Hi Michael and Carlos,

I have used Solidworks Sheetmetal for years and a fantastic module but sometimes all the sketch handling bogs down the design process. I have been using MOI for sheetmetal for some time only problem is you need to know the rules for unfolding your shape. In fact you can use any cad program to generate your part files as long as they comply to the unfolding process. The crucial part is keeping constant part thickness across bends - placing breaks where needed.

Here is a simple process I use with MOI involves using PLANER surfs to create the base shape then apply radius's to required edges this gets tricky as you need to know your inside or outside radius something like if your material is 5mm thick you would apply a 3mm inside radius or an 8mm outside radius. Once you know the rules pretty easy to apply.

MOI is great for its ability to get base shapes moving quick - also in manufacture of SHEETMETAL many manufactures are using software like AUTOPOL to output parts - mostly STEP these days. I can put together an assembly in MOI of various sheetmetal parts and send a single STEP file with all parts named and contained no need to unfold at my end. But need to be confident that the parts will comply and unfold at the other end.

Anyways more possibilities for the nimble!