Export to ACIS generates an empty file.

[Picco]

Hi,
actually I downloaded the current version of cadexchanger to convert STL files generated by blender into ACIS format. The loading of the STL mesh into cadexchanger works fine (I guess! The mesh is shown in the canvas). But exporting the data as SAT does not work properly. Even if there is no error message, the output file contains only "300 0 0 0
36 CAD Exchanger (http://www.cadexchanger.com) 8 ACIS 7.0 24 Sat Jul 24 19:23:48 2010 1 1e-007 1e-012 End-of-ACIS-data
". That's all. What's wrong? Can anybody explain me, what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks in advance!

[admin]

The reason is fundamental difference of the formats - set of triangles (STL) and exact geometry (ACIS).
See this thread - viewtopic.php?f=3&t=50

What seems to be really missing, as this question regularly pops up, is a warning dialog in the application that export is impossible.

[Picco]

Thank you for the answer and the explanation why it does not work. What a pity! Originally I'm looking for a translator from "Blender" into "SolidEdge" fomat. My basic idea was to generate STL out of Blender, thake this and convert it via cadexchanger to a common 3D format, like IGES, STEP or ACIS, etc.
Does anybody have an idea to solve my problem?

Thank's in advance. I'm happy about any hint's.

[admin]

Picco,
Could you explain your entire workflow ? Why would you need to import into Solid Edge? What kind of operations do you intend to perform there ?
Briefly looking at the list of formats supported by Blender at www.blender.org I see that they are all mesh-based, though they mention once Pro Engineer. So I am not sure if a combination with CAD/CAM/CAE software is foreseen at all. Why would anyone need such (for game-like digital content creation and CAx) ? So your hints on your usage model would be helpful.
Thanks,
Roman

[Picco]

Hi Roman,

some years ago I learned to use SolidEdge to engineer mechanical components. Later I got a "studend" version of Solid Edge for privat use. Since this time I spend patially my private time to design Space ships as a hobby, just for fun. Let's say that's a kind of recreation for me. As my models are getting bigger and bigger, in the same way I try to create them more realistic. This is in SE absolutely not a problem. But the only disadvantage are to genarate surfaces as you need for landscapes and humans or even aliens. With blender I found a good tool to generate such figures and to cover the deficiencies of SE. Now I'm looking for possibilities to import blender data into SE.
Any idea?

Thanks,
Picco

[admin]

Hi Picco,
Thanks for additional details, they help. Well, as I mentioned above, it seems there is no clear CAD-related interface in Blender. Most interfaces are mesh-based.
Of course, this is after a superficial review, so I could miss something.

Good luck anyway!
Roman