Exporting polygons to IGES

[drbrandtjr]

Hi,

Please help, I’m trying to get a polygonal model exported in a format that Solidworks can understand.  Solidworks is a subtractive rapid prototyping system, and doesn’t understand STL like additive 3D printers do.  They are asking for a IGES, XT or STEP file.  I’m using Maya 2016 which doesn’t export polygonal models to IGES, and I don’t see an XT or STEP option.

If anybody knows how I can convert my polygonal model to one of these formats, I would be very appreciative.  Thanks!

David Brandt

[_sebastian_f]

i don´t know for XT but step and iges don´t support polygon geometry. so you have to find another file format or convert your object to nurbs first.

[drbrandtjr]

Thanks Sebastian, that is good to know.  But it doesn't solve my problem.  Is it possible to convert poly meshes into nurbs?  In Maya?

Thanks!

[_sebastian_f · Accepted solution]

how well it works depends on the mesh but you can do it by "modify > convert > polygons to subdiv" first and once you got that "modify > convert > subdiv to nurbs".

[jordan.giboney · Accepted solution]

Hi @drbrandtjr ! Thanks for posting 🙂

After converting your polygons to nurbs as suggested by @_sebastian_f , make sure your Direct Connect Plugin is Autoloaded/Loaded in the Plugin Manager here:

That should expand your list of export formats 🙂

Let me know if you need any additional assistance! I am happy to help!

[drbrandtjr · Accepted solution]

Thanks to everybody.  I think I understand the situation pretty well now.  Besides converting to the poly mesh to nurbs, I also found that .

FreeCad works to convert OBJ or STL to STEP or IGES, see below.  Although I think that Sabastian's solution is the best, although I haven't heard back from the Guy with the Solidworks yet.  

The truly best way would be to model on Nurbs from the start, although not so common to us in the animation biz anymore.  What I've learned is CNC cutting is very different paradigm from rapid prototyping, which polygons and STL format works well with.

 Download and install free, FreeCAD  (procedure taken from NormandC on the FreeCad Forum) 

https://sourceforge.net/projects/free-c ... 0unstable

Once you've installed FreeCAD, you can open your STL or OBJ file and convert it to solid, to export as STEP or IGES:

1. Open the STL file
2. Switch to the Part workbench (View -> Workbench menu)
3. Click on the mesh object, either on the 3D screen or in the Project tree
4. Select Part -> Create Shape from mesh... menu, in the dialog select a tolerance for sewing, click OK. A new object is created, hide the original one (click on it and hit space bar)
5. While the new object is selected, select Part -> Convert to solid menu, a third object is created. You now have a solid that can be exported to STEP.
6. Select the solid object, go to File -> Export..., enter a name with .stp extension and click OK; in the dialog, either select "CAD formats (PART)" or STEP 214 (Import). If unsure, choose the first one.

But you need to know that STL is a mesh format, like those done with a polygonal modeller (SketchUp is a polygonal modeller). To quote Wikipedia, polygonal modeling is an approach for modeling objects by representing or approximating their surfaces using polygons. More specifically triangles. As a rule, mesh formats are unsuited for CAD. Their use is for rapid prototyping and FEM analysis.

[tasmuth]

 plugin in the list. Can you tell me why it is missing?

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@jordan.giboneywrote:

Hi @drbrandtjr ! Thanks for posting 🙂

After converting your polygons to nurbs as suggested by @_sebastian_f , make sure your Direct Connect Plugin is Autoloaded/Loaded in the Plugin Manager here:

That should expand your list of export formats 🙂

Let me know if you need any additional assistance! I am happy to help!

---

[Anonymous]

Converting got SolidWorks could be tricky. If the end application model is complex, then poly mesh conversion needs to be done properly. You need to minimize the mesh resolution for SolidWorks to render faster otherwise the software will slow down greatly. Here is a video tutorial for how to use Meshmatic to convert and optimize. Hope it helps
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooFBcwtJRM4