i have built a model in another design program and exported as stl, now i import stl into fusion,can i edit it using the sculpting workspace?
STL file import for sculpting edit?
Nick, trust me I understand what you are saying and for a lot of people your method would work just fine, but what I am doing and what I was trying to show Frank was how to build custom models that will go on his scanned meshes then be converted into solids in the end for creation. Meshmixer and Momento are not modeling apps so you can't create custom meshes unless your combining existing ones. Your work flow would probably work fine for @Anonymous.....well for the most part anyway. I wish I could show you what I'm talking about but I am on vacation for 2 weeks and sadly I don't have the time right now. I already have the perfect work flow for my needs I am trying to help others like @Anonymous and @Anonymous. Frank needs something more like my work flow and yours would only work for some of his stuff. This skeleton I am doing could easily be done with your method but it wouldn't work because Frank would loose surface control unless he cuts the imported models up to create reference points...that makes for a messy time line and a lot of wasted creation time. I control the reference points because I am creating the quad mesh for import so all topology flows in a way that gives me perfect reference points. If I was to use Instamesh or Momento the topology flow is not going to match my needs there for I would need to cut the imported geometry to match my needs...that's a lot of unnecessary steps and wasted time IMO. I have been working on this work flow for years and the way I'm doing it now works best for me. I am happy with my results and so are my clients. That's why I said I don't think you understand the point of this thread because everything you have shown doesn't show a way to control surface topology, so your end results are reference geometry that doesn't work for the needs I am describing. Frank wants to make cyborg/human body in CAD so to make his life easier mesh flow is critical...without it and he will have a ton of work ahead of him.
Just my 2 cents.
Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations
@Anonymous,
Free software will work fine for what you are wanting to do. The best way I can describe for a fix to your problem is learn Blender so you can fix your meshes....usually fixing a mesh is pretty easy and straigt forward. trippylighting would help you with Blender I'm sure. If not I will when I get back from vacation. After fixing your meshes in Blender you can run them through Instamesh, Momento or Meshmixer for the results you are looking for. You could also try netfabb for repairing your meshes. Keep in mind though the free version can not be used for commercial work.
More later....
Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations
Blender has a pretty hard learning curve...I would suggest Meshmixer for all mesh fixing / repairing / analysis needs!
Nick Kloski
Did you find this post helpful? Feel free to Like this post.
Did your question get successfully answered? Then click on the ACCEPT SOLUTION button.
You can patch meshes in Meshmixer. However, what Phil is talking about and what he has showcased throughout this thead is retopologizing a mesh in another tool called Topogun.
I've looked at it and it is very powerful.
You can do similar things in Blender, particularly when using the plugin RetopoFlow.
What you can do in meshmixer does not re-topologize a mesh. Memento and Instant Meshes also both do not retopologize a mesh. Retopologizing, while requiring some experience and manual work will retain features while drastically reducing the polygon count by several magnitudes. This allows for importing meshes into Fusion 360 and converting them into easily modifiable T-Splines, even if they originate from multimillion triangle count scanned meshes.
Meshes that consist of several thousand quads such as exported stuff from Memento, when converted into a T-Spline are not editable as Fusion 360 just slows down to a crawl.
The other workflow that Phil has described that involvs converting the mesh into SubD and then Nurbs in Maya avoids T-Splines in Fusion altogether.
Whether or not Blender has a steep learnig curve is irrelevent. If a user is looking for a FOSS alternative then there is not much else around. There are outstanding virdeo tutorials available for Blender covering about every aspect ogf it's vast capabilities. CGcookie.com is a great place to start.
hey Phil quick question, im trying to add a rack style inner bar to this turrent im 3d printing and i can figure out how to make this happen.
this black face i have colored for you shows what im looking for and of course the drive gear is right at the bottom side there. but as you cansee the gear and the rack or rack and pinion arent the same do to scale and boolean Op i just did.
@Anonymous
Ok hopefully I understand the issue your having....If I do your trying to just create a gear then scale the smaller one for the larger one. That wont work, you have to do some math.
