i used to use alibre way back in the day. i checked it out again and they have atom3d. that is their hobbyist package. it says it can do mechanical properties from a step file. that's what i need. it's not super cheap but it's the best option i've found so far. the interface looks a million times better than ashlar vellum or viacad.
looks like it has a nice interface. however, Atom3D is probably the closest to what I want in features and cost. I'm using Mecway for FEA. The developer said he is going to add inertial properties in the future. If he does that, I won't need Atom3D. So I'm going to wait for now. I found two solutions to convert a stl to obj without retopo. That may be enough for what I need. 3DCoat may not be needed. But if the hobby version has retopo I may check it out in the future. So I think I answered my questions here. Thanks to everyone for the input.
One interesting thing I found. Ashlar Vellum and Atom3D both use the ACIS kernel. But they are drastically different in prices. So Ashlar is just charging more for no particular reason. I thought it might have been due to high licensing costs. But that isn't the case. I think ViaCAD is also using the ACIS kernel. Same with TurboCAD. TurboCAD and Atom3D are both options. I've used both many many years ago.
looks like the low cost version of Atom3D will do this. however, you have to buy the expensive version of TurboCAD to do the same. I couldn't find any information for TurboCAD. I had to get in touch with them. So not really even sure how good it would do this task. There are videos for Atom3D / Alibre. Which show that it does the task well.
thanks. the us site hasn't been loading for me. but i talked to them and they daid only pro has mass properties. the weird thing is before i talked to them i looked in the user manual and they aren't mentioned
Direct modeling is cool and Fillet, Chamfer, Boolean some strong!
Moi to Shape is easy by SKP format inbetweener
Render of course SimLab Composer lite (free)
PS If you export as DAE to SKetchUP, seems there is a bug even both programs are in unity meter!
You must scale * 1000 in Shape before the exportation!
else you will have some faces no filled!
