Currently i'm working on a design, the long and short of it is that I've modeled out the parts needed, however the issue is that i need to go from a solid part to a flattened part so that they can be manufactured. These parts are half inch beams that are bent into shape. With that said, I wanted to know if there was a way to successfully convert a complex solid model into sheet metal - which would allow me to flatten the part, in theory - or flatten the part in some other way?

     -     I've tried converting the model into sheet metal already, but when i go to flatten it, there is an issue with one of the bends on the design which causes errors to occur, and you know the res.            basically it's been unfruitful so far...