How to import a scan normal to a plane?

[Anonymous]

I am having issues importing a file normal to a plane, any tips?

[ahreum.ryu]

Hi @Anonymous, 

Thank you for your posting!! 

I need more information to help this issue.   Do you want to import the point cloud data to the plane?? 

I'm not sure whether you are looking for this. Importing point cloud in single plane from a comma delimited file

If you can share your issue more, I could find the solution. 

I look forward to your reply 

Many thanks, 

Ahreum. 

[Anonymous]

Let me try to explain this better.

I use files that are scanned with a Romer or Faro arm.  Most of the time I only need a few features on that scan to design our parts. When I import the file I want to reorient the part so that the so that the Top,Front, and Right views are the views that I want.  Currently when I load the files all the views are how they were scanned and it makes it difficult. 

[etfrench]

What is the file format?  When dxf files are inserted, the plane can be selected.

[Anonymous]

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@etfrench wrote:

What is the file format?  When dxf files are inserted, the plane can be selected.

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The files are usually a .igs or .stl

[Anonymous]

Simply you can't, unfortunately.

In order to do that, the right way is to define a series of Datum planes (as reference) and then match them with global planes.
The only thing you can do within F360 is to align the scan data manually (bye bye accuracy...)
I'm dealing with the scan data 24/24 and the best method is to use an external software.

[etfrench]

Do you have a sample file that can be shared? 

Have you tried using the Align or the Joint commands?  If you define the joint origin properly, there should be no loss of accuracy.

[Anonymous]

If you wanna play, Try this one.

In F360 I did not find a decent alignment method, specially when I have to extract the symmetry plane from scan data

[etfrench]

Obviously one would need more information to know what you wanted aligned and also what the scan tolerances were.

For this one, I used the mesh tools to find the center of one of the mounting holes. Assumptions were made that the features selected were actually concentric, etc.  With more patience, this could be done within the scan tolerances.

[Anonymous]

You did well but the problem is that we want to cover 3 degree of freedom instead 1.

Attached the part aligned using Geomagic Design X.

Of course we can do the same in F360 but is quite tricky specially when you have to extract the symmetry plane

[etfrench]

How would you use a symmetry plane to mate to (or create) another part? 

Another option for aligning is to use the Section Analysis tool.  This screencast shows my original alignment is probably off about 3 degrees.  The first part of the screencast shows the Geomagic alignment.

[Anonymous]

Here is an example.  When I load this file and view it from the top view, its at a 45deg angle and clocked 90deg from what I want it to be.  How can I change this easily?

[etfrench]

The scan quality is quite poor, so it's hard to say if any of the surfaces are true. I would be reluctant to use it in a design that has tight tolerances.  It looks like the spherical bearings aren't at 90 degrees to the arm, so their centers can't be used for alignment.  The upper and lower arm bearing faces aren't parallel, so choosing one that looks closest to parallel with the center of the arm works best.  While you could start with the mesh tools as in my previous post, it's probably best just to use the Move/Copy operation for the initial alignment.  If it's not accurate enough then either use the mesh tools or the measure tool (with lots of math thrown in) to fine tune the alignment.  

The first screencast shows the Move/Copy operation for the initial alignment.

The next post contains the second screencast showing the move operation.

[etfrench]

Here's the second screencast:

[etfrench]

Flash.  This just in

There is an Add-In called PointAtCoord available that will create points in 3d space. You can use the Measure tool on meshes to get XYZ coordinates to 15 decimal places.  With three points defined you can create a plane, which in turn can be use to create a sketch and joint origin.  Once you have that you can align the stl with any arbitrary feature.

[etfrench]

@jeff_strater: Creating a plane using 3 measurement points on a mesh would be a nice addition to the mesh tools.

[jeff_strater]

yep, I agree.  We have some complexities in trying to "track" mesh points (meaning make the plane associative to those points).  Would it be OK if the plane were not associative to the points?

[etfrench]

I think the plane would mostly be a one time use to establish a joint origin.  If the mesh and the construction plane are in the same component, then the plane will move with a component move and the points can be projected to a sketch on the plane if they're needed later.