I have an image (human nose) in .stl format. How can I convert it to open it in moi3d supported format.

I want to make some changes then export it to a usable 3d printer format

thx in advance

Marv

Hi Marv, unfortunately it's quite difficult to do that - .stl format contains its model data in polygon mesh form, that means the model is made up of a large number of little flat triangle facets.

MoI is not designed to work on that type of polygon mesh data, it works on a very different type of data: NURBS surfaces.

You will probably need to use a polygon mesh editing program to modify that kind of data, not MoI.

There are reverse engineering methods that could be used to construct NURBS surfaces from a dense polygon mesh but they are rather complex and specialized.

See this previous post for some more information:
http://moi3d.com/forum/index.php?webtag=MOI&msg=5149.4

If your nose model has a relatively low number of triangles in it (unlikely), then it could be possible to convert it to .obj format and use Max's ImportObj plugin from here: http://moi.maxsm.net/media/files/ instructions for installing a plug-in are here: http://moi3d.com/wiki/FAQ#Q:_How_do_I_install_a_plug-in_script.3F . But as described in the above link that's not likely to work very well if you have a pretty dense triangle mesh.

- Michael

Thanks Michael,
I also have the file in .obj and paint 3d. Does that mean any thing

Hi Marv,

> I also have the file in .obj and paint 3d. Does that mean any thing

Those are both also polygon mesh data formats so the same stuff from above applies to them as well.

- Michael

Hi Marv,
Max wrote an .obj file importer, which is available on the forum.
(Also there is an older obj23dm program, which I think Michael wrote.)
(So a bunch of triangles will result...)
- Brian
?Meshlab?

Hello,

there is also a stl-import inside the modified nodeeditor, but it supports only text-based stl. Very untested!

Have a nice day
Karsten

Hi Marv,

Having been a Jeweller & using other peoples STL's to mill waxes from, I've been in a similar situation to you...
...my easiest solution was to use 3D-Coat.

Bring your STL into 3DC as a voxel, modify as needed then export as an STL...
...you even have the option to reduce the STL should the modified file be too large for its intended application.

You also have the added benefit with 3DC that voxels can be used with Boolean functions...
...handy for those situations where the STL needs to have something removed from it.

If you're needing to also do renders as part of the modified STL, then 3DC can output OBJ's for that purpose too.
(not something I've done myself, but the features are all there & tutorials abound if I really needed it)

HTH, Colin