Really you should read this pdf to get a better understanding, then if you have questions ask and I can better help you.
https://www.bostongear.com/pdf/gear_theory.pdf
http://www.engineersedge.com/gear_formula.htm
Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations
@Anonymous
Ok short answer is, if you don't care about ratios or any of the technical stuff. Then you create the small gear using whatever Diametral Pitch looks good for your tooth size and the number of teeth you want on it. The drive gear should be an odd number and the driven should be even. So lets say you make the drive gear 25 teeth, the rack could be 64 or whatever number of teeth give you the size you want. The number of teeth is going to set the diameter so just play with this number to get the size you need. IF YOU DO NEED TO SCALE YOUR GEARS, make sure the two models are in the same component and scale that component so the gears will continue to work.
Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations
one last Q on this topic Phil but "how can we determined what type of gear im looking at ? " i bought some gear motors from ebay and well they have a pinion or spur gear at its shaft but it is a micro dc motor so looking at the gear how can i know what gear to print to fit that gear on the motor ?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/181802038864?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT
@Anonymous
Ok I'm back from vacation...I will need accurate measurements from the small gear you pointed out to help you with this.
Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations
@Anonymous
You need to do the math, look at the links I provided before.
http://www.engineersedge.com/gear_formula.htm
Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations
@Anonymous
Here is the documentation for Topogun:
http://topogun.com/Docs/index.htm
Here are some Videos on using Topogun:
http://topogun.com/media/videos.htm
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=topogun+tutorial
I have hope for the new mesh tools but I have my doubts about it replacing my workflow. I haven't seen anything yet that leads me to believe the tools will cover my needs.
I have not gotten a chance to make any videos on my workflow yet. I need something hard to do, that way I can show something meaningful. One problem with this workflow is every model is different and the way it needs to be tackled is different. In the end its all about getting the details into Fusion for machining and manufacturing. If you wouldn't mind sending me one of your stock models I could make a video showing your particular need.
Cheers
Phil
Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations
@Anonymous
The sad part here is if I worked on the Fusion Team I could bridge this gap completely and change the way all of this works. I get so tired of people saying you can't mesh the two worlds together and I have dedicated the last 10 years of my life proving that you indeed can have the best of both worlds. 5 years ago I was told it wasn't possible so I set out and designed a 3 axis cnc mill from scratch, then I modeled out a 3d picture and machined it...here was my results
3d mill:
3d Picture:
Milled background and frame pieces:
So as you can see it can be done...Now I want to help others do the same....I just wish I was an Autodesk employee that was working directly on making the tools needed to bridge that gap......Oh well we can keep our fingers crossed and see what happens. I will send you a PM today.
Cheers
Phil
Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations
@PhilProcarioJr I think what you are experiencing is the resistance in this field to move forward. They are pretty set in their views.
Sometimes it amazes me how much the creative / technology area can be unwilling to learn and expand.
No body uses that it is not an industry standard lol ...
Did you by the way build that CNC yourself with stock hardware/electronic parts?
Claas Kuhnen
Faculty Industrial Design – Wayne State Universit
Chair Interior Design – Wayne State University
Owner studioKuhnen – product : interface : design
"
I think what you are experiencing is the resistance in this field to move forward. They are pretty set in their views.
Sometimes it amazes me how much the creative / technology area can be unwilling to learn and expand.
No body uses that it is not an industry standard lol ..."
You took the words right out of my mouth. 
"Did you by the way build that CNC yourself with stock hardware/electronic parts?"
Yes I did. I designed this in Solidworks and made prints, then cut all of the wood with my table and jig saw, Drilled and countersunk everything. All hardware can be found cheap on the internet along with the stepper motors and drivers. For software I am running mach 3. I was able to achieve a 0.001" in accuracy with the machine cutting wood at 40" a min. This was my first attempt at building a homebuilt and designed CNC Mill, my new design blows this one away. I hope to finish it next year sometime.
Cheers
Phil
Phil Procario Jr.
Owner, Laser & CNC Creations