Better STL to BRep Conversion in Fusion 360

There is a better way to import STL models into Fusion 360 than the "Mesh to BRep" tool.
1. Convert STL into OBJ with quads using "ReCap Photo" (NOT just "ReCap")
2. Import OBJ with quads into Fusion 360
3. Disable design history (which is the only way to get Sculpt mode)
4. Sculpt → Utilities → Convert → Quad mesh to T-splines
5. Sculpt → Utilities → Convert → T-splines to BRep
6. Re-enable design history
Switch Pro Controller Stand on Thingiverse: www.thingiverse.com/thing:303...
It looks like the original 3D scan of the controller is no longer available on Thingiverse for whatever reason. Here is the smoothed version exported as an OBJ file with quads, ready to be imported into Fusion 360: nicholas.piegdon.info/stuff/S...
MeshMixer site: www.meshmixer.com/
ReCap Photo site: www.autodesk.com/products/rec...
2022 Update: a better (and free) alternative to ReCap Photo is "Instant Meshes": github.com/wjakob/instant-meshes

[@CopyLion]

This is one very solid tutorial here! I like how you didn't spend 5 minutes on random introductions and another 5 minutes asking for subscriptions, straight to the point! Looking forward to your new videos.

[@CedarMcKay]

I've watched a lot of "get your stl into fusion 360" videos, and this is head and shoulders above. Thanks! Nice design too.

[@MichaelHulme]

WITHOUT A DOUBT, you ought to make some more of these video gems! You evidently have a gift for concise, well approached narratives & related instructions. Thank you! ...Looking forward to your next!

[@sciencegirl100]

This is beautiful and has now changed my life... THANK YOU for this! Never thought to use ReCap

[@mstoermer88]

Thank you for this tutorial. You made 3 days of importing and converting and failing into a breeze. Now I can quick and simple import and manipulate my scanned files. Thank you!

[@OCDRex11]

Fantastic tutorial! One of the best I have ever found for Fusion 360, let alone the importing issues with polygons that stop me all the time with Fusion.

[@loondawg99]

I was so happy to watch a video that didn't waste half the time asking me to subscribe that I subscribed. Seriously though, what an excellent video. Great info presented intelligently and directly. Wish more content providers followed your example. This is an excellent example of what "how to" videos should be.

[@PortalFPV]

Wow! I've been fighting the other way for a few weeks now. Very nice simple to the point tutorial. Thank you for your precision in speech! And damn....your modeling skills are on point

[@drfernandobayo]

Whoa!!! You did a VERY, VERY good job explaining the solution to something I've tried to deal with for a long time. Congratulations! Awesome video, and overall channel content!!! I definitely subbed/belled your channel.

[@bialyabnormal]

Brilliant tutorial mate, I've got ReCap installed but haven't used it yet, still I've installed it to check out the picture to 3d model feature. Now I know that this program can be used to something extra than my first purpose.

[@SamChaneyProductions]

This is incredibly useful and I love that Switch pro controller stand design. You have earned a sub!

[@microhaxo]

Excellent video. I wish there were more object scanned to make doing things like this much easier!

[@ebrewste]

Your videos are amazing. Your clarity of explanation and production values certainly don't seem like someone who uploads a video every couple years :)

[@TechnologistAtWork]

I like the way you talk. It's not annoying or boring like most KZbinrs

[@diegofonseca5096]

Thank you, appreciate all your work. I've just discovered your channel and it's amazing, keep on going!

[@William-McCueRC]

Dude. THANK YOU! i was feeling sick about buying a 400 dollar scanner and not being able to scan my rc car bodies and use them to cut solids in fusion 360. now ill be designing all sorts of parts with perfect fitment. if i make parts using this method and get a sale ill ba back here to tip you lol. thanks!

[@neoc03]

Thank you so much for making this. I looked at alternatives to recap to avoid dealing with the 30 day trial, and blender can also export to obj quads.

[@jpieroen]

Such a great video. Learned a lot, and I really like how on point you where in the video. Perfect pacing. And I learned a ton. Best 6 minutes spent. I hope you plan on making more video's in the future.

[@NicholasPiegdon]

Thanks! I've got a whole list of (maybe) interesting, (definitely) niche topics for future videos. This has just been a particularly hectic holiday season. New stuff soon, hopefully.

[@andremichaud8080]

And right there, you just made my day. Although I skipped the Meshmixer and Recap part and went directly into Blender.

