[Bf-scripts-dev] Mesh Unfolder

[matthew chadwick]

I submit my mesh unfolder script:
http://celeriac.net/unfolder/about/index.html
or,
http://home.referral.net.au/thesethings/polyhedra/index.html

This script unfolds a simple mesh into a flat net. The most obvious use is 
for folding card models of polyhedra. It's of marginal interest to most 
Blender users I should think, but I submit it anyway just because I'm 
probably going to finish developing it soon and it may be handy for some 
people. One difficulty with this program is that it is limited by the fact 
that there exist some meshes that are impossible to unfold into a simple 
(non-overlapping) net, and many meshes are very difficult to find simple 
nets for.  As a result, many people might find the particular mesh they try 
to unfold will constantly result in overlapping nets (because there exists 
no simple net for that mesh) or that the search takes many hours. For 
example, I tried it on a 20000-face icosphere and it took 3 days to find a 
non-overlapping net! I guess it should be rewritten properly in c++, but I 
haven't got the time. If the mesh is non-convex, things get worse still. 
Nonetheless many simple low-poly meshes are relatively easy to unfold.This 
program essentially searches randomly for nets, but it does use a couple of 
(possibly novel) tricks to cut the search down. Those interested in the 
maths behind unfolding might do a search about it because it's a 
fascinating subject. I'm not a mathematician, just an interested amateur.

Have fun and by all means throw ideas at me, or not.

Matthew Chadwick (Celeriac).