Unrolling Surfaces in Grasshopper

This Grasshopper definition is proof of concept for a VB component that unrolls developable surfaces to the XY plane. To make the component, I've adapted a rhinoscript by Andrew Kudless (of Matsys) to run in VB, enlisting the help of CCA student Ripon DeLeon to write the code.
See more on this project at www.biosarch.com

download the definition here:unroll3.ghx (note: you must be running Grasshopper 0.6.0019 or higher)

and the rhino base file here: unroll test.3dm

The unrolled shape is about 96% accurate (judged by difference in surface area between unrolled and original surfaces). This seems to be fine for simple paper models, but would cause serious problems in more complex structures. I would appreciate feedback from any of you who care to take a look at the VB component and offer suggestions on how to make it more accurate.

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Comment by Chris Chalmers on March 22, 2012 at 6:54pm: Sorry, just the curves but it's not so hard to extract the edge curves from a surface. You may want to use this other unrolling component though: I stopped development on this one because the python version is more reliable.
http://www.grasshopper3d.com/forum/topics/unroll-unfold

There's also this, found in the forum - worth a try!
http://wiki.mcneel.com/developer/rhinocommonsamples/unrollsurface

Comment by Ed Bartlett on March 22, 2012 at 8:31am: Hi, is there a version where I can input surfaces, not curves?

Thanks

Comment by Chris Chalmers on February 11, 2010 at 4:01pm: Here is a simplified definition: just the VB component with out all the extra tabbing and labeling etc..

Note: the inputs on the VB component require lists of points NOT curves (sorry for the confusing labels). To loft curves and unroll, use GH's divide curve component first, then feed the resulting points to the unroll component.

Chris
unroll4.ghx

Comment by Chris Chalmers on September 23, 2009 at 10:51pm: I'll take a look at the VB code and see if I can get it to be OK opening with no input. Sorry :-)

Comment by Chris Chalmers on September 23, 2009 at 10:49pm: Sorry, I've tried the script on my own machine and another, both running 0.6.0019 and it works fine. You might try re-installing the build. Also, the script may throw an exception if you don't open it using the base rhino file (also DL above). Good luck!

Comment by Jerrod Kennard on September 23, 2009 at 9:01pm: Hey Chris - I was working on a model yesterday where I wanted to do this unroll command in Grasshopper. I downloaded your definition but Grasshopper doesn't recognize your file. I'm using the 0.6.0019 build so I'm not sure why it won't open your ghx file. I tried changing the extension but nothing seems to work. Could you upload the file again, or do you have any suggestions on getting this to work?
Thanks.