How To Handle LARGE STL Files & Smooth The Surface - Fusion 360 Tutorial -

[@nicholasfigel4708]

Thanks LARS!!!! The t spline pull just saved me a lot of time. I was using mesh slice sketch and splines onto those but its way less robust than this! Thank you.

[@spikekent]

Fantastic Lars, if it has too many faces, chop it up ... I should have thought of that too lol

[@TheMastish]

I love the abstract idea of doing a complete face retopo in fusion 360 :D

[@cadcamstuff]

Thank you TheMastish

[@BlocksPlayTV]

Thank you so much! I have exactly this problem!

[@neilsmith5930]

as always excellent tips , thanks Lars

[@cadcamstuff]

Thank you Neil Smith

[@theroboticscodedepot7736]

F360 probably only handles 2 to the power 16 faces which is 65536, i.e and int number of faces.

[@swamihuman9395]

As for the "surface smoothness" of polygonal meshes, by the nature of the representation, a surface is always "approximated" by a "mesh" of polygons (typically triangles, but sometimes "quads"). Depending on the polygonal modeler, the approximation can be adjusted. Of course, if the model is merely acquired, any possible adjustments are limited. One such possible adjustment is "subdivision". A "down side" is that the polygon count increases. This is simply the nature of the process. Also, there is another approach altogether: sophisticated software (read "expensive") can extract parametric features from a mesh! How well this works I don't know, as I've only seen it demonstrated at a trade show (so, probably "canned" to work perfectly). Anyhow, at some scale, a mesh will always be "less than smooth" (or "bumpy"). A final note: the degree to which this issue is a problem depends on the intended end use. If used for 3D printing, the printer will have its limitations too, so the manipulated model may ultimately give "acceptable" results. For CAM/CNC work I'm not sure how it plays out, as I have no experience with that, and have only begun to look into it (for example, I know V-Carve can take STL 3D meshes for 3D toolpath generation). Anybody experienced/knowledgeable in these matters is encouraged to chime in:)

[@cadcamstuff]

Hi Swami Human Thank you for watching! AND for a great comment!

[@parzival_zd_1156]

Nice Work..👍👍👍👍😊

[@cadcamstuff]

Thank you THUNDER BUDDIES

[@parzival_zd_1156]

Lars Christensen I'm going tomorrow To buy a PC. I will Start Working from Tomorrow..😅😅

[@73p3ro]

Lars, first a question. How to show compression motion on a spring created inside the Fusion360. Second, how do you make bodies that are in the upper plane of the spring in an assembly follow this spring compression movement? Best regards !!!

[@cadcamstuff]

Hi Nelson batista,RIBEIRO Thank you for watching! I have not found a good workaround for making compression springs in Fusion. Only one I have come across is where you slice the spring a few places. Not fan of that methods BEst, Lars

[@73p3ro]

I had watched this video you mentioned, but I did not approve of the method used. Anyway thank you very much for your attention.

[@alienmoondudes8071]

I found by increasing the mesh triangles, it can be smoother. It's not perfect though

[@ObserverChat]

The truth needs to be told: Fusion is lousy in dealing with mesh files.

[@emslvmoddslv4568]

Unfortunate this is right.I suppose here you need to work with a strong hardware, and Fusion is done to be used with low performance PC. I notice that when you deal with big objects, then soft can not deal with.....even you will cut the main object , at the end those small b rep pieces (added together) it will have the same amount of information /EG 60.000 faces.I also agree that the software have a lot, Analysis, render animation etc For time the best solution is to edit/prepare the mesh on another software....

[@cadcamstuff]

I am not going to true to argue against that statement :-) Generally, mechanical CAD software is somewhat weak with mesh data

[@jflugum]

Well, Lars you're coming to the state I live in. Any think like a conference or sdomething?

[@cadcamstuff]

Sadly no. Just a quick one day visit at a customer for a few hours, then headed back to the airport. Best, Lars

[@thewholefamdamily]

Lars, I have started a project similar to this. Imported the STL from Recap photo. How would you go about making the solid just a shell of say 4mm? I nee it hollow.

[@cadcamstuff]

Hi Yo Paul Thank you for watching! After you have it as a solid, use the shell command without selecting anything, and it will make it hollow. I should show that in a livestream

[@XaymacaJah]

Sir Laars. Long time no watch. I had to rebuild my rog 552 laptop works now anyway.. I discovered the spur gear ad-ons. IF......I construct a gear profile just by using sketching... nooo problems. quick fast.. normal. done. ok. ==================================== BUT.. i was trying to use the spur gear ad-on to put together a planetary reduction gear box. SOON as i selected [ tools ], ad-ons.. annd selected the spur gear. ok the appropriate dialogue box showed up. then i input the profile i wanted. ok. the gear showed up. so... now i tried to put a cylinder over it so i could do a cut and make a ring gear. the blasted program hangs up.. takes a while.. the component list on the left goes black for 8 seconds or so... then the cut appears. i even tried it on my other gamer laptop.. the same hanging occurs. have you come across this annoyance with the ad-on features too???

[@swamihuman9395]

My craftsman uncle sez, "Nothing works better than the right tool.", and, "The world's best hammer makes the world's worst screwdriver". Unfortunately, the present F360 implementation of polygonal mesh editing/support is "lacking", making it practical in only a very limited number of use cases. Actually, I wonder if ANY 3D solid modeler handles meshes well. So, the reality is, any serious mesh work is best done outside of F360.

[@cadcamstuff]

Hi Swami Human Thank you for watching! You are totally right. Mesh data has never been amazing with any of the mechanical CAD software I have used in the past. Actually, Fusion is the only one that has some tools in it to modify and repair. Just never been enough push to get all the right tools into CAD programs

[@skyrim4713]

Could you do a Spartan mask thank you

[@cadcamstuff]

Hi sky rim Thank you for watching! Those are cool looking. You might be looking to the sculpt workspace: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d5m5noOvnJeKd6M Best, Lars

[@StephenBoyd21]

Sorry Lars, I didn’t like this stream. It felt like you were trying to make a solution to a problem that really shouldn’t exist. Fusion is not a modelling tool in the traditional sense.

[@cadcamstuff]

Really appreciate the feedback! Thank you for watching!

[@TheDarvec1]

2020 Fusion will not mesh to brep 30,000 facets....

[@Nobilangelo]

I find that the most difficult thing to do when importing STL files into Fusion 360 is to get the orientation right, relative to the Origin. Using Insert to import a file instead of Data Upload, then Mesh to BRep was the simple trick you gave us, Lars, and it eliminated the first major obstacle, but getting the back of the body flat on the X-Y plane is a very frustrating process, especially if there are a lot of faces, which adds slow to frustrating. Or is there a simple, quick trick? Align, in theory, can do it, but for me the practice did not match the theory. That chunk of presidents on Rushmore has a flat back relative to the front surface that has to be printed or milled, but in your video it is very noticeable that it is not flat to the X-Y plane, and therefore not vertically aligned with the Z axis. The question is, how to achieve that without going bananas... After writing that I thought of creating a slab then joining the BRep STL to it, so I shall see if that is the trick...

[@cadcamstuff]

I have to make it clear that I don’t consider myself a mesh expert, so there might be better tricks out there. But, one thing you might have to do is edit your imported model with some of the tools within Fusion. Like building a flat platform or take a square cut off the model so you have something to align to. Think of your mesh model like a piece of clay you need to machine. You might need to create the reference surfaces Hope this is useful

[@concreteblue22]

Solidworks would take that file right in no problem.