Hi Guys,
It’s been a while, everything has being going swimmingly…
What’s the general consensus on software for converting NURBS to mesh as Rhino seems to make a hash of it.
I’m currently exporting some files for a client who uses a Form1 3D printer but the mesh file, although a good mesh has intersecting faces and causes errors. I want to avoid too many export options or opening the mesh in other software to check or to clean it up.
Cheers!
(is the WIP for Rhino 6 any better?)
In my experience, Rhino makes very good meshes for printing if the original model is well made, I rarely have any problems with it. So I guess as a first step, I would look at the original and see where the problem spots lie. Form 1 software has a NetFabb check/fix routine in it to correct minor errors. I have had Form 1 tell me there were errors in the stl on import after having run the model through Magics (gold standard of the industry) which found none… So, the problem is not always on the mesh end either.
Otherwise, an external mesh fixer is generally your best bet, NetFabb is probably the best choice price/features.
–Mitch
Sometimes it’s quicker to work with face boundary curves extracted from the model to knock something together but I know this creates many more points rather than say, drawing a circle on a surface and using wirecut.
Meshes always look pretty dirty even if you have a clean model, there are other programs out there that seem to do a better job. not knocking Rhino, it’s great. Just frustrating sometimes when you have to rethink some commands and go back and clean up a simple things.
As an example, most of what I’ve modelled was ‘straight’ - makes a great mesh with zero errors but if I apply a flow along curve command and give the model a slight curve the resulting mesh command creates a good mesh but with a few thousands intersecting faces. It’s water tight but not 100% correct.
It’s a bit of a pain if we can’t use some of the commands without having to rebuild and iron out known issues to get to where we’re going.
Microsoft + NetFabb = free repair : https://netfabb.azurewebsites.net/
Keith
www.cadwax.com
(UK Rhino Reseller)
Thanks Keith,
That’s no good as the mesh has errors and can’t be uploaded.
Can you post a sample of a bad mesh and original the NURBS object so someone can look? --Mitch
I’ve posted it privately as it’s a client file, thanks for taking a look… i’d be very interested to know what the matter is as I’ve been pretty belt and braces with the construction.
All sorted, thanks for your time guys.
Sometimes cutting corners for speed doesn’t pay. Wait, It never pays… We know this 