Struggling mesh to solid

[RScott9399]

I have a very detailed and complicated mesh of car body. Fusion will not make it a solid. 

All I get is endless "cant compute errors"

I am trying to make a simplified mesh. All I am really after is the outside shell so I can 3d print it or slice it up and mill it on a CNC.

It seems the only change in hell I have of getting fusion to cooperate is to drastically cut all the detail of the model out. It has a full interior of the vehicle as well. So what im trying to do is figure out an easy way to delete all the parts I don't need. I have tried to do a manual edit but good luck. I will be here for 3 centuries deleting triangles. 

Fusion has created face groups which look to coincide with the major body panels which is mainly what im after. 

Does anyone know of a way I can somehow select only the outer face groups and delete everything else in the hopes it will make me a solid?

Thanks

[TheCADWhisperer]

Can you Attach the original file here?

Do you understand that triangular mesh is rubbish in terms of surface quality (no curves, not one)?

[RScott9399]

Hi

Sorry I cant post the file, its a proprietary thing. 

So I understand that meshes are triangles

That is why im trying to get fusion to make me a solid from the mesh file 

[laughingcreek]

a few thoughts-

-not going to be an "easy" way.  will require some more knowledge of meshes to get there.

-if you just want to print/cnc/slice up the model, there isn't a reason to convert it to a solid.

-fusion sucks at this kind of mesh work.

-your model probably consists of a bunch of different bodies/parts.  other software would refer to these as "shells".  run the separate command on the whole thing and it will probably break up into a cajillon bodies that can more easily be deleted.

[RScott9399]

Thanks

What is a better software you think that does not have an insane learning curve

All I want is the outer shell layer more or less. The idea would be to slice it up and print the hole thing in construction foam on a 4X8 cnc machine layer by later until I have a full size model of the vehicle 

[RScott9399]

I did find a way to delete stuff. There is a selection filter that allows you to just click on face groups. 

The face groups were created very nicely. There is just to much info and I think that is why fusion is puking. 

Why do you say I don't have to create a solid to slice it? I thought I have to do that

[laughingcreek]

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@RScott9399 wrote:

... There is a selection filter that allows you to just click on face groups. 

The face groups were created very nicely.

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-thought experiment.  how many faces groups are on the seat?  would it be nice if you could delete the whole seat as if it where a single body?

...Why do you say I don't have to create a solid to slice it? I thought I have to do that

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fusion has a "plane cut" in the mesh workspace that will slice things up. (so will other mesh editing software).

mesh mixer is a free software that would probably be better suited to this task.  it's simpler, but works differently. still goin to be a learning curve.

[RScott9399]

I have tried Meshmixer. I used it to help me do some dimensioning that fusion would not do. 

However, I was hoping to stay in fusion as this thing needs to be sent to CAM eventually

I guess I just don't know what im doing sadly 😞

I am basically deleting all the interior face groups in the hopes I can make the mesh simpler and allow fusion to make a solid from it. 

[laughingcreek]

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@RScott9399 wrote:

... I was hoping to stay in fusion as this thing needs to be sent to CAM eventually

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do as you please, but cleaning it up somewhere else before you bring it to fusion will probably be more productive.

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I am basically deleting all the interior face groups in the hopes I can make the mesh simpler and allow fusion to make a solid from it. 

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maybe reverse that? copy the faces you want to keep, hide them, delete everything visible.

[RScott9399]

I actually tried as you suggested. 

I tried to just select the face groups I wanted but when I did the copy it still copied the whole body.

It did not appear allow me to copy just what I selected even in the manual edit mode.

Have you success that way?

[RScott9399]

not to mention I cant even keep fusion from crashing. I have been using Autodesk for 15 years and I am so tired of this ****. You would think by now they could make a program that does not randomly crash in the middle of use. 

[TheCADWhisperer]

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@RScott9399 wrote:

So I understand that meshes are triangles

That is why im trying to get fusion to make me a solid from the mesh file 

---

Uhmm, it would still be triangular facets?

[RScott9399]

Sorry I didnt intend to cross post

So forget all this for a second. 

Let me ask you think. Say I have the outer shell of say a piece of a car. Call it just the back of car as if were cut in the middle. Its a mesh

I can slice it up sure. No problem. But the inner part is hollow. I need it to be solid (I think) so I can sent it to cam. I want to cnc the slices of the body that I slice up. So right now I can do the slicing. But how can I fill in the middle ? Will post a picture. I cant post the file

[RScott9399]

So I created my first slice. But because the mesh is just a shell. There is no flat plane connecting the two pieces. 

Do you know how I can do that?

[TheCADWhisperer]

This is not a beginner level endeavor.

[RScott9399]

Nope, sure isnt

But if you don't have ambitions in life what is the point

[TheCADWhisperer]

’Well first I would need to see the quality of the original geometry.

But since you can’t supply that - kind of working blind here.

[RScott9399]

So I think I have come up with a plan for what I want to do. I just don't know how to make it work. I have an outer shell like I said. So!

I created a big block that was a solid. Then I tensilated it and made a big mesh block. Now im trying to combine the two. The shell and block. But I don't want to join. I want to merge or cut I think? And then the end result should be the block taking on the shape of the shell? That is what im trying now but not working still

@TheCADWhisperer Think that might work?

[TheCADWhisperer]

No.

[davebYYPCU]

Back to message 13.

3d printing software does this every day.

As I understand it, you want the outline at certain layers for sheet foam boards.  

Sandwiched dowelled and hand shaped.

Mesh section sketches, convert to fusion curves,

Extrude by foam thickness.

Take those to CAM.

Might help....