assistance exporting & converting a file

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martin54
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assistance exporting & converting a file

Post by martin54 »

One of the facebook pages I use is for Veterans & there was a guy on their looking for help producing some CAD files, he sent me some info & I can produce the models that he would like very easily but the problem is that he needs them in STP, IGS or X_T format which aspire doesn't export.
So is there an easy way for me to convert them once I have them drawn?
He needs these to get quotes for injection moulding, they are bases for things he makes & sells to raise money for Veterans Charities, he has raised £1300 for British Legion this year & having been Medically Discharged from the Royal Navy myself would like to be able to help out.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated :lol: :lol:

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Re: assistance exporting & converting a file

Post by mtylerfl »

I’ll bet the company he is getting the quotes from will be able to convert the files from what the Vectric software can export to whatever format they need.

He may want to give them a call, tell them the format(s) he can provide and ask which they are able to convert to the type they need at their end.
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Re: assistance exporting & converting a file

Post by highpockets »

Martin,

Do a Google search for STL to STP there are a lot of options. No personal experience.
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martin54
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Re: assistance exporting & converting a file

Post by martin54 »

Michael, I asked him about them converting from another format such as stl & he said that to quote they needed one of those 3 formats, no idea what companies he has contacted or where they are :lol:

John, thanks will have a look, googled STP to find out what it was but never thought to search for something to convert :oops:

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Re: assistance exporting & converting a file

Post by LittleGreyMan »

Martin,

All of these are technical CAD file format. They mathematically describe the model that allow easy zooming and transformation. The 2D equivalent would be a vectorial drawing.

If I understand correctly, Aspire products handle what we could call "3D pixels" and can export STL models as a standard format. STL files are composed of triangles and zooming will produce bigger triangles, modification is not easy (even if some specialized tools exist). The 3D equivalent would be a bitmap drawing.

Do you remember this recent thread about 2D bitmap to vector translation? If it doesn't magically work in 2D, imagine the nightmare in 3D.

I never saw a translator giving good results. There are some high end packages for 3D scan that may produce a good job, but generally on more mechanical shapes.

Some high end CAM package are able to work efficiently with STL files, in this case, you can provide a high resolution STL. But if your customer can't handle them, I'm afraid you have no solution.

If somebody has one, thanks in advance.
Best regards

Didier

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Re: assistance exporting & converting a file

Post by dwilli9013 »

The 3 file formats called out are IGES, STEP and Parasolid. LGM is correct these file types are indeed CAD formats.
I can convert them for you Martin but it is highly dependent on how organic the models are. One thing you may try is export the file as an OBJ from VCP that will triangulate the mesh and make it far easier for the CAD package to digest.
PM me Martin and we can discuss. Possibly as simple as converting them and put them in a drop box for you. :lol: :lol: :lol:
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Re: assistance exporting & converting a file

Post by ger21 »

One thing you may try is export the file as an OBJ from VCP that will triangulate the mesh and make it far easier for the CAD package to digest.
.obj and .stl are basically the exact same thing.
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Re: assistance exporting & converting a file

Post by adze_cnc »

Martin,

I'm not sure if I'm the Steven mentioned above but I'll give it a punt.

STEP, IGES, and X_T do not deal with "mesh" objects. Guess what an STL or OBJ file is?

Converting a mesh to a surface that can be exported to IGES (my go to file format for import into other CAD software ) isn't easy. That's why there are programs/plug-ins in the high-hundreds of dollars/euros to do the job.

Do you have a sample screen shot of a typical model?

Steven

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Re: assistance exporting & converting a file

Post by martin54 »

Thanks for the replies People, not knowing a great deal about 3D or the different types of 3D I wasn't sure if this could be done easily or not, guess its the latter :lol: :lol:
If it is going to have to be redrawn or heavily edited then it isn't really worth me trying to help the guy in the first place, sure there will be someone with the right cad software that will be able to help him :lol:

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Re: assistance exporting & converting a file

Post by ger21 »

If you need the model in one of those CAD formats, then the object should be modeled in a solid or nurbs modeling program that can natively export in those formats.
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Re: assistance exporting & converting a file

Post by LittleGreyMan »

Martin, can you provide an example?
Best regards

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Re: assistance exporting & converting a file

Post by garylmast »

Being curious, I imported a STL file into a modeling packagethat I exported from Aspire. I then exported it as a STP (step) file. I was able to import the STP file into another modeler which looked good. I then exported it back to a STL file. Again everything looked good. It however it was a very small file, but looking at the mesh, it also looked good. I took it into a analyzing software to take a second look at the mesh, and everything looked good, however a very small file.

Martin, there's a bunch of us that can convert it for you, however, if you want to PM me I can convert Aspire files to STP. I didn't try them.

Gary

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Re: assistance exporting & converting a file

Post by martin54 »

ger21 wrote:If you need the model in one of those CAD formats, then the object should be modeled in a solid or nurbs modeling program that can natively export in those formats.
Yes I realise that now thanks, unfortunately not really understanding 3D I was kind of hoping it might be easier :lol: :lol: I have worked with 2D for a lot of years, picked that up fairly easily but 3D has proved to be a lot more difficult :oops: Probably due to age as much as the increased complexity :lol:

If nothing else I have created a thread that may benefit some of the other users so not all bad :lol:

For those that asked I will ask the guy if he is happy for me to post an example of what he would like done. Thanks again for the help :lol:

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Re: assistance exporting & converting a file

Post by LittleGreyMan »

Gary,

Thanks for your feedback. The error message you got on the second object is logical. I won't explain why as it will be too difficult for me in English, but those who are interested can search internet for "stl to step conversion". They will find detailed explanations (among some crap, unfortunately).

Could you double-check your first imported object is an stl? You say it was exported from Aspire, but if I'm not mistaken, I see undercuts and Aspire can't generate a stl with undercuts.

Martin,

I tested it and it works. But with very simple parts. A simple mechanical part with some holes may produce a stl with thousands and even millions triangles. And the resulting step will reproduce all of them. Better buy the same PC than Gary for calculations :D
Organic shapes conversion might be apocalyptic…
Best regards

Didier

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