From IGES to STL

CAESES - 2015

FRIENDSHIP SYSTEMS © 2015

Introduction on how to mesh watertight

CAESES - 2015

FRIENDSHIP SYSTEMS © 2015

Agenda

 IGES Import
 IGES preprocessing
 Meshing
 Troubleshooting
 Export

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IGES Imports

 How an IGES can look like

A typical IGES Import

Duisburg Test Case (DTC) – Post-Panmax

Container Ship for Benchmarking
By O. el Moctar
University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany

*Please note: Although the following slides deal

with a ship hull, the described procedure can
be used for any IGES geometry

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IGES Preprocessing

 How to prepare the IGES import properly

Import IGES

1. Importing an IGES
– Import IGES via File > Import > IGES
– Deactivate model refresh
– If particular imported objects are not
needed -- delete/hide the objects
– Select all surfaces and set U-V resolution
to 3x3 (this may take a while)

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IGES Preprocessing

 How to prepare the IGES import properly

Repair flipped triangles

2. Repair the faces that have warnings

– Select the surface and change into Grid
Visualization
– If necessary include neighbor surfaces
into the selection as well
– Use exclusive view to keep the overview
– Set the surface into edit mode
– Sort the points that cause the flipped
triangles and leave edit mode

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IGES Preprocessing

 How to prepare the IGES import properly

Scopes Example

3. Sort surfaces in individual scopes

– Select the respective surfaces either in
the 3DView or in the CAD-Tree and
create a scope via CAD > Scope

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Meshing

 How to mesh properly

Trimesh Settings

1. Creating trimeshes that bundle surfaces

with similar curvature step by step
– Select all surfaces in a particular scope in
the CAD tree (not in the 3DView) and
create a trimesh
– Adapt the tessellation error as well as
the joining tolerance
– In order to see open edges more clearly
disable “Show Triangles”
– Assign colors to the trimesh parts for
export

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Meshing

 How to mesh properly

Order of Trimeshes to Provide Stability

2. Merging trimeshes in a final trimesh step by 3

step 2

1
– Therefore select several trimeshes and
create a new trimesh
– Keep an eye on the order
1
– Adapt the joining tolerance if necessary 2
3

– Note: Tessellation is freezed due to last

step

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Meshing

 How to mesh properly

Half-Model via Extruder

3. Closing the trimesh

– To create a half-model the extrude post-
processor can be used
– To create a full-model the trimesh can be
mirrored (scaling transformation) via an
image trimesh and then joined in a single
trimesh

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Meshing

 How to mesh properly

Joining Bilge Keels

4. Joining appendages and add-ons

– E.g. to join bilge keels a solid can be used
to apply Boolean operation to already
closed trimeshes and solids
– Boolean operations: Union, Intersection,
Difference

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Troubleshooting

 How to treat an IGES file of bad quality

Strip-wise Trimeshes

– Create trimeshes strip-wise and then join

the strips step by step (the order is very
important)
– Use the single source setting in order to
overwrite default settings, such as
internal snapping, edges to snap and
tessellation

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Troubleshooting

 How to treat an IGES file of bad quality

Trimesh Postprocessor

– Use additional functions of the trimesh

postprocessor
– Cutting the trimesh at an arbitrary plane
(a plane can be created via CAD >
Offsets> Plane) using the “trimesh
cutting plane” or at the coordinate
system planes using the “min max cut”
or “remove at plane”
– Remove small triangles using “remove
small triangles” by giving a custom
tolerance
– Improve the trimesh smoothness/
quality using “smooth normals”, “repair
orientations”, “remove duplicate points”
and “repair connectives”
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Export

 Exporting the final STL

Export of a STL

– Export the final STL either via File >

Export > STL … or via the console by
selecting the trimesh/solid and enter e.g.
“exportSTL()”
– In order to use the STL in a software
connector simply drag & drop it into the
Input Geometry field of the software
connector (create a software connector
via Connections > Software Connector)

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Matthias Maasch
maasch@friendship-systems.com

FRIENDSHIP SYSTEMS © 2015