tcooksey

Is that on the horizon?

Thanks will take a look for the file.

Kevin, I do have Rhino installed, but the prompt did not show up during IC installation. It is version 6, will that make a difference and does the integration work with 6? Thanks, Troy

Has the Rhino Integration been discontinued in IC 2018? I did not see the option to select it during installation. Troy

As a follow up, we finally got this to work with Photoshop ( neither IC or Rhino worked, and I have not had a chance to try it in SW ). See the best practices document I attached previously. Our workflow was; 1) import OBJ data into Rhino 2) add base color of meshes in Rhino by assigning material colors 3) Export as 3ds out of Rhino 4) Open 3ds in Photoshop ( most recent version being used ) 5) Generate UVs 6) Open image map in PS and copy paste onto 3ds file 7) Once in proper place MERGE DOWN image map 8) Unify for 3D printing 9) Generate UVs 10) Export VRML with image output as BMP format 24bit. Most of this is in the Best Practices document, but it assumes you know how to work with the 3D files in PS. You may need to watch some demos on You Tube as we did. Just a note to Tito and IC, it seems like BMP image format works best with that 3D printer for the VRML output, which is current not an export option in IC. Troy

Thanks! FYI, I have attached a document that the Rapid Prototype vendor sent me regarding how to generate the necessary files in several different software packages. Note I also tried it in Rhino and this did not produce proper results either ( did not maintain image map ). Troy Best_Practice___Stratasys_J750_Color_Selection___English_A4_Print__002_.pdf

Tito, Thanks. File attached here. Note there is a mesh and a solid model of the figure in the file, but they seem to work the same during export. Troy ANGEL_03.zip

There is a new rapid prototyping machine from Strataysys, the J 750. This machine is a Polyjet / Objet machine capable of color 3D printing. They boast 330,000 possible colors as it mixes RGB resins as it is building the part. The parts they show are simply amazing. The machine supports images and textures mapped onto the objects and builds a 1 mm thick layer of these colors as an outer skin. The input they require to use on this machine is a VRML file. Attached is an image of a figure I am trying to export in this format ( on the left ). The figure on the right is the re-import of the VRML file I exported from Iron Cad. This file was exported saving the image map in jpeg format. It is obvious that the jpeg image does not support the alpha transparency of the original png file I mapped on, but it is also box mapping the image on the object. I had used slide projector mode to map the image originally. If I set the export options to gif, the VRML file imports the geometry fine, but no image map. My first choice had been png as it supports transparency in the alpha channel, but the program crashes during export ( report attached ). Any thoughts about this issue or how to get proper results? Thanks, Troy IRONCAD18.0_08_19_2016_10_41_AM_ExceptionLog.txt

Jonas, Sorry I have not been on the site for a few weeks to see your response. You are correct, my browser looked like it was docked, but indeed was not. Docking it did remove that notation. Thanks a lot for your insight. Troy

Kevin, Thanks, but I have restarted my system and now that comes up on every file I open, and there is not another instance of it open. Troy

Can someone remind me what it means when the IC file name in the windows tabs appears as FILENAME.ics:1 instead of FILENAME.ics I recall this happening before, but can't remember why. When this showed up yesterday, my scroll wheel zoom stopped working when you are in a 2D sketch. Thanks, Troy

Yes that is a good idea. We have had issues using linked parts from a master catalog ( getting accidentally changed or deleted ) and have not been able to use external links as effectively as we might. Thanks Tom, always a wealth of good ideas! Troy

I have three seats of IC and we keep all of our project files on a shared network drive where any of us can work on the shared files at any time. We typically do not make the files Read Only, as I might want to finish or rework a file that one of my employees started. We usually save multiple files as we progress through a project; PROJECT X-01.ics PROJECT X-02.ics PROJECT X-03.ics Usually doing a SAVE AS, when we do a major design change, or if it has had several days of work. If a file becomes corrupted or lost we don't lose too much, or we restore it from Carbonite. I suppose you could have a READ ONLY folder and post files to there when you think you are finished. You can always start a new file of revisions from that read only file, PROJECT X-04.ics, and save your own work to your own folder, then file it to your read only folder when you are done. I think if you are just careful, and save multiple files as you go along, you should minimize any accidents. Cloud backup and automatic drive backup also help minimize accidental deletion. Good organization of your files is also a plus. Does this help? Troy

