Adding Solid on Imported Geometry

[J.E.]

Hi All,

I've been trying to use the 'Add Solid' command on imported geometry but it only seems to work in small portions (not in entire swaths). I've attached jpegs documenting my issues. The Stitch and Trim Surfaces did not work either.

I'm wondering if there is a workflow in Vectorworks 2016 to simplify geometry of imported .skp/.dxf models. I've noticed that while Sketchup or Rhino may show surfaces as continuos, Vectorworks automatically converts surfaces into triangulated faces.

Since I'm concerned about avoiding heavy project files and longer rendering times, I'm wondering if there is a tried and true workflow for handling these situations by quickly and efficiently turning geometry into single surfaces/solids.

Thank you,

J.E.

[Benson Shaw]

Hi, JE -

1. Looks like those meshes are not completely coincident at the join, so the Solid Addition might just pick the parts that touch.

If possible, please paste those two parts in a new Vectorworks file and post here, or post a link to that skp or dxf chair file so others can take a look.

2. The legs look fairly simple, maybe you could recreate them in vectorworks with extrude along path. If a subsequent taper is needed, try the Taper Face tool or the Taper Solid mode of the Deform tool. Or, if you are working with v2016, try creating a new leg with the Edit Subdivision tool.

Good SubD tutorials here:

OK, Good luck!

-B

[Benson Shaw]

If the heavy mesh is too much CPU overhead, you will probably need to model the parts in vwx.

Some more things to think about:

1. The objects imported to vwx might not all be complete, connected meshes or valid solids for the Solid Addition command. Eg, some objects or portions might be "line" segments made of separate 3d polys or some portions of some imported objects might have other conditions making them invalid for the Solid Addition.

2. Something to try on duplicate of the chair legs:

•Select a segment of the leg

•Modify>Convert to Mesh

•Repeat with next segment

•Select both converted objects

•Model>Add Solids

If that does not work try the same process, but change the Convert step to Modify>Convert to Generic Solids.

If conversion works for two components, it likely will work for all, so select all at once, do the conversion on everything in one go. Probably creates a Group. If Solid Addition still needed, Edit the Group to add the portions as desired. Exit the Group. If desired, Ungroup.

-B

[PVA - Admin]

Could you possibly send me that VWX file (after you imported the geometry)at tech@vectorworks.net ATTN Jim please? I can submit it as an example area that needs to be improved.

[Kevin McAllister]

Personally I agree with Benson. Meshes are unwieldy in VW and I try to avoid them. I would investigate where these objects are from and try other methods of importing them if you believe they were not meshes originally (ie. they were NURBS or solids). Its more likely that they were still meshes and that the other software did some interpolated smoothing to display them.

If it were only one or two objects you could use a 3d printing type workflow to make them watertight. Export them as STL and use a tool like netfabb to repair them. netfabb Professional has a way to wrap the existing mesh and close all the small gaps using a tolerance. It would give you a watertight mesh that you could then try Stitch and Trim on.

I usually do as Benson says and rebuild the geometry using VW tools. Its usually faster and creates a more efficient drawing.

Kevin

[J.E.]

Update:

Thank you for all the tips:

Upon further inspection, there were 'micro' 3D polysurfaces showing up. I didn't notice them in the .dxf import file because it wasn't until I converted the mesh to 3d polysurface that they showed up. I did notice, however, that they were showing up when importing the .skp file. My guess is that these 'micro' surfaces are the line segments made up of separate 3D polygons that Benson mentioned in his post. I've attached images.

Once I got rid of the 'micro' 3d polysurfaces I was able to 'add solid' the entire section at once.

It would be nice if the 3d polysurfaces that could be joined did join, except that small portion, that way I could have narrowed down the problem surfaces a lot faster.

Jim: I will send you the vectorworks file as well as the original sketchup file if that works.

Thank you,

J.E.

[PVA - Admin]

Received, thank you. Giving it a kick now.

[PVA - Admin]

Same results effectively, even after converting the single mesh faces to NURBS I get a lockup when trying to add the entire leg together, but in 3-4 chunks it works just fine. Submitting this now.