pattern making from 3d model, exactflat or alternitives

[joelswork]

Hey guys,

My niche is demanding something from me that I cannot design with my current abilities. Does anyone use exactflat or a similar program for pattern making around complex 3d shapes?

 

[Evan Gillette]

Pretty vague question, can you give an example of what you want to flatten? What software you have, what format the models are and the models geometry will have a huge impact...

 

[Evan Gillette]

Are you talking gaussian surfaces (compound curves) that need to have distortion in order to flatten? There are many solutions out there and most CAD packages have some functionality built in. Fusion360 has decent surface flattening abilities including deformation plots.

 

[joelswork]

Pretty vague question, can you give an example of what you want to flatten? What software you have, what format the models are and the models geometry will have a huge impact...

It is for some tools that are very similar to maybe a PS4 controller wrap. I've done basic flattening but getting the design to lay flat without tenting is a beast

 

[Evan Gillette]

In that case I would use a surface modeling software to model the surface and then flatten, you can use a deformation plot to see where the material needs to shrink or stretch and by how much. depending on the surface and the material used you can tweak the design to fit the needs of the material. For example you can "design" in less material if tenting is an issue so that the vinyl in under tension in those areas instead of compression.Obviously there are physical limitations, but a little trial and error will get things a bit better and the modeling helps to visualize what the material is trying to overcome.

 

[Dale D]

Yeah, I looked at Exactflat.... $9900.00 for the software is definitely steep. There are a few software programs that can accomplish the same thing, but its more manual right now.

 

[Mata]

did you find anything else?

 

[Vassago]

Best thing I do is scan the item in with a 3d scanner, use mudbox or similar to "paint" - then do a uv unwrap in the same program to flatten it. That way any distortion is taken care of and it's easy to design.. Plus.. It's a lot cheaper than exact flat for everything.

 

[Vassago]

Forgot to add.. For this scenario - first paint each section a different colour, then when you unwrap it you know how to cut everything. Once you've done that you can do the actual design. Then simply overlay your cuts in signlab, etc.

 

[dreko]

Except UV unwrapping is fine for CGI work. OP wants to make physical wraps on real world physical items. UV maps arent the correct solution for this... Sadly, ExactFlat and Fusion360 and TouchCAD are the only real solutions I've found....

 

[Vassago]

Uv unwrapping Works great from my experience as it generates UV maps.. Remember you're working from 3d scan data, digitally painting the desired area and then extracting the 2d representation of that using the UV unwrap which most 3d design packages can do.

You paint each section a different colour using mudbox, etc - unwrap it into a 2d form - this gives you the cutting pattern - you can then expand it to give a cutting margin, etc..

What it won't really deal with is any stretch required for fabric. If you were doing series production - printing a chequer board pattern would likely give you something you could use to work out stretch, etc. Simply refine it until you get a regular pattern, But then you'd have to have multiple prints.