topic importing an OBJ and converting to STP in Fusion Design, Validate & Document Forum

importing an OBJ and converting to STP

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 01:21:49 GMT

I am currently importing an OBJ file into 360, and trying to export it out as a STP file. Is this possible? If so how do you do it?

Re: importing an OBJ and converting to STP

weshowe — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 03:50:58 GMT

Yes, you can. Here is a rough outline of the steps:

1. Create (menu) -> (new) Base Feature
2. Insert (menu) -> Mesh
3. In the file dialog that pops up, navigate to your mesh (obj or stl files)
4. Answer unit type (inch, mm, cm, etc.)
5. Select the new mesh. If there was more than one group, you need to combine them, one adjacent part to another at a time
6. Select the newly created body, do a right-click and select Save as STL

OBJ files can be tricky, because sometimes the sources are odd, like some game meshes have coordinates that are very small, so the game engine can scale them to size. One of my meshes I made in Maya I had to scale by 2540 (that would be between steps 5 and 6 above), which was 100 times, and then by 25.4 because I imported as inch instead of mm.

Re: importing an OBJ and converting to STP

weshowe — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 03:52:47 GMT

I was not totally pleased about how that post turned out. Formatting changed from what I edited. But it's my answer, and I'm sticking to it... 🙂

Re: importing an OBJ and converting to STP

TheCADWhisperer — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 11:38:14 GMT

@weshowe wrote:

..., and I'm sticking to it... 🙂

or.

#6. Export to Type STEP Files (*.stp)

Re: importing an OBJ and converting to STP

HughesTooling — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 11:53:07 GMT

You will need to use Mesh to BRep before Export to STP, Fusion will not export meshes to a STP file. Also Mesh to Brep will only work with less than 10,000 facets.

Mark

Re: importing an OBJ and converting to STP

PhilProcarioJr — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 12:19:22 GMT

@Anonymous

Can I ask what is your end goal with this? I mean other then just having a stp file. What do you plan to do with the step file?

Re: importing an OBJ and converting to STP

TheCADWhisperer — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 13:17:51 GMT

If I use

1. Create (menu) -> (new) Base Feature

and then

Modify>Mesh>Mesh to BRep

I get a surface body.

But if I use Create Form to start I get this -

Re: importing an OBJ and converting to STP

weshowe — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 14:29:21 GMT

Both posts were edited due to my inattention to properly previewing the post.

And I totally blew the part that said "to STP" on this... I have been doing too much 3D printing lately.

Re: importing an OBJ and converting to STP

TheCADWhisperer — Wed, 29 Jun 2016 14:33:56 GMT

@weshowe wrote:

....And I totally blew the part that said "to STP" on this... I have been doing too much 3D printing lately.

I'll make wager that the OP actually meant stl rather than stp.

But until they return and elaborate on their true design intent....

Re: importing an OBJ and converting to STP

Anonymous — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 16:31:43 GMT

No...I mean STP.. We are trying to smooth out a file for molding purposes,
and needed to do it in Zbrush, due to the organic nature of the part. Now,
we need to convert the OBJ back to STP...

Re: importing an OBJ and converting to STP

PhilProcarioJr — Mon, 04 Jul 2016 16:38:03 GMT

@Anonymous

Is the model all quads and if so how many quads is it?

Re: importing an OBJ and converting to STP

Seth.bergmanGK4TR — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 13:01:11 GMT

Hello Everyone!

I just got a new job as the first 3D designer at a toy company and I need to send my OBJ as a working STP/STEP to China for work and 3D print it for distribution.

But I only know 3DSMax and modeling programs. I am not trained in CAD. I've tried learning Fusion 360, but I don't understand why the conversion isn't working.

Whenever I try to convert my OBJ to STP, it shows up as a 4KB .STP (blank looking) save file. and when they open it, its all messed up. (like attached).

I could really use your help!

It should look like this:

Thank you,

Seth B

p.s. PLEASE HELP!

Re: importing an OBJ and converting to STP

laughingcreek — Wed, 01 Apr 2020 16:56:23 GMT

obj is a mesh file. stp is a nurbs cad file. these 2 things are completely different types of data sets. (a 2d anology would be bit map vs a vector drawing). even if you get it to convert, it's going to have thousands of tiny little faces, and the guys in china will probably not like that. It's usually suggested that models be recreated in fusion using the base mesh as a reference instead of converting.

what work are they going to be doing with this file? Most suppliers I have dealt with can take mesh files, even if they prefer a clean stp model.

recreating a mesh file as a brep/nurbs cad file is not a trivial process. if this is going to be a regular part of your workflow for you, you may want to put some consideration into your current workflow.