topic Re: STL Scale in Fusion Support Forum

STL Scale

christo.candiotes — Fri, 24 May 2019 09:31:25 GMT

I have seen similar posts on the forum and I understand that the .STL files don't have any unit information. I have set my default setings to mm. The .STL file I want to open was not created by myself but I believe the original designer was also working in mm. When I File->Open->.STL in Fusion 360, the resulting MeshBody, when measured using Inspect shows dimensions of 210mm which should only be 21mm. Thus a 10x scale. If I open the .stl file using another application (Ultimaker Cura 4 eg) also set to mm, then the model dimensions are displayed correctly (21mm OD) Adjusting my default units before opening the .STL does not fix the problem. The model can be scaled in Fusion 360 or the 3D Printing application afterwards, but I would like to understand how to correct it so that the .STL opens up with the expected dimensions.

System Info:

Autodesk Fusion 360 2.0.5790 (Fusion 360 Startup)

Windows 10 Enterprise

Re: STL Scale

HughesTooling — Fri, 24 May 2019 09:58:15 GMT

How did you import, did you use insert mesh on the insert menu or upload? I think you used upload and upload defaults to CM on import, Fusion setting are not know or used by the online translation.

If you use insert mesh and seth the units to mm it should work. If not can you share the stl here?

Mark

Edit. I reread your message and see you used Open, I think open will use the online translation and default to CM as well, so use insert mesh instead.

Re: STL Scale

HughesTooling — Fri, 24 May 2019 10:25:36 GMT

@jeff_strater I just tested Open Vs Insert Mesh and open seems to be using a local translator and still defaults to CM as the units for import. Surely now that Open is using a local importer it could read Fusion's default units or better still give us an option to set units.

Mark

Re: STL Scale

christo.candiotes — Fri, 24 May 2019 10:23:39 GMT

Thank you for your input Mark.

I tried your suggestion with Insert -> Insert Mesh -> and the resulting body gives me the correct dimensions when I measure the OD.

Seems it is safer to use Insert Mesh when working with .STL files rather than normal File -> Open (like you recommended)

Regards,

Christo

Re: STL Scale

jeff_strater — Sat, 25 May 2019 00:15:43 GMT

A reasonable request, @HughesTooling - I'll pass it along to the translator guys. We still will have a problem with upload, but my guess is that method is not used all that often.

Re: STL Scale

Anonymous — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 14:29:52 GMT

Please add support for setting units on unit-less format open..

eg. STL files are almost always in mm, open is much more convenient and is compatible than insert mesh.