How to make an "Egg Crate" model in Inventor?

[Nizz]

Hey all, I'm looking to take a massive 70' x 20' solid sweeping structure and turn it into an egg crate model. What's the most efficient way of doing this, if any in Inventor.

Thank you. 

[JDMather]

This has been posted here before.

Before I take the time to search - what version of Inventor?

[Nizz]

I searched and couldn't find anything. I'm using Inventor Professional 2015

[pcrawley]

You take the shape into Autodesk 123DMake.  It's spectacularly good for that kind of work.

The equivalent process in Inventor is a bit long-winded by comparison.

I've made lots of things using the technique in Inventor, but fell off my chair when I attempted the same process in 123DMake - and it even creates the drawings realtime as you adjust parameters like spacing and material thickness.

[Nizz]

Thank you! This is exactly what I'm looking for. I'm wondering how easy it would be to transition between inventor and this program. Is it possible to take the ribbed structure then use inventor to render it?

[pcrawley · Accepted solution]

Transitioning between the products:  

1. Export from Inventor as .STL - Tweak some of the export options like the mesh resolution.  (It'll be trial and error to get something that works for you.)
2. In 123DMake, go to New > Import Model - select .STL as the format.

Coming back the other way is slightly more interesting because you only have mesh-data in 123DMake, not solids. So:

In 123DMake, when you've created your sliced-up design, you'll see tools down the left of the screen like "Slice direction", "Modify Form", "Assembly Steps", and "Get Plans".  The "Get Plans" option lets you export your plans in several flat 2D formats (including DXF) - or you can upgrade your account to Premium and get DWG's.

Once you have your DXF (or DWG's) you can bring them back into Inventor and do what you want with them.

If you are looking for renderings though, this would be a bit inefficient because you'd have to turn each profile into a part and assemble it (yawn).  However, you can also export from 123DMake as an .OBJ file or an .STL file.  These two export options actually create a .ZIP file containing each slice of your model as your selected format - so you could end up with 100's of small .STL files. Fortunately, someone with a massive brain at Autodesk decided to give us the complete model as an SLT (or OBL) as well as each slice as a separate file. (Huge Kudos whoever you are!)

Personally, I would import the meshe file (.OBJ or .STL) into 3ds max or Showcase for rendering because that's what they do best.  Getting the mesh back into Inventor would work (using the .STL format - not .OBJ) but expect the model to be seriously faceted (because that's all an STL file is - lots of tiny facets).  I guess the final step (if you really needed it) would be to use the Mesh Enabler (from Subscription Center) to turn the mesh into a base solid.

(Don't forget to "Accept as Solution" if this answers your question - it helps other find the answers too!)

[WHolzwarth]

Here's an Inventor sample by equation curve (2014 file).

Walter

[pcrawley]

Love the shape wh!  But this "egg-crate" construction is the slot-together construction you sometimes find in egg crates or other packaging.

It's a technique that's also used for building things on a slightly larger scale - like 70'x20' "solid sweeping structures".  (Hope the OP can post an image of his final work.)

[WHolzwarth]

Hmm. Here's something deep from my treasure chest (2014 iLogic)

I don't know who's made it.

Walter

[Nizz]

Thanks for the help. Ufortunately I can't post the result because this is a project for work. and you know secrets and stuff.

Thanks again for the info, it was a big help.