meshmixer surface pattern 1 side only

[Anonymous]

Hi all,

This is my first Autocad post so please be patient.

I have used Autocad MeshMixer and Sculptris to generate a 3D CAD .OBJ file of a scaled 3D orthotic insole. The insole is nearly complete I only need to create small indents on the top surface to help the feet to breathe. I did manage to do a dual edge pattern with 5mm element spacing and 5mm element sizing which gave the above JPEG images of the insole. I only want that type of pattern on the topside nowhere else. Can I please have help with doing this in MeshMixer? Thanks

side viewunderside viewunderside view 1top view

[Anonymous]

Two things before:

• You can hide/show the rendering of the printer via menu: View/ShowPrinterBed
• Think there's nothing in Sculptris what you can't do in Meshmixer's SCULPT

----

MakePattern is a tool always affecting the total object. So you'll need to create a separate partial object from the source object, make the pattern based on this and join this result with the source object doing a boolean operation finally.

E.g.:

- Make a duplicate of your source mesh (EDIT/Duplicate) and hide the source (via ObjectBrowser clicking the eye icon):

- on the duplicate run EDIT/PlaneCut in CutType=SliceGroups and and cut off the upper "slice":

This splits the object to groups:

Go to SELECT and double click at the inside green group:

Hit I on your keyboard to invert the selection and hit X to discard the selected surfaces:

Now run EDIT/MakePattern on this:

Accept:

Show your source object again (again via eye icon)

With Shift pressed click on the source to activate the  insole as a second object:

Now there's BooleanUnion in EDIT. Run it:

And finally Accept.

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Note: MakePattern (doing this workflow as well as your upper global attempt) results in an offset of half the ElementDiameter. Think you'll need to include this behaviour while constructing the source mesh to give a perfect fit finally.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I did the following steps:

1. Make a duplicate of your source mesh (EDIT/Duplicate) and hide the source (via ObjectBrowser clicking the eye icon):

step 1

Completed step 1.

2. on the duplicate run EDIT/PlaneCut in CutType=SliceGroups and and cut off the upper "slice"

step 2 

I click Accept then get the below

step 2_1

the step 'This splits the object to groups' isn't achieved because I can't see the place cut and nothing is automatically highlighted as the green surface was in yours. How do I get the place cut to actually show and be displayed? And when I try to go to the next step after 'Go to SELECT and double click at the inside green group' I get the below images

step 3_0

and, when I go to SELECT and double click, the whole of the second object is selectedstep 3_1

Where am I going wrong?

[Anonymous]

You can avoid rendering of the printer's volume by clicking menu/View/ShowPrinterBed.

-----

Make sure that MM's rendering is set to  GroupColor:

Press Space on your keyboard > a pop-up-window (the "hotbox") should be shown:

The marked icon should be dark (= active). If not: click it...

If GroupColor is active, the PlaneCut(SliceGroups) result should show different groups (color might be different to the example above - doesn't matter). That color is simply some visual feedback.

Also if you're not on GroupColor mode, you should be able to double click on the insole's inside to select it after doing that PlaneCut step.

Does it work so far? 

[kelly.young]

Hello @Anonymous I see that you are visiting as a new member to the forum.
Welcome to the Autodesk Community!

If you can attach your attempt that would be helpful for others to give you more detailed and contextual guidance. 

Please select the Accept Solution button if a post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Congrats @kelly.young : Autodesk's Technical Support finally found Meshmixer. This lasted quite some time.

Hope you will not leave only a standard message but dig into technical issues:

There are several things to solve. Contact me if you don't know where...

[kelly.young]

@Anonymous you can usually find me hanging in the Inventor Forum. The post was moved from there so I thought I would welcome the new member and let them know that if a file is attached, in my experience, you have a much better and faster chance of getting an answer. 

As for diving into the MeshMixer issues, I'm somewhat familiar with it's use, but it is not my main supported product so I am just an enthusiast of it. Typically I use it when I want to smooth out or bling an Inventor model for 3D printing. I used it recently when we got a scanner that hooks to the iPad (or other devices too).

Of course I turned it up too fast and didn't edit the auto-supports due to time and impatience, but I think it turned out pretty well. 

It is difficult to master them all, but I like getting familiar with as many as I can so I can stay on top of workflows. I am currently exploring Mavic Pro drone photogrammetry with ReCap Photo which is working well exporting to use in multiple products.