Just noticed the materials catalog that can drag and drop color, material name, density all in one whack. Very nice! So here is what I would like to do along the same lines. I have created a massive catalog of drag and drop colors based on a popular color matching system. I would like to be able to drop these colors on a part and not only have it change the color but also add a custom property called Color and assign a color name to that property, for example PMS 750 C. Is there a way to modify my current catalog to do this, or recreate it to add the additional info? If this is possible, would the variable have to be assigned to the part prior to color drop or could the drop add it on the fly if not already in the part info? Thanks, Troy

So the Compose facet model just contains information that relates it to a catalog and element there in, and just does a swap when you convert it? If that is correct, does the catalog need to be opened when you convert it, or does it just go out and find it in your default catalog folder? Troy

Okay, that worked. Just out of curiosity, why does it need to pass through a catalog? I am trying to work out a work flow to streamline design changes down stream from some of our manufacturing vendors. As I have mentioned previously we do some Lego like toy construction sets. We currently have a part database consisting of hundreds of parts. Ultimately I am going to put the parts in several IC catalogs so that we can drag and drop our build designs, but that is in progress and we have just been doing it by copying files into the assembly we are building ( not externally linked to the database as we are still making changes to the database ). What I would ultimately like to do is send the vendor ( or actually my clients Hong Kong office ) my native ics file, let them open it in Compose and make various part substitutions by dragging and dropping parts from the Iron Cad catalogs I create from our database. Send the Compose file back to me and then I can use that going forward if I can convert it back to IC solids. Currently I have to work from photographs of the changes and go in and update my original IC file. So far so good in terms of how you guys set up the system for converting the compose meshes to solids ( which is functionality I need as we go forward with additional downstream uses ). My problem would be that we have already built a lot of sets that just have minor changes to turn them in to a new or refreshed product, so I don't want to have and rebuild a 500 piece set just to be able to convert the Compose model back to IC. Do you have any suggestion of how to work around this? Do I just drop that whole assembly into a catalog and pull it back out and start with that for a new item? Thanks, Troy

Kevin, Thanks, I will give that a try. Troy

The new functionality to convert a Compose model back to IC solid is extremely cool. The problem I am having is with older models. As a test, I open those in IC2014 Save As a new file I open the newly saved model in Compose 2014 Save it as an .ic3d file Open this back up in IC2014 and try to convert it, but it does nothing. Is there something different I need to do or is this something that is being fixed? Thanks, Troy

Tom, I have a good hand model that started life as a mesh model but was converted to a surface model via Rhino T-Splines plugin. To pose fingers you would need T Splines. Would this work for you? Troy

Tom, Not sure if you are looking for a plastic helical compression spring in plastic, or a cylindrical compression spring. The latter is available at centuryspring.com. This is a great supplier for off the shelf stock springs. Troy

Eric, I had recently reported some problems I had with the step format. Models were similar to what you described ( torn up ) when imported into other packages such as Wildfire. Parts will be missing in the step file. This occurs when you have linked parts across different non linked assemblies. The first assembly it comes to will have the parts, but occurrences thereafter do not. So I am not sure that you can blame your machine. Seems like a problem with the Step translator or ICs integration with it. Troy

Karen, There are a few buggy things about this feature, but it actually works pretty well if you work around the issues. Often when the CAPS lock is on, some letters will not appear in the text field when you type. Turn off the CAPS LOCK and use the shift key to get capital letters. If you are changing text, pick at the end of the text and back space to delete. I have reported these issues previously. Troy

Thanks, Will check it out.

Tom, Sorry for late response as I have been out of town. Wow. That looks great. Have you done any modeling in IC that you have passed to Blender for rendering? Troy