[@daftm0nk]

Well now I've watched all 3 of your vids...looking fourward to more!

[@SwissplWatches]

That was fantrastic!!!! Wow! Thank you. Wish they made ReCap for Mac.

[@harrisonmfg4900]

This is how tutorials should be edited. Nice job.

[@justinhill9915]

Absolutely stellar tutorial. Thanks for taking the time to put this together.

[@DrJocelynSicotte]

This is a stunning tutorial. You are a master at putting together informative videos. Wow. More, please!

[@gregorychard]

Thank you so, so, so much for this simple and effective tutorial of STL to solid. This method is diamonds compare to all the others. Havagooday Greg

[@jasonbynum3595]

Great work around and the best I've found so far. Thank you!

[@pixelFiend]

Awesome. Well done, and thanks for the info, as well as showing the printed part afterward.

[@xksn]

straight to the point! nice vid

[@wschadow]

Very well done, learned a lot of new stuff in these 6min :)

[@morphinebeats]

This is a great tutorial. You can also download Blender which has a ReCap Modifier and Decimate Modifier.

[@Tarex_]

This video is amazing! i just subscribed if the content will be this competent, that was awesome!

[@cjhthirtyseven1745]

Awesome guide on working with stl's and nice design mate:)Thanks

[@Fishbone4u]

Dude! Easy to follow tutorial. You really should do more Fusion360 modeling tutorials and make some money monetizing them! Please make more!

[@spr00sem00se]

Bloody brilliant, I have been looking all over for ways to do this, its a shame that 360 cant handle an .stl on its own, bu this is a good workaround for now thanks

[@rorywquin]

Nice! Very clear and concise. Good radio voice!

[@NotPorn]

Thanks, man! I've been printing the hell out of these!

[@IXRAZO]

This dudes a legend!!! Thanks man! This make all the difference in the world!

[@daslolo]

WOW! so clean. And thanks for the concise tuto :)

[@alfarme]

you saved my life with this trick, haha! thank you!

[@TheTechy2]

Fire video, i just hope that inventor can deal with quads just as well

[@ozjamin2844]

Outstanding work mate and great video. 👍

[@sashasrdic]

Absolutely fantastic job on the video and explanation! Much thanks!

[@mobo9391]

Sweet! You did in 5 min what other do in a confusing 30min to hour. Thx man!!

[@Bastelsaal]

Very nice, thank you for the detailed story! ❤

[@Beanpapac15]

This was so helpful, thank you

[@pauldavidson317]

This is friggin incredible! Thank you!!!

[@mm2dip]

Wow! Thank you for all this new information for me 👍🏻

[@ZozoleonLego]

This is life changing... Thank you!

[@thecalipercnc2800]

thanks man for such a tutorial i will try it and i hope my problem will be fixed

[@2danshepherd]

Great tips and cool design. Thanks.

[@fumifire]

Great suggestion and the tutorial. Thanks! I'll try it immediately.

[@inasmit5789]

Great job! Easy peasy to follow.

[@cameronidk2]

BOSS!! Moves! your going places son!

[@3Murderer]

you have to make more videos like that!! thank you for your work. I subscribe

[@suivzmoi]

this helped me a ton. I love this tip.

[@hoegge]

Very nice video. Did not know recap had a free version. Instant meshes can do the same for free too. BTW; there is no need to stop capturing history. It can all be done from the edit mesh and form parts of Fusion now

[@NicholasPiegdon]

I think in the intervening two years, there might not be a free version of Recap anymore. :/ Someone else had pointed to Instant Meshes, too, and I like that tool a lot more! Having some user interactivity to guide the mesh creation is much better than just running it through Recap's black box. I haven't tried that new stuff in Fusion yet, though. It's probably time to make an updated version of the video to cover some of the improvements. Thanks for the feedback!

[@neilfox9854]

What CopyLion said. No mincing words, great instructional video.

[@abdulrahmanabdulmoghni9047]

you are the best man you really helped me thank you alot

[@raymondwilliams6878]

Nice!!!!! I needed this. Thanks!

[@JeffSmith-iu7dp]

Nice clean video man. I typically teach a similar workflow (not always with mishmixer or recap, but have done that was well). I work on a customer support team for Fusion.

[@NicholasPiegdon]

Thanks! I've been meaning to make a follow-up video that shows those early steps replaced with Instant Meshes. That little utility makes it a lot faster and easier to get a good result (with some more interactivity during the process to fine-tune problem spots). Soon, hopefully.

