UNFOLD 3D -> 2D Conversion Email Doug Garmon
return to Doug's Boat Page

UNFOLD

UNFOLD is a tool for flattening 3D shapes. It converts a sequence of three-dimentional coordinates into a two-dimensional shape, while preserving the attributes of the original shape. It was designed for boatbuilding, but has other uses.

For a detailed description, follow the documentation link below.

Although UNFOLD still produces POSTSCRIPT code, a new utility program -- UVIEW -- is available for viewing output files on MS Windows 95/98/NT.

 
 

UVIEW can also display and print some Adobe Illustrator files.

Most of the graphic operators are implemented (with the exception of clipping paths and patterns). However, the font support is very limited.

The "golfer.ps" image included with the GHOSTSCRIPT distribution.

UVIEW
A MS Windows viewer for .ps files generated by UNFOLD

Although use of a postscript interpreter such as GHOSTSCRIPT is recommended, UVIEW can do a very credible job of viewing and printing the .ps files which UNFOLD produces.

Also, UVIEW is a much smaller download than GHOSTSCRIPT.

 
UNFOLD is a command-line invoked program (i.e., DOS) and is NOT Windows-based. Consequently it will run on many operating systems with minimal changes.

I MAY add GUI support in the future.

A Linux binary has been built and posted.

A non-MSWindows DOS version has been added. This program still has certain requirements, so please read the docs.

I am still not certain about releasing the source, ala GPL, until I've really polished it up a bit...

This site has received a lot of hits (about 225 in the six weeks since they have listed UNFOLD-2/24/00) from boatbuilding.com which is an excellent index of boatbuilding articles and resources.

Download

UNFOLD

  • For DOS in a MSWindows environment
  • For DOS only
  • For Linux
    • Download UNFOLD v0.6 for Linux (tar.gz). This version was compiled with Mandrake 6.0, and uses glibc (v2.1). My glibc was updated from the 6.0 distribution, and is untested on any other installation. Mandrake/Redhat 6.1 will certainly work--or get the new glibc library.
    • The docs are included in the tarball. (in HTML format)
UNFOLD produces POSTSCRIPT output.
If a postscript interpreter is unavailable, use UVIEW (see below).

UVIEW
Site online since 9/3/1999
Counter activated 2/23/2000