so i’ve built a 3D model that looks more or less like a cloud, and now i need to slice and flatten it so that it could actually be manufactured. how should i go about slicing it? (like where to slice and how, etc. i know i could probably squish it or something, but i’m not quite sure what exactly has to be done.)
This depends greatly on the fabrication method, but since you say slice, perhaps you are thinking to use flat materials to build a 3d form by a laser cutter, milling machine, or similar. I recommend you take a look at the _Contour tool. You can find it in the Curve menu -> Curve From Objects -> Contour.
This will give you the option to specify the distance between contours which will have some association to your material thickness. The output will be a series of curve profiles which are essentially slices of your model. If you do not have too many slices, you might consider using the Grouping feature of the command which will create groups of curves which are on the same level. This will give you a way to select them and move them to the xy plane. There are plugins that could facilitate this such as Grasshopper.
sorry, i guesss i wasn’t clear enough in expressing how it is to be sliced… if it is going to be manufactured with fabric, sort of like a pneumatic structure - is there any way to divide it up? kind of like thinking it as producing a stuffed toy - how would you go about in coming up with a fabric pieces?
thanks for helping out!