Drawing won't work for imported obj meshes

[RobH2]

I've imported an OBJ model that has hundreds of parts. It shows up fine in IC and has the red Assembly icon next to each element. I need to do some rough dimensions so I send it to a Drawing. It looks pretty good in the primary views but it won't dimension. None of the dimension tools will recognize geometry and allow me to create dimensions. Also, if I export what I see, the files are blank. 

I thought that if I converted every element to a 'solid' then things might work. But, I'd have to convert them one at a time. I can't 'bulk' convert to solid. That's impractical for over 400 parts. 

Am I doing something wrong? 

[HDEAR]

Hi Rob,

I have absolutely no idea if this will work or not, but have you saved the file as an ICS, closed down IC, re-started and then opened that particular file?

If not, for the couple of minutes it will take, maybe worth a shot.

Cheers,

Harley

 

[Malcolm Crowe]

Hi Rob,

You approach is correct. The imported model is Faceted only, and needs to be converted to solid for editing or generating 2D drawings.

To speed up the process, create an assembly of all of these faceted parts (if they aren't already). Select the assembly and then use the "Convert to Solid" tool. IRONCAD will then convert each part one-by-one, and for some of the parts will open a "Fit Surface Options" dialog box (see attached image). For the sake of speed you can simply hit the enter key each time this appears. Ideally there would be a setting somewhere that applies the selection for all, but I can't find one.

At the end of the process you may have a combination of Solid and Surface parts, which can then be edited (if wanted) and drawings produced.

For ICD the Generated Views will display all of these Solids and Surfaces. For those of us using CAXA there are view options regarding optionally showing Surfaces, 3D Curves and 2D Sketches. So if the converted model contains surface parts, in CAXA it is imported to ensure that the Surfaces option is selected in view options (otherwise they won't show).

Malcolm

Edited August 1, 2020 by Malcolm Crowe

[Malcolm Crowe]

Hi Rob,

Another point that may be of interest. From my testing when importing Faceted models (consisting of 3D Faces and Polyface Mesh), setting the modelling kernel of the 3D Scene to "Acis" before using the "Convert to Solid" tool, produces more reliable results compared to using the "Parasolid" kernel.

Malcolm

Edited August 4, 2020 by Malcolm Crowe

[RobH2]

Thanks guys, @HDEAR, that was a good 'safety tip' to keep in mind but didn't affect things for this file. @Malcolm Crowe, thanks for making me aware of that separate tool. As 'context sensitive' as many of the tools are, I'm surprised that it does not come up in a right click of an Assembly. Regardless, it's painfully slow and having to hit the 'enter' button each time instead of having it remember my choice is also inefficient (you can't walk away and go get coffee), but... it does work and it solves my immediate need. That's the most important thing, right?

 

Thanks to all...

Edited August 4, 2020 by RobH2
Note to IronCAD

[RobH2]

Hey, IronCAD if you are listening, It would be nice if you modified this tool a bit. I ran the "Convert to Solid" tool on an imported OBJ with 400 parts. It' ran for about 20 minutes.

I used a chip clip to hold down my 'enter' key so I could walk away and enable it to keep running without intervention. However, while this works, it has the side effect of completely preventing me from working on anything else on my machine as the 'enter' key is now held down. 

What about putting a persistent option box in the 'Fit Surface Options' box so that when it comes up you can check, 'Remember my Selection', to allow it to run without needing the 'enter' key? That way it can run for hours in the background and allow the user to make use of that time and use other programs on the machine?