Architectural Object Conversion

[Kevin McAllister]

All architectural objects need an easy method to convert them to generic solid 3D geometry. This is essential for prepping models for 3D printing.

Kevin

[Kevin McAllister]

And even worse, doors need to scale with walls when you scale a model using a scale factor. This borders on being a bug....

[bcd]

Have you tried exporting your model as an STL file and rescaling it then either in VW or external software?

[Kevin McAllister]

bcd,

That's definitely a workaround. In many cases I want to make a 3d print ready solids model directly in VW. An STL is just a bunch of triangles that are much harder to work with.

Architectural objects need to convert to group in a similar manner to hybrid symbols - turning into 2d components in top/plan view and 3d components in a 3d view. Converting to a bunch of 3d polygons is just not useful.

Kevin

[bcd]

I'm not sure I'm understanding the problem correctly Kevin.

I'm suggesting exporting to STL as a one-way exercise but leaving the VW model intact for modification as needed. Am I missing something obvious?

(I couldn't imagine voluntarily trying to manipulate an STL model)

[Kevin McAllister]

Now I'm confused. In your first response you suggested doing the work in an external piece of software. In your second response you suggested keeping the workflow in VW.

My wish was merely to have more control over converting architectural plug in objects to proper 3d solids internally. VW will do this in a lot of ways using the export process. This way I can do all of my prep in VW including scaling the model (walls with openings can't be scaled properly). I wasn't looking for a workaround. I have a workflow, I am wishing for a better workflow.... that's what the wish list is for....

KM

[AndiACD]

I have a workflow, I am wishing for a better workflow.... that's what the wish list is for....

Thank you Kevin

[bcd]

Photoshop CC recently launched a 3d print component - it's not unreasonable to expect VW to also develop a 3d print prep module complete with printer profiles, slicer parameters, layout, supports, min-wall thicknesses, multi-materials, etc..

I feel this should be done as single project. In the meantime workarounds & suggestions cannot hurt the conversation. It's not infrequent for a Wish List item to be moot because a solution already exists within VW. Your OP spoke of 3d solids being 'essential' for the production of 3d prints from VW. That's probably why I felt you would be open to a 'workaround'. I was offering my perspective because - at least in my experience - this isn't the case.

[Kevin McAllister]

Hi bcd,

My apologies, I wasn't intending to be rude. I've had a lot of frustration with converting objects in VW and I didn't mean to project it through my typing. Most of my frustration focusses on the inconsistent way VW treats objects and has been expressed in another wish list thread.

I like working with solids because that's what VW is best at. When things become polygons or NURBS the interface is less than ideal and I tend to move to either Rhino or C4D.

For 3D printing I've found that a clean solid (usually one solid addition) gives the most reliable result and means less processing between the VW export and printing. Once things become polygons (STL etc.) its much harder to combine objects in a clean way. Its also very easy to end up with surfaces in the same plane which cause a lot of slicing errors. I have a full licence of Netfabb professional so I can easily deal with these errors when they come up but I would prefer to prevent them instead.

Whether to scale in VW or not is decide on a project by project basis. Its often better not to and do it further down stream but if you need to meet a minimum tolerance for printability (ie. Shapeways design guidelines) its easier to do it at the output scale instead of in the full size model.

Kevin

[bcd]

Thank you Kevin - converting say a wall to a 3d solid does make way more sense than breaking it down into 3d polygons.

We had this in an earlier post - there should be degrees of decomposition, eg.:

PIO->Hi level objects (sweeps/extrudes) ->3d solids->3d Polys/Nurbs Surfaces/Meshes

+1 for you wish.

[Dieter @ DWorks]

You can convert to group with architectural objects, the same as the hybrid symbols, because they are hybrid symbols...

[PVA - Admin]

The main problems with trying to scale it after exporting to STL, is that you can only scale the geometry as a whole. As Kevin said, you essentially have a pile of triangles that are not easy to work with directly. ("Not Easy" being a nice way of saying its nigh on impossible.)

When trying to 3D print an architectural object, scaling the whole object after the export presents problems with wall (printed object walls, not the actual walls you create din VW) thicknesses and gaps between perimeters not registering properly.

The ability to completely scale ALL 3D geometry, plugins included, within Vectorworks itself would really solve a lot of these problems. A way of "breaking" away all the 3D geometry from its 2D/Hybrid components in order to scale it in a matter more suited to 3D model export would be very useful indeed, as it really is a completely different type of scaling than you would normally want in a CAD drawing. Submitting now.