>>"""""""""Apples and oranges. One is a CAD program (with all the implications and complications), the other is a modelling program."""""""""""

> Errrr. NOT.

You can elaborate ?

You called an apple an orange, or was it an orange an apple?

MoI is a CAD package.

Solidworks is a CAD package.

ViaCad is a CAD package.

CAD= Computer aided design. We model in all of these.

It appears you were refering to a toolset that any one CAD package contains as a difference?

> you were refering to a toolset ..

Yes, you could drive a nail into a wall using a screw-driver. Would you call the screw-driver a hammer ?

""""""""""
Yes, you could drive a nail into a wall using a screw-driver. Would you call the screw-driver a hammer ?""""""""""

No, I would call it a tool. Then I would point out that you are using the wrong tool for the job.

But that is a ridiculous analogy to try to make the point of the misleading statement you made.

Ok guys, let's please not hijack Jesper's thread with an argument.

Thanks,
- Michael

Hi Jesper,

> My guess is that the volume is 8.363 cm3
> meaning that the weight will be about 85 grams.
> Could that be right?

Yep that's correct with the sizes you mentioned, because you didn't set the units, which I should of noticed also, the part exported out ten times bigger.

> I reckon this is why one half (bottom?) was not a solid.
> How do you see this, by the way?

When I first open a model from someone else the first thing I do is select it and in the information panel as shown below MoI tells me what the model is, in your case it was a joined surface.



Then to find out where surfaces/faces are not joined I use the script SelectNakedEdges http://kyticka.webzdarma.cz/3d/moi/#SelectNaked that's where I found that something wasn't right with the bottom half of your model, fixed it as mentioned above then exported it.

-

Hi Jesper

have a look here


http://www.rapidprototype.com.au/
http://quotes.rapidprototype.com.au/

they have a online quote system, upload your STL, they will work out the volume and you can even work out rough prices in variuos metals, i.e silver, gold.... 111x73x3 should be well under 85 grams :)

this is the sort of result they give you.... has you can see my pendant with was 37.18 x 31.50 x 3.59 mm volume of just under 1cm3

Getting the volume of an STL is a good idea! Especially if you were planning on 3D printing anyway.

There are also some other STL viewers/checkers that could be used for that, one is MiniMagics:
http://software.materialise.com/minimagics

- Michael

Hi all & good morning ;-)

& thanks again for your suggestions & comments...

@Steve: This is very interesting indeed - both the calculator and the investment casting opportunity. Just a bit far away it is (I live in Denmark) & the Australian dollar has gone up a lot lately relative to the Euro, and I'll have to pay about 27% taxes on the finished product + shipment price so ... Yet I'll try it out and see what the prices are ..

@Michael: Thanks again! I've actually just completed the first trial version of the design I've shown here previously so would be interesting to see what it looks like in a viewer.

@DannyT: Thank you also for your follow-up & link.

I'm thinking that I might end up having a full toolbox surrounding MoI3D even in the trial period - thank you so much!

In time I may also be interested in doing architectural design & wonder if you have tried to use MoI for this? I watched a tutorial the other day on how Doric Pillars could be modelled and the kind of architecture I'm interested in is something that may resemble Gaudi's:

http://www.google.dk/imgres?hl=da&safe=active&biw=1600&bih=1099&tbs=isz:lt,islt:2mp&tbm=isch&tbnid=NW1bjveXD3KXBM:&imgrefurl=http://kejohnstone.wordpress.com/page/2/&docid=OrjpZJWsXXwaDM&imgurl=http://kejohnstone.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/img_0805.jpg&w=4320&h=2850&ei=5kUSUMTTJsWKhQfN7ICgBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=876&vpy=379&dur=428&hovh=163&hovw=228&tx=160&ty=78&sig=114046012301637364865&page=1&tbnh=155&tbnw=207&start=0&ndsp=37&ved=1t:429,r:12,s:0,i:107

I reckon MoI3D can be used for the modelling part but for rendering the final output so that it is photorealistic are there any facilities in MoI that allows for this? Or should I export it to another program (e.g. Blender or Modo or?)

Greetings,

Jesper

Hi Jesper - MoI does not itself have any rendering mechanisms built into it, it's focused just on modeling.

In order to render you do need to export to a different rendering program. Blender can work but it's fairly painful to use with CAD data because it's not able to import vertex normals for controlling the shading as pretty much all other renderers will do.

There are quite a few people that use MoI in combination with Modo for rendering, and also Cinema4D, Simlab Composer, KeyShot, or Carrara are some other pretty frequently used renderers as well.

- Michael

Hey Michael,

Thanks again for replying & suggesting.

'Best for your day ;-)

Jesper

Hi again,

... just would like to say that as I use this program more I am increasingly impressed with its "simplicity" combined with its ability to do what I'd like to do ...

Thanks ;-)

Jesper

Thanks Jesper, I'm glad that you're liking it!

- Michael

You are welcome Michael ;-) ... Probably some challenges will show up along the way but I really like using it - very straightforward and intuitive to me ...

Greetings,

Jesper