# Mesh Simplification For Unfolding

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.06944 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2408.06944/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 13 Aug 2024.

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [PartUV: Part-Based UV Unwrapping of 3D Meshes](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.16659/) (2025)
- [MeshTailor: Cutting Seams via Generative Mesh Traversal](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.27309/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

We present a computational approach for unfolding 3D shapes isometrically into the plane as a single patch without overlapping triangles. This is a hard, sometimes impossible, problem, which existing methods are forced to soften by allowing for map distortions or multiple patches. Instead, we propose a geometric relaxation of the problem: we modify the input shape until it admits an overlap-free unfolding. We achieve this by locally displacing vertices and collapsing edges, guided by the unfolding process. We validate our algorithm quantitatively and qualitatively on a large dataset of complex shapes and show its proficiency by fabricating real shapes from paper.