Hi all,

My parents will have their 25th wedding anniversary later this year and I want to make them a present.

I plan on making a 3D heart out of sheet metal and decorate it with roses (also out of sheet metal), and have it nicely coated (silvery hopefully). However, I am unable to figure out the shape of sheet metal that I need to get the heart in the right shape in 3D. I am not too familiar with 3D modeling, but what I think I need is an UV-unwrap of a 3D heart shape. If I'm not mistaken the UV-unwrap lays out the polygons on a 2D surface, right? Once I know how the 3D shape is laid out in a 2D surface I can better figure out how to work the metal to get it into shape.

If anyone can provide me with a picture of a UV-unwrap of a 3D heart, and a shaded front/side/top view of it, I'd be forever grateful.

To give you an idea of what kind of shape I'm looking for: http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/iconic-heart-3ds-free/389728

I hope you can help me with this.

If you're making it out of sheet metal you'd be seriously further ahead to make a heart box. Then it could be used to keep something in, as well as being much easier to make from a flat piece of metal.
My link

A UV-unwrap isn't quite what you need, because the sizes of a triangle in UV-space will usually be distorted compared to their original size -- if you cut out the 2D UV triangles and tried to assemble them back into a 3D shape, it wouldn't quite fit together properly (in most cases).

However, there does seem to be some cool software designed specifically for this (well, designed for paper, but metal is just like really tough paper ) -- try searching for "papercraft from 3D models" and you should find some tools like:
http://www.tamasoft.co.jp/pepakura-en/
http://www.papercraf.../upc/index.aspx
http://waybe.weebly.com/

IIRC, there was also a GDNet member making their own papercraft tool.

Thank you both for your feedback. I downloaded papercraft (nice tool, may use it more often), and found out that it could not make much sense of it. At least, it came up with something very unexpected. Using papercraft I took a closer look at the shape (having a 3D representation helps, I couldn't for the life imagine it in my head) and I understand your point sunandshadow. You can't make it without either seriously contracting/stretching the material, or having creases in the final result. I'm sure there are ways to do it (blacksmithing style) but I don't have any experience with that, let alone the tools.

So I'll have to think of something else. I saw some hearts made of wire. Perhaps I can come up with something nice incorporating that.

Thanks again

Yeah it wouldn't be too hard to do with a wire mesh - you could use a cone for the base and two hemispheres for the top. Also if you have a craft store like Micheal's nearby they would have have something velevant - floral foam or other kind of foam or a hollow hard-paper blank intended for gluing silk flowers or seashells onto. They almost always have something heart-shaped. (Still think the sheet metal heart box is cooler though, lol.) Or, if you can make the sheet metal flowers, you could put them in a vase and put a 2d metal heart on or around the base with glue or a ribbon.

Yeah, making a solid heart from metal sheets would be close to impossible without several months of training.
I agree that a wire sculpture is both doable and looks good. If you get  wiring mesh\net you'll avoid having to weave the individual wires and can worry about the overall shape of the sculpture. 
And it does look good. Gives you ideas about lighting, coloring and other effects.
I hope you have enough time to do this - make sure you plan your schedule so you don't fall short on the delivery date.

I modelled a 3D heart some time ago, so I have separated you some reference wire pictures from various views - click on the thumb:

[size="1"]Image hosting courtesy of [size="1"]TinyPic.com

Good luck.

I was more thinking about a wire frame like this. But instead of bending and twisting, weld or solder it (I do have the tools and experience to do that). And because I intend to make a slightly bigger one than in that picture, make the wireframe more fine (more wires). Kind of like the picture/wireframe you posted.

I hadn't yet considered the wire mesh/net though. I'll think about it. It seems like a material that is easy enough to work with.

Thanks a lot by the way for the pictures of the heart. The wireframe is nice and I think it may serve as a good basis for the design.

Great. Make sure to post back the end result for us to admire =)