get started with netfabb studio professional september 2012
TRANSCRIPT
Get started with netfabb Studio Professional
September 2012
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Get started with netfabb Studio Professional
netfabb Studio Professional is an advanced software for 3d printing and additive
manufacturing that bridges the gap between content and machine. netfabb Studio
Professional provides tools to verify, modify, optimize and finalize 3D files for
manufacturing. Direct CAD export often generate errors that can influence the end
result of a printed part and professional build setup require the ability of the designer
and operator to optimize the print data for production. netfabb Studio Professional is
designed to provide designers and machine operators with the toolbox needed to
ensure that the print data is suitable for production and to make modifications as
needed for manufacturing. netfabb also offers very favorable terms for site licenses to
enable everyone in a team to work with the same set of tools. Take control of you data
with netfabb Studio Professional.
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Open a file
netfabb Studio Professional can open 3D files on a number of formats including STL,
3DS, X3D, VRML and others. You can also open a number of common slice formats.
To open native CAD formats you can purchase the netfabb file import tool that can
open and convert over 20 different CAD formats including STEP, IGES, Pro/E, Catia and
Solidworks.
netfabb will recognize all file formats it can open. Just locate the file and select it. Set
netfabb Studio Professional as default software for its file formats and you can also
just double‐click on a file to open.
The File preview browser is a useful tool that enables you to preview a file before
deciding to open it in netfabb Studio. The File preview browser can regonize and
preview both 3D files and slice files. Just go to the folder of your choice and preview
the files. Double‐click or select “Open file” to load the file to netfabb Studio.
Under save as you can save your work as a netfabb project file. This format will contain
all information open in you netfabb Studio software so you can save and continue
whenever you want. The netfabb project file format is a highly compressed format that
reduces the size of for example STL’s to a fraction of its normal size.
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Measure and verify
The first thing you want to do with a file is often to see what you’ve got. netfabb
Studio Professional provides powerful tools to quickly extract the main characteristics
of a file and to check its manufacturability.
Main part information
The bottom section of the context
menu on the right will provide you
with main data for the files.
Length, width and height refer to
the box dimensions of the part.
Volume is the volume of the part which gives you valuable information about material
consumption and Area is simple the surface area of the part. Triangles is technical
information about the file which tell you exactly how many triangles the files is built
from. This might be valuable as we will see in mesh edit below.
The Overview function in the top menu will provide you with even more
information about the parts. If multiple parts are selected the overview function will
present a list of all the parts with the data for each of the parts together with a
summary of the all the parts as arranged. The data can be exported to .csv to be for
additional processing such as pricing.
Measure
The measure feature in the top menu includes options to measure distances, wall‐
thickness, angles or add notes on the part
Measure distance enables you to measure between points or lines on the part.
The wall‐thickness function measure the thickness of the part on any point you
chose.
With Measure angle you can check the angle between three points or two lines
on the part.
Measure radius allows you to check the radius on curves or spheres.
Add annotation is a useful function to add notes on the part. Save as project
file and all your comments are saved for the next user. This is very useful to
add production concerns, special requests or general comments.
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Repair files
Files for 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing are exported from CAD to any of a
number of formats used by 3D printers. Whereas CAD use complex mathematics and
surfaces to defined the geometry, 3D printers need closed solid models that can be
correctly interpreted by the 3D printers. When exporting from CAD to any of the
formats used by netfabb Studio Professional errors often occur in the export and turn
out in the exported file as holes, missing triangles, double surfaces, gaps between
triangles, degenerated surfaces and a multitude of different problems. Corrupt files
can sometimes be printed and sometimes not. Corrupt files can cause bad parts or
stop builds in the middle of the process costing time and money for machine and
material. By using netfabb Studio Professional to verify files and correct all errors you
ensure proper quality on your builds and avoid unwanted extra work and costs.
To repair a file you need to go into the mesh editing module. The mesh editing
module is represented by a hospital sign and in here you can carry out
operations from cosmetic surgery to life saving operations on your files.
Like at a doctor in real life the
first step after arriving at the
hospital is an examination of
the patient. This is done under
status. The examination
provides you with important
information about your mesh
and you will both see the main info as statistical values as well as the errors highlighted
on the actual 3D mode. To do an examination just hit the Update button.
Automatic repair is the easiest way to fix a file. It is does not
have a 100% success rate but it generally fixes most common
errors. Once you have run an automatic repair you examine you file with a new
examination by selecting Update under Status as described in the previous point. If
Automatic repair does not solve your errors you can edit or repair the file manually.
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Manual editing and repair
operations can be found under Actions. These are the same commands that are used
by automatic repair but by with manual edit and repair you can carefully select the
operations that lead you to a proper file. Manual repair is not very difficult but it does
require some experience and knowledge of how triangulated files are built up. Manual
repair is not for the beginner but can be very powerful for experienced users or once
you have used netfabb Studio for a while.
Holes are the most common form of
errors in a 3D model. Having a hole means that a shell is not closed (watertight). This is
a problem for s
Stitch triangles is a function that
will eliminate small holes and gaps between triangles. These are often the result of
poor conversion from CAD to triangulated data or of elements such as surfaces that
are not really connected in the CAD model. If you have a model with too many shells
stitching is often a solution to reduce the number of shells significantly.
