I have generated a mesh from a planar surface.
I would like to export this mesh to a structural analysis package that accepts STP files.
When I do an export or save as STP, I get an error that “STEP export doesn’t support meshes”:
It would really be helpful if I could find a workaround to get this 2D geometry into the structural pack that really wants STPs. After a couple hours experimenting, I’m at the brick wall.
Can anyone offer ideas for a workaround to an STP?
Best regards,
Bruce
You can extract the edges and export lines instead of the mesh and those should work with *.stp
Martin,
Now there’s some great out of the box thinking!!! That is a perfect workaround!
So now I’ve meshed a circle and extracted the faces (ExtractMeshFaces) and I can select them individually.
I cut out the mesh, create surfaces of each face and successfully export the surfaces into the structural pack via the STEP export. (MAJOR WIN!!!)
The issue I have is that I do not see a way to create one surface for every face in the mesh. If I select two or more adjacent faces, the surface command creates one surface over all selected faces. (As broad as Rhino’s meshing tools run, it’s likely I’m missing a trick here.
I’ve puzzled over the Extract and Mesh commands for a number of hours, but I’m striking out and need more advice from above my pay grade.
Any suggestions about how to flip all the faces to surfaces?
I really appreciate the great help!!!
Bruce
There has got to be a way to either get the mesh into the analysis software through a mesh format, and/or do the meshing there. STEP doesn’t support meshes, ergo that’s not how you get meshes in to it.
You can use MeshToNURB to turn every mesh face into a little surface, but basically when you find yourself reaching for it that’s a sign something has gone horribly awry.
The funny thing is that the FEM software turns everything into meshes…
I’d be surpised to hear that Mecway is unable to import meshes.
Martin,
Mechway imports .stp and Alibre files only … so far.
The class of discussions on their forum is impressive. Victor has been very helpful to me even as a new user. Clearly he’s looking ahead … like McNeel always has. That’s a big plus in my view. They are worth betting on.
Being a small, but growing shop too, I am not in a position to cost justify any heavy subscription packages that do 5X more than I likely will need in the next 36m … especially since Rhino has been able to do anything I’ve needed for the last 8yr … and support is (IMHO) far better than Autodesk was … for my needs.
McNeel’s smart price/terms positioning in the market enables increased value generation for their customers. I did some over flow work for a shop that deferred their $10k, one-seat SolidWorks upgrade. His eyebrows went full mast when he asked what my CAD upgrades cost.
I have only been on board w Mecway for a week so I am just above zero on that curve. MW isn’t super strong yet on input/meshing and they acknowledge that. What I have seen is that it is killer on the FEA solver side, I have knocked down 100k element models in less than 15 sec on a mid range eng workstation. That opens doors for me w/o excessive capex that gets employed better in my biz.
In my (very) limited experience w creating meshes, the time involved so far is a bit too long right now. I need to keep FEA turnaround accurate and short to get paid. My gut says I’m going to be able to integrate MW into my operation, but I’m still not up the curve yet, but the climb doesn’t look bad at all.
I believe if MW developed a plugin for Rhino and not try to dupe McNeel’s front end CAD process, they could quadruple their sales buy improving ease of use of their product and by having access to McNeel’s huge, worldwide base of small shops. Rhino has several structural plugin packs, but their pricing is wrong for small shops … but I don’t fault them for only wanting to sell to the 20% that generates 80% of their cash … but 2 of the 4 shops that they ignore are going to grow up into somebody else’s good customer someday.
Jim,
Thanks for the nurbs idea. I’ve not had a reason to go up that curve yet. Will explore.
Appreciate the comments!
Bruce
Martin,
I had been using the Geometry=>InputCADfile command:
One was the Stanford .ply mesh format … that Rhino had as an export.
A quick trivial mesh export from Rhino into Mecway … BINGO!
Mecway’s extrusion of the Rhino planar mesh easily whipped out perfect C3D8 bricks!
LOL … it’s hilarious how sometimes the simplest, little missed things can hang you up.
I greatly appreciate your guys assistance!
Bruce
Glad I was able to help.
Thank you, thank you!!!
