Topic: Turning 3dpolyfacemesh or individual faces into a solid.

[JCTER]

I know I've had to do this before.  I am brain farting or drawing a blank though.

I have a file, attached, as a .3sd or .dxf file.  3ds file is composed of a few closed polyface meshes, once importing into Autocad.

.dxf file is 335,000+/- individual 3dfaces

How the heck do I get a solid out of this, such that I can perform simple commands like "Slice" and what not?  I no likey the meshes.  I like solids.

Besides, Autocad seems to run exponentially faster with a solid than a ubermesh.

Any hints?  No I don't have 3dsmax, so I can't export in any different ways, if that's a possibility.  Files attached.

[mjfarrell]

Issue


Three dimensional objects, including regions, solids, meshes, objects drawn by extruding or revolving, Boolean operations, and solid models can all be converted into polyface meshes or 3D faces.


Solution


To convert these type of objects:


1.Use the 3DSOUT command to export objects from a drawing. Use the default settings.

2.Open a new drawing.

3.Enter 3DSIN on the command line.

4.Select the new drawing you just created.

5.From the 3D Studio Import Options dialog box, choose the Add All button.

6.Choose OK.
The objects will load into the drawing as polyface meshes.

To create 3D faces from the polyface meshes, explode the polyface meshes.

See also

Importing a 3DS file

[JCTER]

Three dimensional objects, including regions, solids, meshes, objects drawn by extruding or revolving, Boolean operations, and solid models can all be converted into polyface meshes or 3D faces.

Thanks, but... backwards thinking are you

I have a file, attached,... composed of a few closed polyface meshes, ...

How the heck do I get a solid out of this, ...

I have a file composed of meshes already.  What I'm needing to do is go the -other- way and create solids from that.  Similar to the M2S.lsp file so famous, except it doesn't work for these, for some reason, since they're not open meshes, and are actually 'closed' meshes... I have no idea how the M2S lisp works, so can't really comment on it's operation or what that all means.

It's not a -terribly- complex model that i could probably model over with solid shapes, but that's a PITA bit of work I'd hope to avoid.

[JCTER]

Sycode shareware utility = ineffective and useless.  Converts to a surface.  Other tools can not convert that surface to a solid.

Since I didn't mention before: AutoCAD native command "convtosolid" also simply errors out with the ever-informative "Object cannot be converted" despite trying every possible option for SMOOTHMESHCONVERT sysvar.

[mjfarrell]

I was thinking those instructions would then let you build a solid from all the faces resulting from the 'explosion' of said mesh....sort of what the document implies to be possible...

[mjfarrell]

Sycode shareware utility = ineffective and useless.  Converts to a surface.  Other tools can not convert that surface to a solid.

Since I didn't mention before: AutoCAD native command "convtosolid" also simply errors out with the ever-informative "Object cannot be converted" despite trying every possible option for SMOOTHMESHCONVERT sysvar.

The process errors out because the data meets at least two of the following conditions:


Limitations on Conversion to Solid Objects

Object Description
Polyline Cannot contain zero-width vertices.
Polyline Cannot contain segments of variable width.
Separate objects that simulate a closed surface Cannot be a planar surface with contiguous edges or an exploded 3D solid box into six regions. However, you cannot convert those separate objects back to a solid with CONVTOSOLID. 
Planar surfaces with contiguous edges Cannot convert separate objects, even if they enclose a volume without gaps.
Exploded 3D solid Cannot convert separate objects (in this case, regions).

[JCTER]

I was thinking those instructions would then let you build a solid from all the faces resulting from the 'explosion' of said mesh....sort of what the document implies to be possible...

already tried that with the .dxf with is the 'explosion' of the mesh, constructed of individual faces... no dice.

Probably just going to model it from scratch.  Oh well.

[mjfarrell]

yes the  culprit of the fail is: Planar surfaces with contiguous edges

that thing is rotten with them

[t-bear]

yes the  culprit of the fail is: Planar surfaces with contiguous edges

that thing is rotten with them

This has always confused me.  One would think that, in order to turn multiple planar surfaces into a solid, they would HAVE to be touching each other....otherwise, there would be gaps in your 3D solid.....but that's just me....

[JCTER]

yes the  culprit of the fail is: Planar surfaces with contiguous edges

that thing is rotten with them

This has always confused me.  One would think that, in order to turn multiple planar surfaces into a solid, they would HAVE to be touching each other....otherwise, there would be gaps in your 3D solid.....but that's just me....

The requirements for turning a mesh into a solid is very... confusing... to me. :\  Still. heh.  I mainly just take a shot in the dark and hope for the best, with that.  That's why I typically avoid working with mesh objects altogether.  I can create lofts and sliced solids.

[t-bear]

yes the  culprit of the fail is: Planar surfaces with contiguous edges

that thing is rotten with them

This has always confused me.  One would think that, in order to turn multiple planar surfaces into a solid, they would HAVE to be touching each other....otherwise, there would be gaps in your 3D solid.....but that's just me....

The requirements for turning a mesh into a solid is very... confusing... to me. :\  Still. heh.  I mainly just take a shot in the dark and hope for the best, with that.  That's why I typically avoid working with mesh objects altogether.  I can create lofts and sliced solids.

Same here kiddo.  We've been designing with 3D solids in generic ACAD since R2000i...would never want to go back.