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mcarey1138
Infrequent Poster
USA
5 Posts |
 Posted - 06/11/2012 : 13:13:34
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Hi there,
Recently purchased a UPrint 3D printer. The engineering department that outputs the files would like to view/edit my Strata files in Solidworks and convert them to the .stl format needed for the printer.
Is VRML2 the best way to export the file? If so are there any special settings I need to know when setting up my Strata Design file?
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
USA
4631 Posts |
Posted - 06/11/2012 : 14:14:55
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Strata doesn't do particularly good VRML2 output. The limitations that I am aware of off the top of my head will be that each polygon will be unwelded from the surrounding polygons, with individual and inappropriate normals per vertex. For your purposes, this may or may not cause a problem.
Other formats you might try include Collada and DXF. DXF has some pretty severe limitations as well, but I don't know which of these issues may or may not cause problems for your specific purpose.
Another option might be to export an OBJ to Wings, then export that mesh to STL, assuming solidWorks can open an STL.
You will have to keep an eye on units conversion as you go through the exports. Strata's internal unit is the point, which is 1/72 of an inch. You may need to rescale the mesh with this information in mind, depending upon which format you use, and what the various applications in between might do by way of handling scale.
Jean
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Edited by - jpro on 06/11/2012 14:23:58 |
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mcarey1138
Infrequent Poster
USA
5 Posts |
Posted - 06/12/2012 : 08:56:03
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Thanks Jean!
Where can I find out how the scale of the mesh is affected when converting to obj and then importing the file into Wings3D? I'm not too familiar with Wings3D.
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
USA
4631 Posts |
Posted - 06/12/2012 : 16:09:11
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Well, this is ultimately a concern in SolidWorks, where the engineering folks will be working with your file. You will probably have to work this out with them.
Jean
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jpro
A Fountain of Information
USA
4631 Posts |
Posted - 06/12/2012 : 18:02:06
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oh, wait a minute. I think you will be able to manipulate this some in Wings. When you import objects into Wings, they come in really large. You can set import options for OBJ, and set the initial scale to be 0.1. This will make the object more manageable in Wings.
I still think you will have to do the final scale check and adjustment in SolidWorks, though.
Jean
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Edited by - jpro on 06/12/2012 18:40:33 |
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Strata Design 3D to Solidworks