[@neilgower2558]

Nice one . Every days a school day . Happy modifying

[@jijames1535]

wonderful design !!!!

[@VDM87]

Super nice tutorial, thanks man

[@petrkubena]

Great tutorial. Thanks.

[@stephentrenta3514]

You my friend are a godsend! Thanks!

[@thomas9793]

This is great, thanks!

[@dancook6322]

Nice job! Thanks for the tips.

[@AllanElkaim]

Amazing video ! Thank you so much !

[@OnnieKoski]

Great video!

[@adamshields7545]

Whether this will work for me or not, doesn't matter. Great video! I'm trying to make a stand for PS4 controllers! Xbox One controllers (and even my Switch Pro) were easy enough for me if I'm honest using calipers. The bizarre shape of the PS4 controller however means your video might actually help me get this done! If that happens, I tip my hat to you. If not, I give you a nod and a wink and thank you nonetheless. This will help someone for certain and here's to it being me!

[@TheCannibal94]

great video, already subscribed

[@AHSEN.]

Very helpful. Thanks a lot.

[@heyjianjing]

THANK YOU!

[@4funrc11]

Nice job in many ways! 👍 I think I'll give it a try. And depending on my success, maybe I can tryout _Instant Meshes_ (Instant Field-Aligned Meshes) too. Thx! 😀

[@travistate1002]

Thanks for this stand

[@Ashleylear]

Nice video, thanks!

[@swamihuman9395]

Great job. Thx.

[@Raptorsirrationalinventions]

great video, thanks for sharing

[@kantana1022]

Thanks! Subscribed.

[@JACB006]

Excellent.

[@SantinoCaruso]

thank you!

[@OwLhYuNk]

amazing video thanks a lot :)

[@curromelgar3250]

Thanks!

[@eljoseto]

EXCELENT! THANKS A LOT!

[@JeffBradway]

Very smart!

[@B3D]

Thank you for the tutorial. it helpful

[@jdknives5788]

awesome video thanks

[@Deneteus]

I like this video. Just need a PS4 version now. I was going to do something like this to create a new radio face for my dash.

[@S2_Inlinefive]

Thank you!

[@bobafett5640]

Absolutely awesome vid! I’ve had this problem for so long and a solution has finally presented itself in a clear concise manner, thanks so much. Was wondering if you could clarify the part about ReCap, so you just download the free trial and it will let you keep using it even after 30 days?

[@NicholasPiegdon]

Yep. There aren't any other steps besides saying "No" whenever they ask if you want to subscribe. The 30-day trial is technically for "ReCap Pro", but it's also the only way to download plain "ReCap", which is free to use and still has the export as "OBJ Quads" feature. It feels like an intentionally confusing scheme to try and trick people into subscribing when they don't actually need to.

[@WestEast3259585]

i need more videos from you

[@theprimonemo]

well done thanks

[@rawbevans]

yessssss! thanks! I had been creating beautiful quad meshes in 3dsmax only to have fusion decimate them into horrid triangulated trash. Now I know!

[@aliumma7528]

dude, you saved me

[@OriginalJetForMe]

This is great. Has this workflow improved any in the current version?

[@Steve2Q]

This is Great! The only problem I had was trying to download from Autodesk; I ended up having to use the co.uk site to successfully download a trial.

[@bergamt]

Am I wrong to be a little annoyed that Autodesk already has all of the code required to make the triangle mesh -> quad mesh -> t-spline -> brep conversion a one-click process but instead they spread it out over two apps and three dialogs? I guess I'm not paying them any money, but a lot of people are, and if I was one of those people I would be legit mad.

[@NicholasPiegdon]

I was thinking the same thing. To be fair: each one of those steps can run into its own problems. I was trying the same process on a different model earlier today and ran into some trouble on the T-spline to BRep step (where a couple points were too sharp?) and it needed some manual intervention. That doesn't give them a free pass though. They could combine all of those error detection steps into the same single-click, too!

[@petercondescending1681]

Each software is made by a different studio... They could implement it (Pretty please), but it might be inner politics

[@10throwfilms]

To sweeten the deal, Recap is only available for windows... so no use to people on mac and linux I guess.

[@repositorytutorial3d50]

just buy rhino it does it all :)

[@DarthandVader]

I´m crying. Thank you

[@mavigogun]

Soooooooooo goooooooooood.

[@kostiantynabramov]

4:13 - OOpps! You have a hole on the right side cavity but easy to fix.