Self‐intersections can simply be
defined as overlapping connections where shells and surface penetrate through each
other’s instead of a perfect fit. Remove Self‐intersections to eliminate all such errors to
merge shells and get a clean mesh. You can also select to only split off self
intersections to manually select and delete shells in the shell list. Handling of self‐
intersections is an advanced feature and requires some understanding of triangulated
meshes.
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If you get comfortable with
manual repair and find a workflow that suits your typical problems you can define your
own repair scripts. Define your very own repair script by using all the commands
available in manual repair and the repair script will pop up in the list of options when
pressing the Automatic repair button.
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Modify mesh
Editing and modifying the mesh of a 3D model enable you to optimize and improve the
data before manufacturing. This may increase quality of a part as well as reduce costs
and build time. Sometimes you also must modify the mesh in order to get a file
printable.
Note: Mesh modification will always affect the original geometry of the model so a
qualified assessment must be done to determine how much you can modify.
Select triangle, surface or shell. Triangles, Surfaces and Shells are
important terms that defines a mesh. Triangles are the smallest
elements the mesh is built up from. Shells are a set of triangles that are connected
together in points or lines. Two triangles that are connected will constitute one shell
while two triangles that are not connected at all will constitute two shell. Surface are
defined as… Triangles, surfaces and shells can be selected by first choosing selection
mode in the top menu.
The Reduce Triangles feature enables you to make the file
size smaller by reducing the triangles in the mesh. This is
extremely useful if you have large files with unnecessary fine details that cannot fit
into a build due to the amounts of data. The Reduce Triangles feature can be used
selectively on only the areas where you can reduce accuracy without damaging the
function of the part.
Smooth triangles is an extremely useful function to make a
low resolution model end up looking a lot nicer. Smoothing
does affect the original geometry but properly used it is a great tool to reduce the
facetted look of a print which is often the case in 3D printing. For best result you the
smoothing function together with refine triangles feature.
Refine triangle mesh let you define max triangle edge
length and retriangualate a selection of triangles. Useful together with smoothing and
to create a uniform mesh.
Extrude Extrude is a bit like sculpting on the mesh. Select a set of triangles or a
surface and move it to make an extrusion. Use freehand extrusion or set numerical
numbers for direction and distance to make an exact extrusion.
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Surface Cut simply cuts out a section of a the mesh. The cut‐out will become a
separate shell and can be exported as a new part.
Add triangles manually to close gaps and adjust edges. The function is extremely
useful in both mesh modifications and to bridge gaps when repairing large holes.
Manual addition of triangles give you detailed ability to control the mesh.
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Modify parts
Create and add primitives by selecting from a number of different standard
geometries. Add geometries to enhance production or to modify the design. Primitives
include simple forms like box, cylinder and sphere as well as more advanced shapes.
Create and add 3D text is a special primitive to create 3D text. Type the desired
text, select size and choose from all fonts installed on your computer and extrude the
text to 3D.
Merge parts will simply define as set of parts as one without
any changes to the mesh. This is the simplest form of joining to parts into one. If you
created text or primitives as described above this is the easiest way to add these new
shapes to your model.
Boolean operations are principally mathematical functions for unification,
subtraction or to create intersections between parts. Use Boolean instead of merge to
unify a set of parts or to make an imprint of for example a text onto a part.
netfabb Studio Professional have several advanced cut functions. In addition to
the previsously described surface cut function to cut out a section of the mesh you can
also cut on the part using Plane Cut and Polygon Cut. This is extremely useful to
remove features on a part or to cut a part into sections to fit into the build platform.
Plane cut cuts through a plane defined as normal or tangential
to the model or by selecting three points on the model.
Polygon cut cuts through the model with a user defined
shape. Cut out sections or create a saw‐tooth line to simplify later assembly into large
part.
If you have a solid parts and want to modify it with into a hollow
shell then use Create shell to create a hollow part. Create shell can also be used to
make an inner or outer offset of the part.
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Build setup
netfabb Studio Professional is developed to bridge the gap between 3D content and
machine. The software is designed to enable easy operation and build setup of 3D
Printers and Additive Manufacturing machines.
Platform size is user defined under Settings in the top menu. Just define x, y
and z to set the platform size to your desired size.
Scale parts uniformly or with different values in x, y and z to modify the part or
to compensate for shrink or other manufacturing parameters.
To optimize the build orientation you can rotate parts by defining exact rotating
angles around the x, y and z axis or just grab the corners of the Part box and rotate by
freehand.
Move parts with numerical values in x, y and z or move by freehand by grabbing
the part in the center and move it. The Move to origin selection will place the part in
the left hand corner of the build platform.
3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing will cut the part into slices and
build them layer‐by‐layer. The slicing can often be done in the software provide with
the machine but netfabb Studio Professional also feature advanced slicing capabilities.
Just drag the part to Slices in the context menu on the right and slice to the layer
thickness desired. You can also edit slice files with commands similar to 3D editing.
netfabb Studio Professional includes basic slice editing and export to common slice file
formats. For advanced editing and export to more formats including picture files
please purchase the Slice Commander Professional Tool.
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Save and Export
netfabb Studio Professional is built up around a project and default saving mode is to
save as a netfabb project file. To save parts as individual 3D or slice file they need to be
exported to the format in question. Just right‐click on the part or on the part name in
the context menu and select Export part.
Choose from a number of 3D formats including STL, X3D, VRML
and others or export as Slice. If you have created and edited a slice file in the Slice
editor right‐click on the edited slice file to include you modifications in the export.