Creating a solid from multiple surfaces using sculpt.

[Anonymous]

Hello,

I have a 3D drawing for an object I intend to have 3D printed currently made from surfaces stitched together.  I would like to have the final model as one Solid object, as I doubt the 3D printing service our company uses could work with a model made from just surfaces, but every time I run the Surfsculpt command, it gives me varying errors as to why it doesn't think the enclosed region is watertight.  More often than not I get "Inconsistent information in vertex and coedge attributes." but it is a bit of a toss up based on whatever little corrections I try.  If anyone has any thoughts on how I can either get around this issue, or make Autocad happy with me, by all means let me know.  The drawing is for a Small lid that will be used on a device my company is producing, nothing too fancy.  

Thanks

[john.vellek]

HI @Anonymous,

It appears that you have Nurb Surfaces, surfaces and maybe some meshes. I would suggest using more solids to begin with, I have started breaking down some of the parts (away form the body) and I am able to smooth and surfsculpt without too many problems. I imagine for instance, that you could loft the top from one side to the other with a solid instead of have the multiple surfaces.

I will try to continue working on this to see if I can get he whole thing as a solid for you.

Please select the Accept as Solution button if my post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

John,

Thanks for your assistance, I would appreciate seeing which parts you were able to sculpt on their own if you could let me know what corrections you had to make.  I am a fairly new to 3D modeling, only really done 2D drafting before this, so any other teaching points you could share would be awesome!  

I had actually tried lofting the top of the lid in a duplicate file where I made as many of the surfaces into solids as possible, but the filleting along the edges didn't want to come out right; they only worked out properly along two of the four sides.  Can the loft command be applied to a space that's bounded on four sides?  

Thanks

[john.vellek]

hI @Anonymous,

I am still struggling a bit with your model. You have surfaces on to[p of surfaces and there are holes here and there as well.  I suggest you break this whole model down into components.

For instance, the sides and hinge points could be made into solids very easily.

The trickiest part will be the slightly curved top but a loft should be able to create that.

Then for the curved portion where the top would meet the fillet edge, I think using a sweep might get you a good solid.

I actually took your model into Fusion 360 which is a great 3D modeler. It found many of your Nurb surfaces had the normals facing the inside of the piece which might have been a problem as well. Once they were corrected, the model seemed to behave a lot better but it still had some issues. If it stayed in Fusion 3260 you would be able to 3D print it. Exporting back into AutoCAD though was less successful.

[Anonymous]

John,

Thanks for taking a look.  I think my issues stemmed from taking the original model, which was a solid, and moving the side walls out a fraction of an inch by exploding it into surfaces.  The patch job I've done to suture it back together must not have been sufficient.  I will try breaking down the model as you suggested and going from there.  

Thanks for your assistance.

[Anonymous]

Hello again,

I took your advice and turned the walls and center cylinders into solids instead of surfaces, and for the most part it worked out just fine.  I've only got the issue of the top that you suggested I try lofting, but I can't seem to get that to work.  Is there some command I'm not finding that can be used similarly to the "Blend" or "patch" commands but for solids?  I was able to loft from the left to the right sides of the top, but it did not fill in the bit at the front end where the edges protrude out a little.  

Thanks