Case studies are conducted to illustrate the evaluation in both mesh simplifications and unfolding procedures. The software tools, Pepakura Designer, Blender and SketchUp, are compared in terms of functionalities and performances in the execution time, automation, number of generated 2D patches and editing tools. The study presents a comprehensive comparison of three different software tools in unfolding for generation of a set of 2D patches from 3D models. Hausdorff Distance measurement is used for the accuracy assessment. The algorithms are evaluated based on the efficiency and accuracy of the simplified model. The optimal number of meshes is searched for the minimal error. Performance is evaluated for different simplification algorithms implemented in software tools such as Meshlab and Instant-Meshes. This paper reviews and evaluates existing software tools for both mesh simplification and unfolding of 3D shapes. It is often required to simplify meshes with some preserved geometrical details before the generation of planar patterns for unfolding. A mesh surface can be very complex with a large number of triangles. The patches are then used as patterns for cutting materials to fold them back into the 3D shape. A 3D mesh surface is segmented in unfolding process to form 2D patches without overlapping. Unfolding and folding processes are common methods to form a 3D shape from 2D surfaces. FIGURE 2-2: A 3D model of a cube with a notch in it When the model is opened in Pepakura, the program will ask about flipping faces and front colors and a few other unnecessary things. Generation of planar patterns from 3D shapes is required in many fields such as design of airplane wings, car bodies, shoes and textile products.

3d model to pepakura