This one has me flummoxed. I want to create a 3d representation of a thin sheet of flexible material that has been rolled up to form a long cylinder. Easy enough, I thought - helix, extrude, bingo! (More or less.) Then I realised that I really should show that the flexible material is not monolithic but is made up of several layers laminated together into one piece. I can fake this by using a call out and only showing the individual elements in close-up, using a second model for that etc but that feels like a cheat. Can anybody think of a way to model 3 layers of material so that they appear to be glued together as one?

Apologies to anybody who has already seen me asking for help once today...

Thanks
Dan

actually model each layer and then have the ends delaminate to show each layer

how about something like this - you could add a texture to the red layer (dots at the top ?), the orange (lines in middle), the red (shapes at the bottom) and blue could be all three ?

Mr Grendel is not only faster but has a better idea ! :)

Something like this?
Brian

I think a more appropriate file?
Brian

How about using 3d?

Or a 100 times closeup.

Thanks to everybody for their suggestions and models. The kind of thing I am gravitating towards is the most recent one from BurrMan, whereby I show the roll and use the closeup to give the detail.

Cheers
Dan

Hey Dan, After sleeping on it i thought I should have added the originall helix roll "way in the back" with a long tail leading up to it, so it appeared to be unrolled from a distance. More to the effect. :o

Extrude the body out:



Select solid and perform a second click for drill down face selection to select front face.



From front view select crossing lines and trim.



Drill down face selection and extrude using "set dir" button.