Hi Mike,

> By no planning on my part, it is set to Quads and Triangles.

Hmmm, well it sounds like you had the settings all set up properly.

If you run into problems with .3ds in the future let me know and we can try to figure out why .obj format was causing problems for you - .obj format works for many others exporting into SimLab so it should be possible to avoid whatever problems you were running into, I would probably need to see more details on the problems in order to give you any more tips though.

- Michael

No, it does not.
Each moving part should be a different colour.
And, at the start of the video, the lever at left should be approximately vertical.
I'm viewing the pdf using the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader DC.

Michael, perhaps you missed this edit to my previous post:

Just received this advice from SimLab:
"For simulation it is better to use an nurb based format like ACIS or STEP
while OBJ and 3DS will bring better material appearance.

ACIS and STEP will include inertia information, to get more accurate results.

So my suggestion to you is to try ACIS and STEP from MOI for simulation."
EDITED: 15 Feb by MGG942


So for simulation (and simple rendering) I've switched to STEP format and that seems fine for simulation and the level of rendering that I want.

Mike.

Hi Mike, yeah sorry I missed that part, that's great that STEP format will work for you.

- Michael

Frenchy, I've completed the design of this mechanism for 3D printing. Simulated it in SimLab Composer Mechanical and made a video that shows what the mechanism looks like in action.
The big plus of the 3D pdf file is that one can rotate the view in any way you want to.
Anyway, here is the YouTube link: https://youtu.be/cHt5Pa25lRg

Very nice!

So your objects were not broken! Only in the dark for me! :)


In your animation Simlab blends Physics and curves path objects or it's only "physics"?

PS In the PDF 3D for mysterious reasons I must click one by one object for have only one object colorized!
It's the same for you? (have you a Pc or a MAC ?)

I think that the simulation is a blend of physics and paths.
For example the part that is moved 'horizontally' is moved by physics but it has a constraint put on it so that it can only move in a straight line.
The constraint is necessary because I haven't included the base as an active part of the simulation.
The part that is moved vertically and one can see wobbling is physics only. It is restrained by interaction with the part within which it slides. And I have to give quite a bit of clearance at the design stage to cope with the inaccuracies of the 3D printing process that I'm using.
The gears and other rotating parts are constrained to rotate around a fixed axis.

As for the pdf.
I'm using Windows 10 64 bit.
The pdf does do something odd with the colours so that they are sometime quite different from the videos but for me they are always coloured and do not need to clicked on.

I planned to attach a pdf of the final design to see if that worked better for you but it's 24Mb so I've attached a pdf of an earlier project which is rendered in wood!

Thanks for the infos!

This last Wood PDF 3D works like a charm with all pieces in different color materials and of course the animation too!

I am right if I say that in this PDF 3D I can't rotate the handle for move the system of gears ?

I wonder why that 3D pdf worked for you and the other did not. A mystery.

You are right, the animation is not interactive.

However one can rotate the model, which stops the animation, and then re-start the animation looking from a different ange.
I expect that you are already doing this - just making sure.

<< I wonder why that 3D pdf worked for you and the other did not. A mystery.
yes colors of gears are dispeared on the first PDF as like the light keep them in shadows and kill colors! :)
Ask if its the same for other users!

<< You are right, the animation is not interactive.
just making sure ;)

<< However one can rotate the model, which stops the animation, and then re-start the animation looking from a different ange.
I expect that you are already doing this - just making sure
Of course! ;)