Using mesh bodies in assemblies

Using mesh bodies in assemblies

summerson1990
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Using mesh bodies in assemblies

summerson1990
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi! What is the workflow when making an assembly with not only solid objects but with meshes too? For example, I need to make an assembly of a desktop with all the hardware it consists of and for example, GPU is a mesh body that has a lot of bodies and converting each of them to the solid bodies takes some time while there is also one more problem, when converting it to the solid body it looks not smoothed (the normals are not smoothed), and manually repairing the solid surfaces will also take a lot of time. I'm not planning to edit the GPU model I just need these meshes to position precisely to my desktop's model but that's not possible to snap it to some other geometry while it's a mesh body. So what can there be a solution for such a task? I just thought that I can copy some mesh body of the GPU, convert it to the solid and use it temporarily just as reference geometry, it will let me move the whole GPU's bodies precisely (I mean that I'll be allowed to use snapping with the move tool and position it exactly where I want) and when I finish positioning I'll simply switch off the visibility of the temp. solid body. But when exporting the .step file of the assembly it doesn't include the mesh geometry. Here is a screenshot with mesh bodies (from the left) where you can see the surfaces have smoothed normals and when you convert it to the solid it looks unsmoothed (from the right here are fans and the external case have been converted to the solid bodies). Trying to convert the mesh to solid with the prismatic method also needs some time to spend while generating face groups and in some cases, it doesn't work so well.

Thanks!

 

m-t-s.jpg

 

 Screenshot_39.jpg

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TrippyLighting
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Accepted solution

I would not convert the meshes to BRep and only use those for visual reference.

Instead I would design simplified proxy geometry that represents the overall volume and mounting points.

If the geometry is simple enough you might want to re-design the part from scratch. E.g. for simple mounting brackets.

 

While that sounds like a lot of extra work, it will pay off in the end and also will keep your model lightweight and fast to work with.

 

  


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