Hey, I'm a researcher doing biomedical research and I have a bunch of .stl files of scans of body parts (nasal passage). I was wondering if there was any way to use a mesh surface for making a mold. I'm hoping to have something that fits perfectly around these body parts, and being able to in solidworks make a negative of a small portion is all I need. Anyone know how to take a .stl scan carve the shape out of a block?
I have seen those threads. My issue is that scan to 3d does not do well with odd shapes and tends to simply break down. Instaed I was simply hoping that I would be able to cut the surface out of a solid using a .stl? Or am I missing something from the scan to 3d?
What is the mold made of, or what is the intended use of the mold?
If you don't need the mold cut in steel and therefore need a nurbs surface for cnc milling, there might be some other ways to do this.
Eventually I'm going to print in a rapid prototyper the part, in plastic. It's just an odd surface to make from the mesh to 3d editor, and the editor does not really want to accept the surface as anything other than an oddity. I'd love to see another way of going about this.
It also might make sense to contract this out if you are not able to invest the time or expense in acquiring additional software.
Geomagic (or RapidForm) could handle converting the scans to nurbs solids, which you could then use in SolidWorks.
One difficulty I have run into is thickening or shelling in SolidWorks where the thickness needed is larger than the minimum curvature. Some rapid prototyping software like Netfabb does a really good job at approximating or averaging a thickened surface, where SolidWorks would fail, and require a large amount of time to rebuild the surface.
Alternatively, it might be possible to do what you need using the meshes only, without converting them to nurbs surfaces.
Did you try this method https://forum.solidworks.com/message/351432#351432 ?
I think most people use the stl as a template/background and build a surface or solid model based on the stl.
What kind of feature are you getting when you import the .stl? Check your settings, the link Mark has shows all of that. If all you can get is a graphics body or mesh you might just have to trace the shape with some splines.
I've dealt with some pretty complex scan data and never had any luck with scan to 3D, it just seems to fail on highly curved surfaces. Can you go back and re-scan? Or maybe go to the system you're exporting from and adjust some settings there.
Welcome to SOLIDWORKS forums Charles.
Check this from another Charles https://forum.solidworks.com/message/229516#229516 if that helps.
If you have SW Premium version, then you can try using ScanTo3D tool also.
You might also find this post helpful for your future reference.