Question for the 360 folks

[fishtruk]

Is there a preferred filetype for importing 3d bodies into Fusion?

Is an object created in XYZCad, then saved as a dot something file which Fusion can open going to be correct, watertight, etc?

I've been having some problems with them after they're in there, and they look fine, but some things don't work, ie the Booleans, and arraying those objects.

I really don't know the difference between the types of bodies....meshes, slines, etc.   Do I have to know this?

I can't go to the customer and say "your drawings are wrong" because I just don't know...

[michaelmoe]

My preference is for .STEP (also sometimes called .STP) files. Generally these come in as a solid model and require a little less work. IGES files are OK, but they come in as surfaces. If you need to do more work off of the surfaces, that can be useful, but if not it's extra work to get the model developed into a solid. 

Meshes would be files like .STL, and so far my experience has not been very positive with Fusion and mesh files. Many of the meshes I deal with are simply too large for Fusion and it just won't open them. If you have smaller mesh files, you may be fine, but you'll probably still need to convert them to a solid and that can be a lot of work to do well. 

Also, keep in mind that not all files will be good. If the file was carelessly generated, there could very well be areas that aren't watertight and could cause problems in translation. You are just going to have to spend some time learning what does or doesn't import well, and if you are having problems with files that are suppsed to be watertight but are missing surfaces, etc., you will just need to work with your clients to figure out what it is that they can do to make the translation better. Files are interoperable only to the extent that they were generated in a way that other systems understand. For example, some CAD systems will let you get away with some pretty bad geometry because you asked it to do so, while other CAD systems will error out and tell you that the math behind your request just doesn't work to create an appropriate solid. My feeling is that systems like Rhino often let you do things that shouldn't be done, and if you don't know what the limits are, you can generate a file that is not going to work well in other systems. Other CAD systems are more conservative, and pretty much anything that comes out of them should work fine. 

If there are problems with the imported geometry, usually there is a problem with the method used to create it. Showing your clients where the problems are should help them figure out how better to create their models in the first place. Otherwise, only time and experience will allow you to know all the things you are asking about. It's a dynamic problem that doesn't really have any specific solution.