STL to flat point file converter

Bender — 2003-12-04 09:03:31

To answer the first question, yes it seems to be possible. VX can export any given surface to STL format and it looks like others can, too. For instance, I have seen a lot of exported STL rep, for molds or such, that consist of single surface (no stock attched yet). Another possibility is to use a STL rep editor. Also, to be more accurate, it does not have to be literal "single" surface, but if more than one, all surfaces need to be projectable to a single continuous surface. As to your 2nd question.. Well, that is essentially a "point cloud data tessellation" routine. Which is pretty much the bread and butter for most specialized "reverse engineering" packages. I hear it is usually very hard to implement. But hey, with VX you never know when you might see something like that Technically, you can take the point cloud, fit a well-fitting surface, and export it back to STL rep. But I don't think you meant that...

ChrisW — 2003-12-04 05:40:43

That is very interesting. Is it possible to use the STL format to describe one surface, rather than a whole solid? If so, can we convert a Point Cloud to an STL?

Bender — 2003-10-01 01:27:58

Well, STL data ->Unique vertices ->NURBS surface works now, sort of. As long as an imported STL data "block" only represents a single surface each, we can generate developable NURBS from it (This statement is actually not 100% accurate, but close enough.)...Not entirely a general purpose tool, yet, but a good start nonetheless.

FancyFlier — 2003-08-25 13:23:04

sort of. for version 9 we're going to convert an stl import into a surface through the FEM stuff. Near future: allow the use to help in building the edges of the faces during this process.

bobf4fun — 2003-08-25 12:57:20

Will this ever be built into VX?