Orchid XP v3 wrote:
> Warp wrote:
>>   Can you describe, even at a conceptual level, how you could map a 2D
>> pattern onto a 3D shape with no stretching whatsoever?
> 
> I've spent about 20 minutes attempting to bend my mind around such a 
> concept... Apparently my mind is insufficiently bendy.
> 
> I know it's impossible to map *a sphere* onto a flat grid without 
> distortion, but I'm uncertain as to whether there exists *any* 3D 
> surface can be mapped to a 2D one without disturtion.
> 
- simple one: a cylinder.
- any infinite continuous surface that extends linear in one direction 
(of which the cylinder and the plane are special cases)
- a finite object where for every point there is a straight line that 
extends over the whole object (a cone is such an object, another is the 
side of http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/I/2181V1N9QCL._AA170_.jpg )

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