Creating solid from imported .SAT file

[NigelHay]

I have a part that I have extracted from an imported .SAT file. The surfaces are mesh-like but not recognised as meshes in Inventor. I've tried to use the various mesh tools to make this part solid so that I can incorporate it into my assembly but nothing has worked so far. The surfaces seem to be made from lots of discrete triangles, is there anything I can do to make this a usable part?

Inv2020

Win10 pro

[JDMather]

Looks like converted stl, but in  any case - it opens fine as a solid body for me?

Given that the geometry is so simple - I would simply remodel from scratch without the stl facets.

[NigelHay]

JD, thanks for your reply. I can open the part as well but not do anything with it. Inv will not recognise any faces to start a sketch or let me manipulate it &, when I place it in a drawing, I can't pick up edges etc. to dimension sensibly. The block is simple enough but the curved cut-out in the front is not regular & is asymmetric about both axes, not easy to reproduce.

[JDMather]

Everything works as I would expect on my machine.

Can you create a Screencast Recording?

[NigelHay]

I had to install & quickly learn screencast. The clip shows how I am unable to select faces or edges to work with.

[JDMather]

Try posting link rather than embedding.

[NigelHay]

Is this better?

https://autode.sk/3jSBNcM

[JDMather]

Everything looked normal to me in your video.

I can't really tell, but it doesn't appear to me that you ever clicked your mouse button to select anything?

Also, it would probably be more useful if you turned on edge display.

[NigelHay]

That's the problem, I can't select anything. All of the surfaces are divided into small triangular facets & all of the edges are segmented.

[JDMather]

I will post a video when it is done compiling.

I do not see anything unusual.

[johnsonshiue]

Hi Nigel,

I believe the body came from promoted mesh from Inventor Shape Generator. It was a mesh. Then it was exported or promoted to Part environment. Then use Mesh Enabler to convert it to a solid body.

I don't think such geometry is directly useful for design. You should recreate it from scratch using properly constrained sketches and features with high precision. Then the geometry can be properly dimensioned.

Many thanks!

[NigelHay]

johnsonshiue, the shape was generated in an electron-optic simulation programme, I don't know which one. The curved surface would have been created by simulating an event at some distance away & focusing the electrons generated using a series of electro-magnetic fields. The curved surface is then a map of electrons arriving at the same instant. The shape is non-uniform & asymmetric in both axes so it is not possible for me to generate a sketch which can be revolved or extruded to recreate the shape.

[JDMather]

I had no trouble picking vertices, edges, faces - as you stated in problem descriptions.

I think the issue is the source geometry - before you ever get to Inventor.

A better stl source might be useable.

[NigelHay]

JD, I think you are right. I received today a STEP file of the same object but, although it is smoother, it suffers from the same problem. I'll have to see if the originator can export it in a more user friendly way.