Surface to Solid conversions
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I am wondering if others are converting surface models to solid or watertight and if they could relate their experience.
I build models for a group of companies that offer model moving visualization apps for the construction industry. I am sorry to say that I have signed non-disclosure documents so I can't show my work...(not that you would be very impressed based on what I see here...what a wonderful forum!!)
The more complex models need to be solid or watertight. I have been using the CADSpan service to convert models to .stl as these files seem to be the easiest to verify as solid. I have also tried Magics to clean up models for conversion.
The problem is volume. I have a very large inventory of models to build and clean-up. Although CADSpan is a great service I find it is a bit slow and I am worried about the sheer numbers that I need to be able to produce.
Any thoughts/ideas on surface to solid conversions would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks!!
Heb -
I take it that this is not something that is happening often although in a way I am surprised. From my perspective there seem to be many uses for a work flow that allows rapid prototypes that can be coverted and used in solid model applications.
For those who come accross this thread, I've come up with a solution and would be willing to share the technique. To some degree it is related to the way you build with SU. There are certain SU tools that are very inaccurate. But manual stitching solves the problem in these cases. I have actually been able to build models with SU that convert immediately to solid. Rubies are for sure the first thing to avoid as all that I tried create a very leaky mesh that is basically unrepairable. Dfx and drw conversion formats are also basically useless,(for those of you that are struggling with the clean-up) in-coming or outgoing they make the worst mess of all. The best intermediary file type for moving or converting SU files so far has been .stl.
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i think its just that sometimes when you're surprised by the question its hard to know how to answer it, and no one wants to be wrong because at the risk of sounding stupid there's no difference between a mesh from SU or any other 3d prog. its seems its all whether or not the object has any gaps or not. i would suggest makefaces plugin it should take care of your problems.
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Thanks for looking in. My problem is very obscure as I am finding out. Either that or people just don't know you can create complex solids with SU. Just using the push-pull in a model that will eventually need to be solid is a problem. In fact, every model I have applied a ruby to looks like a strainer when converted. Ruby made models just won't float....not even close. I am back to hand stitching and with the primitive tools I am achieving solid models. Even so, model production is still a full order of magnitude faster in SU than it has been in any other CAD app I have used. My interest in this was spurred on by a need to move solids around and measure solids accurately in another BIM/visualization app. If there are still modelers out there who need to produce complex solid models for visualization and measurement they should quickly get up to speed with SU. It is a huge time saver.
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ahh, you're talkin like a nurbs solid like solidworks produces, got ya. have you tried moi3d?
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