How to Reverse Engineer .STL Files in SolidWorks

[@eatinMcdonaldsfryz]

I think you skipped over the most important part, which is aligning the 3d scan to planes/coordinate system

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

A very good point! This model came pre aligned, as it was saved from an existing model for the design completion, but you are right. I will try to make a video on alignment and coordinate systems.

[@eatinMcdonaldsfryz]

@@forgeproductdevelopment that would be great!

[@Rycamcam]

@@forgeproductdevelopment Thanks, that would be great!

[@donr62]

@@forgeproductdevelopment I’d like to learn about that too.

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

I finally did it! check out the video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ml6WgJKMnspgic0

[@SixTough]

Brother I didn't even know you can extrude twice from one sketch, thank you

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Welcome into the light! You should check out my video on skeleton sketches if you really want to see the power of sketches.

[@kraftwurx_Aviation]

Thank you for teaching me something. Been using Solidworks for 18 years and never done that before with a sketch. I've done 3D sketch splines on a surface but didn't know you could do this.

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Glad I could show you something new! I feel like every project I do teaches me something. What do you do with SW?

[@Sampson2012bot]

Hello from China! Thank you!

[@76dmyers]

What an awesome instructor you are! I just now stumbled across your channel and subscribed. I have always struggled with reverse engineering STL's. Thank you for making it make sense!

[@mariocastro5866]

I'm starting to use 3D scanners with SW and this video will help me a lot. thanks!

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

That’s awesome! Glad I could help. What type of work are you doing with the scanner?

[@mariocastro5866]

@@forgeproductdevelopment I am using it to scan molded parts to calculate shrinking and also for other stuff like machine parts 😄

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

@@mariocastro5866 very cool. What type of scanner are you using for that type of work? I have to imagine it is very accurate for RE or quality control of machined parts.

[@yuritsiomra1399]

Great lesson, thank you.

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

You are very welcome!

[@reverseengineeringnx]

Please visit my channel for more Reverse Engineering video tutorials. Keep learning!

[@gururmert1008]

Bro you just saved me, thank's a lot !!

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Happy to help

[@universe8607]

What if I have a "clean" 3D mesh with triangular topology and already perfect edges/dimensions? Is it better to reverse engineer it or are there any faster ways to convert relatively complicated 3D meshes to editable solid bodies?

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

I do not personally know of a program that will take a mesh and create clean geometry out of it, though I can imagine something like that being out there, you may just have to find it. As for staying within SW, this probably depends on the size of the mesh, the complexity of the part, and how much editing needs to be done. On a small mesh you could just import as a solid and then use features to add or cut material. If you need a fully parametric model, then yes you will need to recreate it to have the proper feature tree and sketch geometry.

[@nalandahelena1941]

Hi, How can we reverse engineer an irregular scanned .STL file as a solid part that can be editable..? for example, a Rock or an Oyster?

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Honestly, you can do surfacing (think sweeping continuous surfaces such as car exteriors) in SW, but those types of complex "organic" shapes are not what SW excels at. You would likely be better served with a different software, maybe Rhino or Zbrush, that uses high polly surfaces to capture all those details. Hope this helps!

[@Rycamcam]

Thank you so much for sharing this tutorial! Very helpful

[@reverseengineeringnx]

Please visit my channel for more Reverse Engineering video tutorials. Keep learning!

[@hankscorpio1953]

This works great for simple parts, which begs the question of why not just measure and draw it? When trying this method for complex 3D scanned parts, SW struggles to open with those settings unfortunately...

[@Asynchronous-]

Overall a very good educational video to reverse engineer a scanned part. But here are my 2 cents to the process shown in the video. The first step should always be to check and fix alignment of the origin aswell as checking the geometry itself if its warped or crooked, ie squareness and parallelism of the main surfaces. In general you should really only use the scanned model as a reference to create an actual parametric model. All the sketches and planes you did should not be actually used for extrusions but used for construction reference. This way you can use them for defining actual real measurements for a fully adjustable part that can be edited like the original part. It takes a little bit more work but its nice to have the fully adjustable features for the whole part. That way you can customize it again and it wont be locked to the scan's dimensions which, in the real world, are always off, have weird decimals and never 100% accurate geometry. (In this example the angles are off and most of the dimensions have weird decimals) FYI if you do it this way the mass of this model is 100% accurate with the provided mass it should be. Thanks for the video!

[@momo79nono]

That's it....you make it so easy Thank you so much

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Most welcome 😊

[@reverseengineeringnx]

Please visit my channel for more Reverse Engineering video tutorials. Keep learning!

