Smoothing and editing surfaces of imported STL file

[Anonymous]

I have imported an STL file of a full heart from an online source, and am looking to 3D print the file. However, before printing it, I want to simplify the file by smoothing rough surfaces and correct errors in the file (i.e. holes in the vasculature). The outer edges of the heart are smooth enough, but the inside is covered with "bumps" and defects that I would like to smooth out. Can anyone suggest an easy way to accomplish these tasks? Screenshots attached

[laughingcreek]

Fusion isn't a very good tool for this task.  It's mesh capabilities are rather weak.  I highly suggest using a dedicated mesh editing program for this task.

I would probably use mesh mixer for this (free).  if I needed to do more complicated geometry manipulations I'd probably use blender (also free).  There are many other programs available also.  If you think you might be doing this sort of thing very much, I would highly suggest picking one and getting to know it.

[jeff_strater]

I'll agree with @laughingcreek on this - Fusion is not a power mesh editor, and Meshmixer might be better.  Especially if the mesh in question is large and complex.

That said, Fusion has some of the same capabilities as Meshmixer (from the same code base), and you can do a lot of what you want to do in Fusion itself, in the Mesh environment.  Reduce, Remesh, and Erase and Fill will do some of this for you:

Jeff

[Anonymous]

Thank you both! I tried your suggestions in both Meshmixer and Fusion, and they worked great. For the "holes" in the mesh that I wanted to fill, I deleted the edges surrounding the hole and used the Analysis > Inspector > Auto Repair All command, which worked great.

However, I am having trouble editing the inside of the mesh (i.e. the hollow parts of the heart: ventricles/atria). In Fusion, I can view the inside using "Section Analysis," but I cannot select the inside faces even in this view - any suggestions for that?

Thanks again!

Andrew

[TrippyLighting]

Yes, as was already mentioned, don’t use Fusion 360 do that. 

[laughingcreek]

Selecting back faces isn't enabled automatically in fusion (or in mesh mixer).  While in the mesh edit environment, got to "select" and enable the mesh pallet.  then check the box for backfaces.