How to edit an STL file in Inventor 2016

[Anonymous]

Hello all!

I am new to Autodesk Inventor and want to create and export landmarks on an .stl file.

As far as I understand .stl files cannot be modified using Autodesk Inventor. So I tried to convert my .stl file using the Mesh Enabler, however Inventor crashed when I used this function. Now I read about Meshmixer and used this program to convert to a solid model. I exported the created file in all available formats but could only import the new .stl file into Inventor. Now it seems as if I cannot modify my figure again.

What am I doing wrong? Is Inventor even the program of choice for my problem?

Thank you!

[PaulMunford]

Inventor is a great program for creating .stl files - but it's not a great program for editing .stl files!

Perhaps you could show us what you'd like to achieve and we could give you some more specific advice?

[johnsonshiue]

Hi! Indeed, like Paul indicated here, Inventor has very limited ability to alter mesh geometry. However, it largely depends on what you want to do with the data in Inventor. If you want to 3D print the mesh as is, there is no need to bring it to Inventor. If you want to smooth the mesh, you want to use Autodesk MeshMixer. There are a lot of tools in MeshMixer help alter the mesh. If you want to add new engineering features or you wan to get a measurable model, you may consider rebuilding the geometry in Inventor based on the mesh.

Many thanks!

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your quick response! 

What I want to do:

I have a grid like structure built out of spheres connected by rods. It being an .stl file the spheres and rods are constructed out of vertices and faces and the whole structure is hollow. What I need is to create reference points in the center of each sphere and then to export the coordinates of these reference points - in the coordinate system of the original .stl grid structure.

Would this be a feasible project with Inventor or would you recommend another program to me?

[Anonymous]

Thank you for your quick reply!

I actually want to add extra points within the center of spheres of the mesh and export their coordinates within the mesh frame for further calculations. Would this mean I would have to rebuild the whole structure?

[PaulMunford · Accepted solution]

Hi @Anonymous,

This doesn't sound like a job for Inventor. I would recommend a program that deals with mesh geometry natively, like studio Max or AutoCAD.

Maybe you should make a post in the AutoCAD forum for help - if you do, please drop a link back here so that we can follow your journey 🙂

Paul

[Anonymous]

Thanks, I will try to use AutoCAD!

[Anonymous]

The link to the discussion in the AutoCAD forum. 

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/autocad-forum/create-points-in-center-of-spheres-and-export-their-coo...

I have changed to a .stp file format