]

I am a new Rhino user, coming from TurboCAD. I am just learing about "unfolding" applications. Any light you could shed on them would be appreciated by me for sure.

Thanks.

[skypoke]

Marc,

There's a few of these unfolding applications around. There's an easy to use, cheap plugin for Sketchup called Waybe. It's not vector based, though, and is more for paper models than metals.

Touchcad has been around for awhile and looks to be quite capable. Around $600.00 IIRC. It shares a difficulty of use quotient comparable to a mid level CAD program so there's a significant learning curve for me, maybe not for you though if you're into Rhino.

Both packages have free evaluation downloads available. The possibilities are enormous for the user who masters them. Touchcad allows you to specify material types and thicknesses....it's apparently possible to cut out and bend up complex shapes like car bodies, hot air balloons, boats etc.

Chuck