I see that you are very active and have many solutions, kudos to you! Thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise with the community. 

Please select the Accept Solution button if a post solves your issue or answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Yes it worked right up to the Step 'Press Shift and select the 1st and 3rd object' when I press shift I select all three objects. See photo below. Almost there. Please let me know where I'm going wrong? thanks

Press shift to select 1 and 3rd

[Anonymous]

There are two ways to activate objects:

A: via ObjectBrowser (the way you did it):  Here a marked object A and a second  B (while Shift is pressed) activates all objects in the list between A and B . (I'm on macOS so I'm not sure about WIN keys for multiple selection) On macOS I need to press Cmd instead of Shift to do a individual multiple  list selection....

B: simply clicking the objects in the scene. Here Click+Shift adds the clicked object to the activated objects. This is more  intuitive.

[Anonymous]

I've gotten to the last step BooleanUnion, but I want the plane cut edge to disappear into the 1st object such that there is no 'interior edge' of the plane cut, so that the interior geometry of the final object is the same (with the added surface holes) as the first objectWant final interior geometry of boolean union the same as this

boolean union

How do I do this?

[Anonymous]

That's what I meant above:

Note: MakePattern (doing this workflow as well as your upper global attempt) results in an offset of half the ElementDiameter. Think you'll need to include this behaviour while constructing the source mesh to give a perfect fit finally.

After cutting your source mesh to groups you'll need to SELECT the inside surface and Edit/Offset it to half of the diameter (ElementDimen) of the tubes generated by MakePattern later on:

Next issue is your boolean result. It's red. This means the operation failed. Reasons might be some mesh errors on the meshes (run ANALYSIS/Inspector before) or too many, small intersections of both meshes. 

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I can't see the latest image you attached showing the 4 steps in one. Can you please resend your previous message showing each image? Also can you please let me know where those extra steps you said fit in? Thanks

[Anonymous]

Sorry, didn't keep the screenshots. You can enlarge a posted image here by clicking on it.

(You do not need to do the cuts in the lower images. These are just to visualise what to do)

You need to do the Offset right on top of the steps above:

1. Step is to do the PlaneCut to slice the groups on the source mesh.

2. Step is to do EDIT/Offset on the inner group.

3. Step is to duplicate the source image.

Continue with the 4th image in my upmost post....

[Anonymous]

 Hi,

Thanks for your help. I have put together all your previous steps, the new steps and my findings for the plane cut into a single word document showing clearly the numbered steps. Can you please have a look at it to make sure it's correct? Thanks

[Anonymous]

Here's the corrected version of your .docx:

[Anonymous]

Much appreciated. Thanks. I will try it tomorrow see if it works

[Anonymous]

Hi there,

I got down to Step 20. Combine/Boolean. Boolean didn't work, error message. I tried to do Combine got below 2 of 3 images. Resulted in the Inspector filling in the deliberately made indent holes. How do I combine the 2 objects (indented surface and original) without having to fill in the suface again? Thanks

Combine_boolean didn't workInspectorInspector result-flat fill

[Anonymous]

Not sure about what causes these Inspector infills. Maybe you didn't check Connected at the Offset step? Please note the tool settings in the images of the different steps...

As an alternative to a Boolean Union:

1. Combine both objects (pattern and source) to one. It's not enough to activate both. You need to run Combine when both are activated instead of BooleanUnion.

2. Now at the resulting object run EDIT/MakeSolid at a high SolidAccuracy and MeshDensity:

[Anonymous]

Hi,

I've done the left foot.

left foot done

the right foot, due to a partial hole on the original OBJ was only able to have the pattern applied 10mm from the top.red arrow partial hole

Please let me know how I can close this hole so that the final right foot OBJ has the pattern applied 3mm from the top? Thanks

[Anonymous]

Seems to be a hole connecting the inside and outside surface like (cut through to visualise):

To fill such a hole you need to select a ring around that hole:

Do such a selection on the inside and the outside and hit X to discard it.

Now go to ANALYSIS/Inspector. Think in your case you should set HoleFillMode to SmoothFill. Inspector should detect two blue issues (open boundaries) and maybe a pink small mesh snippet (the former connection):

You can do AutoRepairAll to get rid of the hole now: