Hi all Just wondering if anyone can help? I’m trying to help my brother out with a bit of a headscratcher. He’s a stained glass window craftsman and wants to check his maths regarding the size to cut a sheet of glass so that it can be drawn flat, glazed flat and heated/bent into shape afterwards. …

First thing I would try is Unwrap and Flatten from the Extension Warehouse although I don’t think that will really work in the desired way since it doesn’t stretch or deform the faces that the surface is made from. TBH I’m not sure there is an extension that will do what you want. It seems to me tha…

Ah thanks Dave, will try the plug in. I guess what I have in my head is when you see an image of the earth unfurled from it’s mercator projection and made flat and all the countries look weird. Was hoping there’d be some sort of extension but no worries, and thanks for the reply.

[image] TFSOG: I guess what I have in my head is when you see an image of the earth unfurled from it’s mercator projection and made flat and all the countries look weird. Unfortunately, the topology of a sphere is different from that of a plane. There is no way to map a sphere or part of a s…

Thanks so much for the thorough reply - I really appreciate it. Best wishes.

[image] slbaumgartner: It is very likely that the unfolding would yield numerous tears in the flattened result. That’s what I was trying to imply.

[image] DaveR: First thing I would try is Unwrap and Flatten from the Extension Warehouse When you use my extension, make sure you unwrap this in parts, i.e. do the colored surface first and then the other side (instead of everything at once).

A lot depends on your bending method but generally you would create a ‘former’ to bend over or into. If you bend into it is usually best to have a piece of glass larger than needed so that it ‘grips’ the former and doesn’t just end up as a molten mess in the bottom of the dip. You then trim to size…

Thanks for the message, box, appreciate it. They’re all pretty experienced and have trialled it out of wood - I think they were just seeing if I could help/remove some of the guesswork trial & error. Doesn’t help that I don’t know what I’m talking about! :rofl:

[image] TFSOG: I don’t know what I’m talking about! I have significant experience with this and can speak at length about it. But as someone with 45ish years of working with the many facets of glass I can sometimes add a hint or two. [image] TFSOG: They’re all pretty experienced and hav…

[image] Box: Would love to see the conflagration this would involve. Here are some photos he has sent. The tape is to cover up the trial and error! [image] [image]

Help with 'unfurling' a curved surface?

SketchUp

paddyclown March 19, 2024, 1:41pm 19

just tried this plugin, it does the job well too…

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Help with 'unfurling' a curved surface?

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