Well i have a problem with object size !
As I am helping a friend who is a jeweler in making
some rings for rapid prototyping I have a problem!
I made a simple cube to check out size and it has the scale 1cm.
When I save it as an object and import it into Kerkythea it has
the size of 1 meter !
When I export a cube of 1 meter and load it into Kerkythea it has the same size.
In the options both pulldowns are set to centimeters.
Any idea whats wrong ?
You can imagine that for rapid prototyping the right size is essential !
Peter

Hi Peter, unfortunately there is no mechanism inside of the .obj file format to describe the unit system of the numbers that are stored in it.

So whatever you export is just saved as plain numeric data, regardless of the unit system that you have set in MoI.

Different programs may interpret it in different ways, some may have a setting in import options so that you can manually tell it what unit system the file's coordinates are in.


One thing that may help - you can apply an automatic scale factor to OBJ exports, this is set under Options / OBJ options / Scale factor. So for instance if your OBJ export is coming in 100 times too big when read into Kerkythea, put a scale factor of 0.01 in there, and that will scale it down at export time for you automatically after that.


> You can imagine that for rapid prototyping the right size is essential !

Actually even the STL file format that was invented specifically for use with rapid prototyping does not contain any units information in it, you generally have to have the units tracked or agreed upon separately from the file itself.

- Michael

Thank you very much Michael for your fast help !
So it would probably be best to deliver the file with a print
and the sizes marked down with pencil on black and white.....
Peter

Hi Peter,

> So it would probably be best to deliver the file with a print
> and the sizes marked down with pencil on black and white.....

That's definitely a good idea to do that.

But talk to the people who are receiving your file first, they may have some convention like everything always specified in centimeters, something like that which they may expect for your data to conform to.

- Michael

Thank you very much I will do that.... apart from that I was unlucky to import moi 3d generated
Iges files into Alias studio PLE but was successful to import iges file from Alias studio into Moi 3d but I´m
trying hard to solve that issue.
The guy who makes the other jewels in italy for the jeweler uses Studio..
Peter

Hi Peter, I'm pretty sure that the Alias PLE version is a special stripped down version that has most of the regular file import/export capabilities removed.

So it is difficult to do file imports to that particular version. That version is basically intentionally limited on file handling.

It should work better to import IGES files into the full version of Alias instead of the PLE version.

You might check with the PolyTrans guys (http://okino.com) - I seem to remember that they may have some support for the native Alias ".wire" format, it is possible that they have some kind of converter that could convert from IGES into .wire and that may be possible to read into the Alias PLE version then.

- Michael

Thank you Michael !
I get iges from studio into Moi pretty well !
I will check out Okino !
Peter

Hi Peter, just a note - you'll probably need to e-mail the Okino guys to find out about .wire, I think it may be part of one of their more specialized conversion packs or something.

- Michael

yes I just looked at the standard package and its not in there !
I´ll ask ... thank you very much !
Peter

Hi Rayman,

Take a look at MiniMagics from www.materialise.com

Interesting Paulo
A very poorly designed site to travel around?(Or is that just me today?)'
Seems to be all about Stl files, which I have never seen/used yet (though I gather they are the "newer version off iges?")--but most of my apps can not accept Stl to use anyway

Tis a cruel world!
Brian.

Hi Brian,

STL files are mostly used by CAM programs.
Oddly enough, I've only ever used STL files because that's what I've needed to mill my designs.
I still haven't done any rendering, so have never needed any of the other formats, only STL.

regards Colin

Thank you very much !
I have been investigating this and yes those wax plots use stl files
but most of the service stations that do prototyping also do the conversion
from 3dm to stl for you !They even have programs to look for problem regions in
the files
Peter

Brian,
I friend of my showed me how this program
(magics) worked in combination with rhino40
It came with a Perfactory Envisiontec System

Personally when i browse a site i now already
what i am looking for and won't waist any time
for other things on the site(kind of lazy)

rayman gave me some keywords: jeweler,rings,rapid
prototyping witch made me think of deskproto
and then magics

programs like magics are essential because the STL file
must be absolutely closed

with minimagics(free download) you can analise
if the STL object is valid or not

When you draw complex forms in rhino40 it happens
quiet often (due to experience) that they are still open

So rayman can check his models before he sends them
to his friend

Thanks very much just downloaded minimagics !
Looks like its what I was lookink for...
Peter

Peter good luck...
DannyT thank you..