topic Re: How to merge multiple faces on a solid body surface into a single face? in Inventor Forum

How to merge multiple faces on a solid body surface into a single face?

DScott100 — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 09:29:45 GMT

Hello Inventor Community,

I've searched the forum and cannot find a solution to this problem. I've also searched the commands within Inventor and Fusion360, no luck.

Is there a way to merge multiple faces of a solid body surface into a single face? I am starting with an imported model (that I have manipulated and imported from a laser scan.stl file) and want to work with a single outer face as I progress the design forward.

Any help/guidance would be appreciated.

.ipt file attached.

Thanks

Digby Scott CEng

Re: How to merge multiple faces on a solid body surface into a single face?

TheCADWhisperer — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 11:54:01 GMT

Why do you want to do this?

Re: How to merge multiple faces on a solid body surface into a single face?

DScott100 — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 14:31:57 GMT

For simplicity.

Re: How to merge multiple faces on a solid body surface into a single face?

TheCADWhisperer — Mon, 16 Jan 2017 15:11:47 GMT

Set to Shaded visual style rather than Shaded with Edges.

A single surface organic shape is not simple by any definition.

Re: How to merge multiple faces on a solid body surface into a single face?

PaulMunford — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 08:23:53 GMT

An STL file is a mesh. Inventor deals with solids amd surfaces. Inventor 2017 has some tools to extract prismatic shapes from mesh surfaces. You can then trim and stitch these surfaces back together to get a solid.

Is that any help?

Re: How to merge multiple faces on a solid body surface into a single face?

Steven_Gao — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 08:33:49 GMT

Yes, it's nearly hard to merge the irregular faces into one face.

Re: How to merge multiple faces on a solid body surface into a single face?

DScott100 — Tue, 17 Jan 2017 10:27:01 GMT

Thanks for the advice. No doubt organic shapes are complicated and also very challenging to model accurately. I can work with the multiple faces, not a problem, just thought it may be easer and a little quicker with the work-flow to reduce the number of them.