I have the nets of multiple different shapes and I need the 3D version of them. I can do it for basic 3D shapes but I need it for shapes like a truncated cube or a truncated icosahedron. Does anyone know of any software I would use to create this.
Hey Chantel, itās a bit of a confusion question, what you mean by net? Like, a fishing net ?
Net as in the net of a geometric 3D shape eg a cube or square based pyramid folded out into a 2D plane
I think she means like this, you could likely do this manually on something like sketchup, by making the finished shape you want, then āunfoldingā the various faces by rotating them around the edges where they join eachother 
The issue I have is I need the 3D shape as my final product and I already have the 2D net. For things like cubes or pyramids this is easy but I have more complicated shapes to create as well
I think Fusion 360 has the concept of āGeometric Netsā in each case Fusion is the go to free tool for 3D printing geometrics designs. You can mirror, split, extrude objects and a whole host of other stuff. I find it easier to start fresh in fusion and base my drawing from my concept art work.
Itās a really amazingly powerful tool to play with.
I have access to Fusion 360 and I couldnāt find anything on there, if you have a link to where to find it that would be appreciated
Have you searched on YouTube?
I found this but it only works for a cube not more complex nets/geometric shapes
You can get fusion to add Ä component between a mirrored face to create a 3rd face to give you more complex geometry.
I was trying to see if my living hinge would curve around my needed curve
Where did the nets that youāre working with come from?
I have them created in fusion 360
Is there a particular problem to solve or reason why youāre creating nets first rather than the 3d shape directly?
Iām a university student and weāve been given the nets to make the 3D shape out of for our exam (I donāt know what help there are in our exam yet we were just told to make them) I wanted to 3D print the full shape instead so I could handle it better and visualise it more but also as a fun project for myself. Thatās why I have the nets but not the 3D shapes
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I think what might do this possibly is Slicer for Fusion 360. I was looking at that for something else. That kind of net was one of its features. Itās a free add on. Check it out on YouTube - it may or may not be the answer.
ETA: look at āfolded panelsā - does that do what you want?
Ok thanks Iāll have a look
I had a look into it and it looks like it would do exactly as I want it too but for some reason I canāt seam to export files into it and fusion360 doesnāt seam to support it anymore
Itās no longer supported with updates etc, but it should still work. However I have heard that it doesnāt work properly on recent hardware. Iād try it on older laptops or the Mac Pro in the space if you donāt have access to that. Iād look for something at least 5 years old.
@Christian - you said you used Slicer for your waffle boat design. Iāve not yet used it myself. Any pointers on getting it to work and play nicely?
Slicer didnāt work well for what I wanted to do with it. The dimensions were too big and I canāt fine tune the positioning of the ribs. Iāve now found another workflow. I first need to understand what the geometric nets are to see if I can contribute anything meaningful here.
Thanks Christian. Folding panels in Slicer are the geometric nets. That does exactly what Chantal needs. The issue is it has glitch with export, possibly because being run on recent hardware. When you were using it, were you able to export? What kind of machine was that on?
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