Utilities

Helper tools for sheet manipulation and configuration

Utilities


Explode Sheet (Explode Sheet)

Breaks a sheet apart into its individual faces, grouped by what they are: flanges, bends, hems, the three hole types, and thickness (side) faces. Each output is a list of BREP faces; a type with no faces gives an empty list. Use it to isolate or process specific features, or to inspect what the sheet classifier detected.

Inputs

NameNickTypeAccessDefaultDescription
SheetSSheetitemSheet to explode

Outputs

NameNickTypeAccessDefaultDescription
FlangesFBreplistFlanges
BendsBBreplistBends
HemsHBreplistHems
I-HolesIHBreplistIsolated Holes
NI-HolesNIHBreplistNon-Isolated Holes
C-HolesCSHBreplistCountersink Holes
Thickness FacesTFBreplistThickness Faces

Sheep Tolerance (STol)

Sets the tolerances SheepMetal uses, for headless Rhino environments (e.g. rhino.compute) where document tolerances aren't available. Place at most one per document; it applies to every SheepMetal operation in that document. If omitted, millimeter-based defaults are used.

Inputs

NameNickTypeAccessDefaultDescription
Angle Tolerance RadiansATRNumberitem0.017453Angle tolerance in radians for geometric calculations. Default is Rhino's model angle tolerance.
Angle Tolerance DegreesATDNumberitem1Angle tolerance in degrees for geometric calculations. Default is Rhino's model angle tolerance.
Absolute ToleranceATNumberitem0.001Absolute tolerance for geometric calculations. Default is Rhino's model absolute tolerance.

Outputs

NameNickTypeAccessDefaultDescription
StatusSTextitemStatus message indicating the result of the tolerance update operation.

Constraints

  • Only one instance is allowed per Grasshopper document.
  • Applies to all SheepMetal operations in that document.

When to Use

  • Headless/batch processing where Rhino document tolerances aren't available (e.g. rhino.compute).
  • Automation scripts.
  • Consistent tolerance across multiple documents.

Tips

  • Match values to your project units (mm: 0.001, inches: 0.0001).
  • Affects the quality of topology detection and classification.

Sheet Editor (SE)

Experimental. Rebuilds an existing sheet with a new thickness and bend radius. Internally it flattens the sheet back to a surface (side 0) and re-runs Non-Manifold To Sheet with the new values; existing hem radii are preserved. Always verify the result before relying on it.

Inputs

NameNickTypeAccessDefaultDescription
SheetSSheetitemThe sheet to rebuild.
ThicknessTNumberitem1New material thickness, in document units.
Bend RadiusRNumberitem1New inner bend radius, in document units.

Outputs

NameNickTypeAccessDefaultDescription
SheetESSheetitemThe rebuilt sheet with the new thickness and radius.

Sheet To Non-Manifold (STM)

Experimental. Flattens a Sheet back to a single-surface (non-manifold) BREP by removing the bends, giving you one side of the part as an editable surface. Useful for round-tripping a sheet to a surface model, or re-feeding it into Non-Manifold To Sheet with different parameters. Precision can degrade on uneven bend edges, so verify the output.

Inputs

NameNickTypeAccessDefaultDescription
SheetSSheetitemThe sheet to flatten to a surface.
Side IndexSIIntegeritem0Which side of the sheet to keep as the surface: 0 or 1.

Outputs

NameNickTypeAccessDefaultDescription
BrepBBrepitemThe resulting non-manifold (single-surface) BREP.