topic Re: Importing a 3d file in Fusion Design, Validate & Document Forum

Importing a 3d file

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Nov 2015 14:28:37 GMT

I am trying to make a medallion with a relief face on one side. I figure I can scan the person's face with the iSense 3d scanner. Transfer the file to Fusion 360. Split the head behind the face in the X-Y plane. Then compress the face in the Z direction. Any thoughts on how I can get the scanned head into Fusion 360?

Re: Importing a 3d file

TrippyLighting — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 01:35:39 GMT

You can import .stl files into Fusion 360 That's also the file format many scanners use. However there are few caveats.

I'd suggest you download Autodesk Meshmixer as there is a posibility you'll need it to deal with fusion's current limitations.

Re: Importing a 3d file

jakefowler — Tue, 17 Nov 2015 11:37:59 GMT

Hi @Anonymous,

Fusion doesn't yet have extensive tools for editing scanned mesh data. It's something we're working on (you can see an early preview here). Currently meshes can be moved and scaled, but are intended for use as reference geometry (see here for a potential way to use meshes by snapping T-Splines geometry to them; you could try something similar, but face structure might be a bit complex for this workflow). Mesh data can't be sliced or edited inside Fusion 360 at the moment.

Fusion does have a tool for converting mesh data to solid data - called Mesh to BRep - but this is really intended for use with simple meshes, and a face/head scan is likely to fall above the maximum threshold for conversion (10,000 triangles).

So as @TrippyLighting mentioned, Meshmixer might be a good choice for working with the scanned data; it's a free tool available for download here. Fusion is probably still better for modeling an accurate medallion shape, so perhaps a hybrid workflow between Fusion and Meshmixer will give the best result. Here's a quick video showing a possible way to do this:

Unable to display content. Adobe Flash is required.

1. Create the 'base' medallion in Fusion using the solid modeling tools
2. Export this as an STL (right-click top node in browser, Save as STL)
3. Switch to Meshmixer and Import the scanned head
4. Use Plane Cut to isolate the face (if there are any artefacts, you can select them and hit the X key to discard them)
5. Import the medallion STL from Fusion into the Meshmixer workspace (choose Append at the prompt)
6. Resize and move the medallion into position with the Transform tool
7. Select the face & medallion bodies, and select Combine to join them into a single object

This should give you something you can export, 3D Print, etc.

Might something like this work for you?

If you had any questions, or this isn't exactly what you had in mind, let us know with more details and we'll try to help out.

Thanks!

Jake

Re: Importing a 3d file

fishtruk — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 23:35:58 GMT

Hi Jake. I'm having a "similar" problem. Problem is I don't get audio in your posted video. Could you post a link to it? Thanks,
Nelson

Re: Importing a 3d file

jakefowler — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 05:34:44 GMT

Hi Nelson,

Sorry - that video was recorded on-the-fly in the office, so I didn't record audio for it 🙂 I'll recreate it with audio + repost soon.

Thanks,

Jake

Re: Importing a 3d file

fishtruk — Thu, 19 Nov 2015 05:45:55 GMT

Thanks, I’ll check it out. Thought I was missing something.

Re: Importing a 3d file

Anonymous — Sun, 04 Jun 2017 19:02:58 GMT

hi, i´m interesting to know if i can apply a scanned file to fusion360 and create a new object without using the ReMake? the above because i use a MacBook and i cant download the ReMake program

thanks

Laura Moreno