Help with textures/colors INVENTOR

Help with textures/colors INVENTOR

djadisan
Explorer Explorer
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Message 1 of 21

Help with textures/colors INVENTOR

djadisan
Explorer
Explorer

Hellow world , i'm fairly new to inventor, i'm new in 3d printing , and i have several question for more advanced users...

 

1. I add different textures/colors from inventor's library, i save the model with textures, i know how to export to .stl ...

 

how do i export the colors/textures?? i need some kind of png...of file to upload after on www.p3d.in ...cause that's where i have my object publish

 

2. Does anyone know's a plugin to export direct .OBJ ?? 

 

 

 

Thank you all

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Replies (20)
Message 2 of 21

mcgyvr
Consultant
Consultant

@djadisan wrote:

Hellow world , i'm fairly new to inventor, i'm new in 3d printing , and i have several question for more advanced users...

 

1. I add different textures/colors from inventor's library, i save the model with textures, i know how to export to .stl ...

 

how do i export the colors/textures?? i need some kind of png...of file to upload after on www.p3d.in ...cause that's where i have my object publish

 

2. Does anyone know's a plugin to export direct .OBJ ?? 

 

 

 

Thank you all


1) When saving to stl hit the options button before you save and check the "export colors" box..

stlcolors.PNG

 

2)File..Save Copy as... select OBJ from the available file types and save.. (You can also use File..Export.. Cad format and again select obj from the file types dropdown then save)



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Inventor 2023 - Dell Precision 5570

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Message 3 of 21

djadisan
Explorer
Explorer

I managed to find obj and option BUT I HAVE NO OPTION FOR SAVE COLOR :-s  

 

no color.png

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Message 4 of 21

johnsonshiue
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi! We have a coloring issue in the exported mesh file. Inventor can paint to correct colors. But, non-Autodesk tools do not seem to recognize the colors from the mesh exported by Inventor. We are looking into that and see how we can change the behavior.

Many thanks!

 



Johnson Shiue (johnson.shiue@autodesk.com)
Software Test Engineer
Message 5 of 21

mcgyvr
Consultant
Consultant

@johnsonshiue Is that with STL files too or just OBJ?

Hasn't that option been there for a long time now? Has it always been broken?

 

If its just with OBJ then they can export to STL which is what any 3d printer will accept anyways.. 



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Inventor 2023 - Dell Precision 5570

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Message 6 of 21

djadisan
Explorer
Explorer

Hellow...can you stick to MY problem ? please ... thank you guys ... i'm frustrated as is

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Message 7 of 21

mcgyvr
Consultant
Consultant

@djadisan wrote:

Hellow...can you stick to MY problem ? please ... thank you guys ... i'm frustrated as is


 

Calm down there...

We are helping you..

 

There is no "export colors" button for the OBJ format..

Use STL instead for your 3d printer..

STL has the option..

 

I suspect OBJ should do it automatically but there seems to be a software bug where its not exporting colors automatically now..

 

 



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Inventor 2023 - Dell Precision 5570

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Message 8 of 21

mcgyvr
Consultant
Consultant

@djadisan wrote:

 

 

how do i export the colors/textures?? i need some kind of png...of file to upload after on www.p3d.in ...cause that's where i have my object publish

 

 


If you need an image (png,etc..) then use Windows snipping tool to take a screen capture or just do a "file...save copy as" and select PNG format from the dropdown.

 



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Inventor 2023 - Dell Precision 5570

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Message 9 of 21

djadisan
Explorer
Explorer

I'm not getting frustrated by you ....i'm sorry ...i meant by the situacion... ihave a project...and can't get it ...so ... BTW thank you very much

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Message 10 of 21

mcgyvr
Consultant
Consultant

@djadisan wrote:

I'm not getting frustrated by you ....i'm sorry ...i meant by the situacion... ihave a project...and can't get it ...so ... BTW thank you very much


So where are we at now..

What is it you really need still?

