try "unroll" in rhino

also look for a program called pepakura, it has the ability to rationalize curves into facets which can be cut and scored to form very complex shapes. I think it takes .3ds files

in rhino you can either unroll developable surface or dupedge of a surface and then createUVcrv from the surface and select the curves second...it will a flattened version of the shape.

Form Z has some capabilities as does modo for flattening...but I wouldn't know the exact procedure off of the top of my head.

there is also Lamina whish purely for fabrication needs.

http://laminadesign.com/index.html

SMASH COMMAND

UnRoll is Rhino's Achille's heel.

That was harsh.

Fix that command!

Strange realy-- since 1990 I used my own unroll rutines with the Cyber-Boat project. Search Cybre-Boat ay Yahoo and you find a number of groups with free boat plans , all generated from 3D models by unrolling polymeshes. --- problem with Rhino are mainly that it only unroll what been modeled in rhino, imported AutoCAD objects simply don't work.

What I find realy strange, is that such a rutine shuld be obvious, -- and then only Rhino offer one that don't work a fraction as good as what I used building organic forms , back in the 90's esp. while today's architects still percive the build works as the picture of it omiting the structure , still want no detail and continue as they build 60 years ago, before the computer -- and yet there are no unroll for polymeshes working as smooth as the rutines I had to knit back in the 90's.

In fact I thought I would simply publish all those smart gadgeds , when I stopped building boats -- I thought they would be usefulle for building models from polymeshes -- whoever would do such things --- as they are not just simple small rutines, but offer a lot of what I back then called design tools.
I thought that as soon everyone realised that surface is nothing without structure, then I would simply make a yahoo group where members could download -- see a surface unfolded from the same 3D model as the 3dh framework is generated from, is a realy smart thing, So as soon as the credits for 3dh started to justify a tool to cover the surfaces of a framework, then I would give it away for free,

For SketchUp you can use Peperkura. 3DMax has a flatten command, cant remember where though....

Second Lamina, it does a very good job with complex surfaces and won't facet them like pepakura.

And in addition to 'unroll' and 'smash' there is also 'splat' in rhino.

In rhino, I use the Rick Roll command

See the thing about a good rick roll is that you don't CALL it a rick roll.

i'm totally ashamed... i've just been rick unrolled

rhinoceros, smash

It seem Rhino has trouble with double curved forms to, the Laminadesign application looks interesting as it simply make a new set of surfaces instead of looking into the point definition part of the entity , but why not make it as ships designers allway's did it -- model from known geometrics and not try unroll if you has not the right software , or the program has particular limitations as it seem Rhino has.
--- Strange though, that what architect school workshops was crowded with , in the late 80', is still how architecture is percived surface, pure surface no structure just edgy surfaces.

don't forget the solids and the splines ;)

1. place model on first floor anywhere there is an overhead balcony.

2. proceed (with help of friends/coworkers) up to the second floor.

3. don't forget to take a year's worth of the Sweet's catalog (2005 or earlier).

4. check for pedestrian traffic, or better yet, have a friend on lookout.

5. test accuracy by dropping wadded up trash paper or equivalent.

6. check results and adjust accordingly.

7. drop at least four Sweet's (in any order) from balcony.

8. check results.

9. repeat as necessary.

golf clubs...

i prefer to soak in gasoline for an hour, light and drop from 40' ledge, thereby letting gravity do it's thing.

makes a great photo, and you won't get impaled by carbon fiber or plexi shards.

^ reminds me of when I had to build a model volcano in 7th grade science class. I hated the teacher with a passion (was a depressed 7th grader). I decided that I was going to use gasoline instead of water to mix with the plaster-of-paris for the volcano; the idea being that I would blow up my teacher when the volcano was lit...

anyways, the day that we had to bring the volcanos to class, the whole school ended up smelling like gas. I blamed it on the spraypaint that I used....

my teacher lived

i really think rhino is the best idea for this operation

be safe.