3D model unfold question

[drawer3d]

I'm going to use a fairly complex car model, but I'm not sure Vectorworks will be able to unfold such a complex object. 

 

I haven't purchased it yet. I can specify the necessary characteristics that will be needed for a successful unfold when ordering.

 

Here's the model: https://3dmodels.org/3d-models/delorean-dmc-12-with-hq-interior-and-engine-1981/

 

I would be grateful if someone could give me some advice on this issue, or at least point me in the right direction. 

[Jonathan Pickup]

Vectorworks will unfold curved surfaces provided they only curve in one direction, for example, a cylindrical shape.

[VIRTUALENVIRONS]

There is also the question of how it will unfold if it was not made in Vectorworks.  You will likely have to convert it to NURBS in Vectorworks and that could leave you with a lot of unfold polygons.

[Claes Lundstrom]

I doubt that VW will be of much use here. The unfolding features are fairly rudimentary. The question is also what you intend to get out of the model. Getting very small and highly detailed unfolds may be ok if you intend to build a very detailed model that looks exactly correct in terms of real geometric shape. If so, prepare for a monster task. I quite often go with a different strategy, where I get reasonable decent looking models using a minimum of parts. This is ok if you want a decent looking display model without too much fuss. Instead of using a complex model, I rely heavily on image unfolding textures using very high quality texture mapping and UV maps. Unfortunately though, this is not possible to do with VW. 

[VIRTUALENVIRONS]

On 12/27/2023 at 3:12 AM, drawer3d said:

'm going to use a fairly complex car model,

Just out of curiosity, what exactly are you planning to do with this. If we knew what your final goal was, there might be a better solution within Vectorworks.

As the Deloriean is a rather square shaped car, it would not be a stretch to build it in Vectorworks, but there are other solutions as below.

 

For example, if you "can"  decompose the model in Vectorworks so you can simply separate the parts, you could use "Create Surface from Curves". to rebuild each part in its 3D space.

 

Alternatively, you could use "Extract Surfaces" in a similar fashion.

[Claes Lundstrom]

On 12/28/2023 at 10:50 AM, Claes Lundstrom said:

I doubt that VW will be of much use here. The unfolding features are fairly rudimentary. The question is also what you intend to get out of the model. Getting very small and highly detailed unfolds may be ok if you intend to build a very detailed model that looks exactly correct in terms of real geometric shape. If so, prepare for a monster task. I quite often go with a different strategy, where I get reasonable decent looking models using a minimum of parts. This is ok if you want a decent looking display model without too much fuss. Instead of using a complex model, I rely heavily on image unfolding textures using very high quality texture mapping and UV maps. Unfortunately though, this is not possible to do with VW. 

 

Simple unfolded models can look fairly ok. This one consists of just three parts.