 

Did you really need a PNG file? If so did windows snipping tool get that taken care of?

Did you export the STL with the colors box checked? did that work?

 

Still waiting on Johnson to confirm if "export colors" is just broken in Inventor across the board with mesh files (stl and OBJ) or if its just OBJ.. 

Some formats just don't transfer colors and NONE of them support the export of textures as far as I know..

 

So colors you can but textures won't export to neutral 3d/mesh files..

 

 



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Inventor 2023 - Dell Precision 5570

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Message 11 of 21

johnsonshiue
Community Manager
Community Manager

Hi Guys,

 

The mesh coloring issue applies to both STL and OBJ files.

Many thanks!

 



Johnson Shiue (johnson.shiue@autodesk.com)
Software Test Engineer
Message 12 of 21

djadisan
Explorer
Explorer

i think i need .MTL for p3d.in i've checked the box on "save colors" but how do i generate .mtl ?  ....  p3d.in  only accepts obj , so i found a site that converts STL to OBJ ..

 

 

Thank you guys 

Message 13 of 21

djadisan
Explorer
Explorer

i think i need .MTL for p3d.in i've checked the box on "save colors" but how do i generate .mtl ? p3d.in  only accepts obj , so i found a site that converts STL to OBJ ..

 

 

Thank you guys 

Message 14 of 21

mcgyvr
Consultant
Consultant

Seems like you are SOL as far as Inventor goes.....

Per Johnson Inventor is broken with regards to exporting colors properly directly to STL or OBJ..

 

Maybe find a program that can export an STL or OBJ file properly from a STEP file or other neutral cad format..

 

Maybe this will work..

https://www.makexyz.com/convert/step-to-stl

 

or this..

http://www.3dtransform.com/

 

Or this..

http://www.meshconvert.com/

 

Or use Fusion..

 

Or use 3dsmax

 

,etc...

etc,...

 



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Message 15 of 21

djadisan
Explorer
Explorer

So , what can i do ...or where can i go to export  my textures from inventor ....as i said i applied material to object..i exported in STL from inventor... all good ( colors ticked ) but where i the file mtl ..or whatever file is generated ? :-s  Thank you

 

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Message 16 of 21

mcgyvr
Consultant
Consultant

@djadisan wrote:

So , what can i do ...or where can i go to export  my textures from inventor ....as i said i applied material to object..i exported in STL from inventor... all good ( colors ticked ) but where i the file mtl ..or whatever file is generated ? :-s  Thank you

 


When you save copy as to OBJ in Inventor it creates both an OBJ and a MTL file in the same folder..

 

An MTL file is only generated with OBJ files and not STL files..

 

 



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Inventor 2023 - Dell Precision 5570

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Message 17 of 21

djadisan
Explorer
Explorer

my inventor does not have option ---> save colors for OBJ only for STL and when i save as .STL it does not create the mtl 😞no color.png

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Message 18 of 21

Anonymous
Not applicable

If you want a png, go to File ->  Export -> image.

You can save the current screen into png, jpeg etc.

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Message 19 of 21

mcgyvr
Consultant
Consultant

@djadisan wrote:

my inventor does not have option ---> save colors for OBJ only for STL and when i save as .STL it does not create the mtl 😞


Please read carefully....

 

There is no option in OBJ to save colors like their is for STL..(but that is irrelevant..)

What version of Inventor do you have?

 

When I save an obj file (NOT STL) an obj file and MTL file are created in the same folder..

 

Again file.. save copy as.. select OBJ from the filetype dropdown and save it.. Go to that folder and you should see both an OBJ file and a MTL file

 

Forget STL for now.. Forget the check box to "export colors"... Just save an OBJ file and go look in that folder and you should find the MTL file also..

 

But per Johnson above Inventor seems to be broken with regards to that so it might not work to properly export the colors or texture information..



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Inventor 2023 - Dell Precision 5570

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Message 20 of 21

djadisan
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Explorer

Is there another way to expot if it's broken?

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