Hi,

Looking for a clever idea on how to ‘panel’ any given geo into discreet units. Ill try to explain.. Basically I want to take a 3d model and divide the surface into different sections, each with a thickness. The sections would build on top or under each other and fit perfectly. There needs to be overlap between the sections / panels.

The usage of this is to be able to 3d print a model that is larger than the 3d printer build volume, but instead of simply cutting the object and having the parts show a seam, I would like for the different cuts to be more like panels that overlap.. 

So a way to think about it is imagine a given 3d model, and ‘patches’ adhering to the model all over it until they cover it completely. There is some overlap between the patches, and they take the exact point position of the underlying geo (so there is no loss in detail). I then take each patch and extrude it a bit to add thickness.

Is there a procedural way to do this? Obviously better if it would give me some control on the overlap of each panel, etc. Hoping that was somewhat clear.. trying to get a visual somewhere will post if I find one.

hello, I'm not really sure I understand, anyway the matchsize node might help you maybe?
cheers

Not quite.. here is a visual.

You can see the full model in the first image and then the ‘paneling’. Did this manually in zbrush wondering if something like this can be done procedural in Houdini

Cluster node might be of any help?

Have you tried the solid fracture and/or edge fracture SOP? They do pretty much exactly what your second image shows.