Many models available to carving people come in stl format only.
I would like to create a model in Moi, import one of those stl model then save it as an stl file. I don't need to edit the stl portion.
There is no option to import stl file in Moi. Beside resorting to Rhino, how could I do this?
Thanks,
Gaston

Hi Gaston, no there isn't any way to do that with MoI alone - MoI is not designed to be a polygon editing program so that also means that it does not try to open polygon model type files.

The data in STL files is just a totally different kind of data (triangular facets) than what MoI is set up to work on (NURBS surfaces).

MoI can export to a polygon file by dicing up smooth NURBS surfaces into little triangular facets, but it is not easy to do the reverse and "undice" a whole bunch of triangles back into large NURBS sheets.


> Beside resorting to Rhino, how could I do this?

Rhino would work because it is a kind of "dual mode" program that works on both polygons (kind of) and also NURBS.

But pretty much any polygon modeling tool would probably be able to merge different polygon chunks together and re-export as STL as it sounds like you want to do.

For example, Silo, Modo, Cinema4D, 3DS Max, etc...

There are also some STL-specific programs that would probably do the job too, there is one program called Magics which is often used for STL related functions. There is a "lite" version of it called MiniMagics that should probably be able to import different STL files and output a combined file:
http://www.materialise.com/materialise/view/en/2562719-MiniMagics.html

One thing to note though is that if you try to combine pieces together like you are talking about with no editing, you will end up with an STL file that has multiple solids in it rather than only a single solid which is more what it was originally designed to hold. That may cause problems with certain applications, but some stuff may be ok with it.

- Michael

>I would like to create a model in Moi, import one of those stl model then save it as an stl file.
hi ggagnon,
import STL in Wings3D, save it as OBJ
import OBJ in MoI with Obj23dm plugin
export OBJ from Moi to Wings3D then export to STL

Wings3D* is free, last v. is 1.2rc1 to download at www.wings3D.com

* (IMO the best free polygon modeler of galaxy)

Thanks you Michael and ycarry.
I have tried MiniMagics. Nice viewer, loads the stl file very fast, can import and show many files at once but no way to reposition them with respect one from the another. Worst in my case, the objects cannot be combined at save time.

ycarry, I have tried your suggestion and convert the stl --> obj --> 3dm. The resulting 3dm files contains 129692 Curves :o understandably Moi3d slows down to practically a halt. Thanks you for introducing Wings3D though.

What sotfware would you use if you wanted to make models like the ones shown here? Could this me made in Moi3d?
http://www.vectorart3d.com/store/

Thanks again,
Gaston

A program called Zssurf will make a relief from a bitmap in the 3dm format. I use it.

http://mwt.net/~sjedging/ZSURF4.zip

Hi Gaston - yeah the OBJ to 3DM converter only extracts the wireframe of the polygons to bring into MoI as curves.

That can be useful if you want to use them as a kind of snapping framework or reference while modeling a new version of it, but that will not work well for exporting to STL since STL needs to have surface data and not curve data.

For example if you just draw several lines, that cannot export to STL either, that's the same kind of thing that you have (wireframe only, not solids or surfaces) when you use that particular converter.

> What sotfware would you use if you wanted to make models like
> the ones shown here? Could this me made in Moi3d?

It's not really a good fit to do those kinds of bubbly relief type patterns in MoI.

Bitmap-based tools are a good fit for that, like Burr mentions ZSurf is a free tool and there are also ones like ArtCAM which are specialized for that kind of modeling only.

See some of these previous threads for some more information:

http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=602.7
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=2799.8
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=2640.1

Also aside from these "2.5D" programs which take a bitmap and then make a relief out of it, there are also some brush-based sculpting programs which can be good for doing relief type work. For those see these 3 programs: 3D-Coat, ZBrush, or Mudbox.

- Michael

Thank you Michael for the enlightenment :)
I definitely have to learn more about those file format. Although it should not be hard to find, if you know a specific tutorial on the subject, I would appreciate.

Gaston

Hi Gaston,

"What sotfware would you use if you wanted to make models like the ones shown here? Could this me made in Moi3d?"
http://www.vectorart3d.com/store/

Many of those particular pieces at Vector Art 3D were made using Silo.
Here's a link to the Silo Forum with info about how they were created.
http://www.silo3d.com/forum/showthread.php?t=8869

Another option for making those 2.5D type of images would be the Aspire program.
http://www.vectorart3d.com/index.cfm/Aspire_Software.htm

Hope this helps, Colin

Hi Gaston,

> Although it should not be hard to find, if you know a specific
> tutorial on the subject, I would appreciate.

Are you talking about the brush-based sculpting type programs?

I don't really know of any tutorials specifically myself, but there are probably several on each of the web sites for those programs.

3D-Coat: http://www.3d-coat.com/
ZBrush: http://www.pixologic.com/home.php
Mudbox: http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/index?id=13565063&siteID=123112


3D-Coat is probably a good one to focus on.


- Michael

Thank you Colin,
Now I know where the "Happy Dog" I purchased at $25 comes from :)

Aspire at $2000 is way out of hobbyist range, at least my range ;)
Gaston

Hi Michael,

>> Although it should not be hard to find, if you know a specific
>> tutorial on the subject, I would appreciate.

>Are you talking about the brush-based sculpting type programs?

No, I was referring to the basic of graphics I suppose: the jargon used like meshes, nurbs, polygons, ... rendering ... the plus and the limitation, divers file format used etc.
A simple tutorial on the basics.

Thanks you anyway, you have given me enough to "thinkering" with for the next little while :)

Gaston

Hi Gaston,

> No, I was referring to the basic of graphics I suppose: the
> jargon used like meshes, nurbs, polygons, ... rendering ... the
> plus and the limitation, divers file format used etc.
> A simple tutorial on the basics.

The problem is that there is not just one activity that computer graphics are used for, there are a whole bunch spanning from things like "Piping design for industrial waste management" all the way to "movie special effects" ...

The details of exactly what technology, file formats, etc... is used are different between those various uses of computer graphics.

So it's difficult to have an "overall tutorial" on such a wide ranging field, you need to look for things that are focused more on a particular kind of activity that you are interested in.

Maybe something like this could be useful as a general overview though:
http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Graphics-Dictionary-Advances-Development/dp/1584500190/

- Michael

>Maybe something like this could be useful as a general overview though:
>http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Graphics-Dictionary-Advances-Development/dp/1584500190/

Done. Thanks again.
Gaston