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I want to import an STL file and convert it to a solid but the STL file exceeds the 2000 facets limitation. The file may have as many as 1,000,000 facets. How can I reduce the number or how can I increase the number that the ViaCAD program will allow?
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ViaCAD will not be able to stitch that many facets.
I have some work in progress regarding converting facets to solids. You can see where I currently stand with the PowerPack docs at
www.masterviacad.com .
I'm approaching the problem using two methods. The first method converts well behaved quad meshes into NURBs using
IntegrityWare . This is an awesome technology that can produce some very clean solids especially if the data comes from a subdivision modeler. It also works with scanned data if you first run it through something like 3D-Coat which will remesh to smoothly behaved quads. I have not tried 3D-Coat on a STL file.
The second approach converts general triangles such as STL and SketchUp to Analytic solids. In this method I break down the facets into analytic shapes and rebuild a solid to the given tolerances.
I've also added some tools that compare the accuracy of a mesh to a solid.
Everything I've tested however is under 100,000 facets. The algorithms have not been optimized for 1M facets. To use the tools I've done, you may need to take the 1M facets and reduce using something like MeshLabs.
Tim
Edited by user Wednesday, October 1, 2014 1:19:49 PM(UTC)
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Tim Olson
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Tim, is it the same restriction for Shark FX. I tried to convert an STL file and Shark had crash.
Edited by user Wednesday, October 1, 2014 2:24:37 PM(UTC)
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METEORE DESIGN / KEKO Stand
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Originally Posted by: Jean-Francois Jacques Tim, is it the same restriction for Shark FX. I tried to convert an STL file and Shark had crash.
Yes, the ACIS stitcher is not really designed for stitching facetted data. It prefers precise data. In PowerPack you have the option in the Mesh to Analytic tool to use the IntegrityWare stitcher.
If you send me the STL file I will send off to ACIS and also use to test PowerPack.
Tim
Tim Olson
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Originally Posted by: Tim Olson Originally Posted by: Jean-Francois Jacques Tim, is it the same restriction for Shark FX. I tried to convert an STL file and Shark had crash.
Yes, the ACIS stitcher is not really designed for stitching facetted data. It prefers precise data. In PowerPack you have the option in the Mesh to Analytic tool to use the IntegrityWare stitcher.
If you send me the STL file I will send off to ACIS and also use to test PowerPack.
Tim
I just did a test in V9 Pro. The test object in this video with about 5000 facets. The regular convert object to solids did not work and flashed up the 2000 facet limit. Instead I used the join faces to create solid tool and it turned it into a solid. Admittedly it still had the sane overall surface as the surface mesh, but it did work. I was then able to use it to perform solid operations like a boolean subtract from another solid.
http://youtu.be/7uk3Ct-cj9g In my search for solutions to this problem I ran across something called MasterViaCad Power Pack. How do I get that?
Bob La Londe
www.cncmolds.com
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Originally Posted by: Guest Originally Posted by: Tim Olson Originally Posted by: Jean-Francois Jacques Tim, is it the same restriction for Shark FX. I tried to convert an STL file and Shark had crash.
Yes, the ACIS stitcher is not really designed for stitching facetted data. It prefers precise data. In PowerPack you have the option in the Mesh to Analytic tool to use the IntegrityWare stitcher.
If you send me the STL file I will send off to ACIS and also use to test PowerPack.
Tim
I just did a test in V9 Pro. The test object in this video with about 5000 facets. The regular convert object to solids did not work and flashed up the 2000 facet limit. Instead I used the join faces to create solid tool and it turned it into a solid. Admittedly it still had the same overall surface as the surface mesh, but it did work. I was then able to use it to perform solid operations like a boolean subtract from another solid.
http://youtu.be/7uk3Ct-cj9g In my search for solutions to this problem I ran across something called MasterViaCad Power Pack. How do I get that?
Bob La Londe
www.cncmolds.com Wow, didn't realize I was not logged in. Anyway I would like to know how to get and how to play with the PowerPack tools.
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Hi Bob,
I enjoyed your video, great stuff!
For PowerPack I created a tool to convert subdivision to NURBs, which works pretty good. However, everyone tried to run non subdivision models through it. So I created a tool called Mesh to Analytic that will do some repair and simplification.
Mesh to Analytic Examples
http://www.csi-concepts....deos/meshToAnalytic2.mp4 Tool chest from another post
http://www.csi-concepts....emo/videos/toolChest.mp4 Documentation on Mesh to Analytic
http://masterviacad.com/...ackPro/powerpackpro.html Note this stuff does not work on large STL files, scanned data, and dependent on the quality of the mesh.
Tim
Tim Olson
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