Export Rotary Project as STL

Topics related to wrapped rotary machining in Aspire or VCarve Pro
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SteveNelson46
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Export Rotary Project as STL

Post by SteveNelson46 »

When exporting a rotary project the export dialogue box will not allow any resolution settings. It's just a simple 2-rail sweep and it will export but makes a huge .stl file. Am I doing something wrong?
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Export gavel to stl.png
Gavel Head2.crv3d
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Steve

garylmast
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Re: Export Rotary Project as STL

Post by garylmast »

I deleted your file and started a new rotary file, using your perimeters and profile curve. When you setup a rotary, it will automatically give you two outside vectors colored blue. It will also give you a zero plane. For the two rail sweep DO NOT add additional vectors, but use the two outside ones instead.

Gary
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SteveNelson46
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Re: Export Rotary Project as STL

Post by SteveNelson46 »

Thanks Gary but when I tried it again using the two generated vectors I still get the same results as before.
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Export gavel to stl.png
Gavel Head2.crv3d
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SteveNelson46
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Re: Export Rotary Project as STL

Post by SteveNelson46 »

If I start a new project and reduce the project resolution to "standard" the STL exporter does make a smaller file but, the triangulation settings are still greyed out.
Steve

garylmast
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Re: Export Rotary Project as STL

Post by garylmast »

When I checked the Material setup, it showed an error, which indicated to me the combine mode need to go from add to subtract, after checking the sizes of material and profile. I reversed the profile and redid the two rail sweep, and it seems okay now. Try it and see if I'm still missing something.

Gary
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SteveNelson46
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Re: Export Rotary Project as STL

Post by SteveNelson46 »

garylmast wrote:When I checked the Material setup, it showed an error, which indicated to me the combine mode need to go from add to subtract, after checking the sizes of material and profile. I reversed the profile and redid the two rail sweep, and it seems okay now. Try it and see if I'm still missing something.

Gary
I don't get any errors but the triangulation resolution settings in the STL export dialogue box are still greyed out regardless of orientation of the sweep profile or direction of the sweep. It will export but I just can't control the number of triangles in the mesh. Maybe the program was designed that way for rotary projects?
Steve

garylmast
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Re: Export Rotary Project as STL

Post by garylmast »

I guess I misunderstood that you were exporting it out as an stl file. I exported it and it came out as a 93mb file. When exporting it from Aspire as a stl file, it's usually a very big file. I took it into Netfabb, remeshed and decimated it to 20%, reducing the triangles and not effecting the overall appearance, and reducing the size of the file to 17mb. If I was going to use this file, I would of decimated further and get a smaller file. If you're working with stl files, Netfabb is a good software to have.

On a project I'm working on right now,and designing in Rhino, I'm using a lot of Aspires clipart that I'm exporting as stl files. If I didn't use this procedure, the Rhino file would be so large, my computer would either crawl or possibly crash.

Gary

LittleGreyMan
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Re: Export Rotary Project as STL

Post by LittleGreyMan »

Steve,

I remembered I read a comment from Vectric staff regarding this issue. Here it is:

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=30406&p=220093&hilit=stl#p220093

So decimating the stl file with Netfabn or Meshlab is the only issue.

HTH
Best regards

Didier

W7 - Aspire 8.517

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SteveNelson46
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Re: Export Rotary Project as STL

Post by SteveNelson46 »

LittleGreyMan wrote:Steve,

I remembered I read a comment from Vectric staff regarding this issue. Here it is:

viewtopic.php?f=27&t=30406&p=220093&hilit=stl#p220093

So decimating the stl file with Netfabn or Meshlab is the only issue.

HTH
Thanks LGM and Gary. That pretty much answers my question.
Steve

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