[@Auday365]

Really useful, I enjoyed the video and learned something new. thank you.

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Excellent, what kind of applications do you have for this workflow?

[@reverseengineeringnx]

Please visit my channel for more Reverse Engineering video tutorials. Keep learning!

[@pwest3732]

I've got all filters on, but cannot get vertexes or edges to highlight to extrude to the opposite side like at 5:15.

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Hmm, maybe try turning off all filters? There may also be a checked box in your settings that is stopping "dynamic highlight".

[@stevensaylor9430]

Great job. Very informative.

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Thank you!

[@gavinlewis2315]

How would you do this if the structure was hollow with internals?

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

As in you can't see the features on the inside to select them? I would use a combination of section view, transparency, select other and cutting away material, to get to the features I needed. Does that help?

[@k0nd0r2009]

Lo voy a probar, muchas gracioas por compartir tu conocimiento ► ! ! !

[@DustyLane]

Josh thanks for this video. I need to import several drawings into solidworks and remodel them as the original designer used blender. Im having issues with scale when importing. If I import the model into blender the model is the proper scale. But if I import it into solidworks the entire model is super small. Changing the import options from CM, MM, M, Ft, In doesnt do anything for importing. Any tips?

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Hmm, sounds like my first suggestion of changing the import units didn’t work. What is the file type you are importing? If it is3D geometry and you know what size it is supposed to be, I might just import using any units, then use the scale command and play around with the scale factor until it is the size it is supposed to be.

[@arthurduvenhage1105]

Im trying to reverse engineer an obj file of a kar98k rifle stock which is 3d scanned and sended to me but failing to do so ill use this video as guide thanks

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Kar98K! Now you are in my world! Is this for work or fun? Let me know if you want some help on it!

[@jeffmorrison9905]

I have a stl file, i want to modify it in solid works. i have tried to bring in as solid, then convert to solid, but still have lots of triangles. im a novice. im not a good designer but i need to make small tweaks to stl files. can you point me in the right direction

[@Mqpz.]

Hi, thanks for vid. What do u think about Mesh2Surface addon for SolidWorks?

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

I have not personally played around with it. What specifically are you trying to do? My typical workflows do not involve converting scan data to usable geometry within solidworks. Normally the scan is just reference to what I am creating. I know there are programs out there that are built for repairing and modifying meshes (zbrush, blender, others) and that is likely what I would use for something like this. Then I would import the clean geometry into SolidWorks and go from there. The mesh2surface plugin may be a cleaner solution than these programs, but I do not have enough experience to say for sure. I have used the PowerSurfacing plugin to good effect tho.

[@alimortadarabab2513]

relations must be deleted after defining them and getting the right dimensions from them, so the new model is not attached to the stl. file

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

I think this is a great tip, and a step I could have shown in my process. It would have taken more time in the video to dimension and re-constrain the sketches, but that would be best practice.

[@Rycamcam]

Why did you extrude the circular feature boss 2-ways? First, you did up to next (downwards), then you extruded up to vertex (upwards). Couldn't you have only extruded up to surface considering the circle sketch was already sitting on the correct plane?

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

For the first extrude, we could have extruded down to the surface of the body, since it was one continuous surface. For the second extrude (the cylinder) I wanted to use a point from the .stl to stop the feature. There are lots of ways you could have done it, and most would be valid.

[@antoniogomezruiz2700]

Awesome video! I´m starting to work using reverse engineer to design new parts, and this help me a lot, thank you

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

That’s awesome! One tip for reverse engineering from scan data: You don’t need as many points as you think. Accuracy of the point and knowledge about how the part was manufactured can go a long way, and help reduce file size. Good luck!

[@georgeduke481]

I have a complex STL drawing which can only be imported in SolidWorks as a Mesh geometry. Any tips on how to reverse it to a solid body?

[@juangarcia-fc2uf]

have you tried to use geomagic for solid works or something like that? it would work good for that

[@hahahayi1017]

Import it as a solid body, you can choose to do that in the options tap

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Does it need to be reverse engineered or just converted to a solid?

[@reverseengineeringnx]

Please visit my channel for more Reverse Engineering video tutorials. Keep learning!

[@westminsterstudios7353]

very helpful, thanks

[@chineseburger5787]

I need som ehelp as I cannot import as a graphics body, the option is greyed out

[@anassenpai5809]

That was a life saver

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Glad it helped

[@gokulraj3119]

This video is really useful

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Thank you for the kind words!

[@amirdn3952]

Thank you so much

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

You're most welcome

[@reverseengineeringnx]

Please visit my channel for more Reverse Engineering video tutorials. Keep learning!

