Here is what I want to do.
Lets say we take the classic example of writing the word rhino on the surface of a sphere.
What I want to do it to take the letters and unroll them from the surface, lay them flat, cut them on the CNC on a very flexible substrate so that I can then roll them back around the sphere and have them fit perfectly.
On the sphere they have no apparent distortion since they are created using spherical geometry. When they are “unrolled off of the sphere and layed flat” they have to then take on a built in distortion similar to that of a flat projecting map we all saw in school, then when they are again rolled onto the sphere they then lie undistorted with the same spherical geometry they were created with.
Thanks,
Steven