[@FoolOfATuque]

As a Creo designer watching this it makes me understand how completely inept I am when it comes to operating Solidworks. 😂

[@rhetth-s8082]

What if the mesh is a .obj file?

[@ryanpatton1795]

Liked and subscribed. The algorithm has a funny way of showing you things you need when you need them. Can you please, PLEASE, do this with more organic STL files? I have to recreate an instrument and the curvatures/surfaces are killing me. Thank you

[@JB-ri6zp]

That's because it literally listens and watches you ;)

[@hahahayi1017]

This method only works with simple parts like the one he’s done here, you could try to just import your STL file as a solid body instead of a surface body.

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Would you mind sharing the file (or something similar). I would be happy to give it a try.

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

If you do not need to create perfect geometry, using the stl as a body may be a good option. It depends a lot on what you need out of the model.

[@WD1271]

Just discovered your video and really liked it. I learned a lot. I have a problem where occassionally a solid body is stuck on transparent and nothing I do can change it back to opaque again. I'm using SW2017. Can you do a video on that?

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Hmmm a video would be tough unless I can recreate the problem. I have seen similar things where surfaces will go transparent and look like sections of the model are missing. It usually resolves by restarting Solidworks. You can also try "ctrl+Q" to rebuild the feature tree and force it to solve the body again. It may also be graphics compatibility issue with the older software version. Updating to whatever version you can may help.

[@reverseengineeringnx]

Please visit my channel for more Reverse Engineering video tutorials. Keep learning!

[@gabinoxicohtencatl952]

Can you please show to save fail in SOLIDWORKS thank you

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Happy to help. Can you expolain what you need?

[@poroptical]

Thank you that so clearly

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

You are welcome and thanks for the SUB!

[@reverseengineeringnx]

Please visit my channel for more Reverse Engineering video tutorials. Keep learning!

[@FeatNaama]

There has to be a faster way to do this. I've tried to search but have not found one. Maybe some software can make this instantly, do you think that this is the only way?

[@josephlrrprecon1337]

THANK YOU -

[@monsterjesse]

Bravo 👏

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Thank you. I just hope it helped.

[@monsterjesse]

Oh absolutely. thank you for taking the time. this real world example was a great benefit. I'll be sure to pass on the video

[@phongban2162]

really helpful

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Glad to hear that

[@reverseengineeringnx]

Please visit my channel for more Reverse Engineering video tutorials. Keep learning!

[@LaaFist-SR]

Grazie mate

[@ofoghe-binahayat]

[@reverseengineeringnx]

Please visit my channel for more Reverse Engineering video tutorials. Keep learning!

[@JoshDil]

goood excersice

[@controverso4149]

Nice

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

Thanks

[@bill7488]

thank you

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

You're welcome

[@reverseengineeringnx]

Please visit my channel for more Reverse Engineering video tutorials. Keep learning!

[@vicentehernandez3332]

Aqui tienen el enlace del archivo que definitivamente no aparece en los comentarios. Saludos. Low Res 3D-scan of lost part in STL format drive.google.com/file/d/1ldW045BtJSEg-Ote9Wv2D4F8Qm_MHnWc/view?usp=sharing

[@hahahayi1017]

Seems like this method is only good for simpler parts

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

This is just a basic example to show how to pull information from the STL. The techniques can be applied to any feature to model more complex geometry. Also, keep in mind that Solidworks is not always the best tool for the job. For reverse engineering really organic models, other software may be better.

[@D1S0-]

@@forgeproductdevelopmentcould you point me to said software? Really struggling with an organic part I have to reverse engineer.

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

@@D1S0- The “Power Surfacing” add on for SW is a good option, if you want to stay within SolidWorks. Also, SW has browser based tools that can be used for SubD, but I have not personally used those. Rhino and Blender are less expensive tools for surfacing/organic work. There is a learning curve and you will have to import/export. If you can share the model, I would be happy to take a look at it for you. I have been meaning to do a organic stl RE video.

[@D1S0-]

@@forgeproductdevelopment yeah I don’t mind sending the stl file your way. Also I have to let you know that it’s a 3d scan with a mix of organic and non organic shapes. Where would you like me to send the part?

[@forgeproductdevelopment]

@@D1S0- [e-mail]

[@Tub8374]

Can u give me stl file

[@reverseengineeringnx]

Please visit my channel for more Reverse Engineering video tutorials. Keep learning!

[@Rananoman.mechanical.engineer]

Stl give me.

[@MauryXman]

but......without link for download? 🤔