AM to IGES or SolidWorks

[Steve Pfann Jr.]

Hello fellow Hashers,

 

I have made a model in Animation Master that I want to have made into a real life version. It is a reconstruction of an ancient sundial that I want to have made for educators to teach with.

I have approached a number of companies and have found one near where I live that I would like to work with. Unfortunately they don't support AM files or 3DS. They specifically want IGES or SolidWorks.

I am running AM version 11.1h on a PowerMac 1Ghz Dual Processor G4 in OS 10.3.9. The only format AM seems to export to on a Mac is 3DS. But when I checkout the file in a program like Wings3d it seems that this format has problems with 5 point patches and hooks (flat surfaces and creases). Despite this I still try to import the 3DS file into CtrlView Using Virtual PC and export it into IGES. When I do this it creates a monstrously large file (20MB+), which crashes the computers of the company I want to work with. When I try to open the model directly in HamaPatch via Virtual PC I find that Hamapatch doesn't seem to like 5 point patches and hooks either. Despite this I have tried to export the file into DXF regardless the fact that the company didn't request this format, hoping that they might be able to make some use of it.

Does anyone have any suggestions of a way that I might be able to get the model into a usable format while avoiding too much distortion to it?

 

Thanks,

Stephen Pfann Jr.

[oakchas]

Steve,

3DArtz actually did something like this in this thread.

 

Zandoria Studios (username, do a search) does it for a living, but not from A:M.. Maybe one of them will be able to help you

[Steve Pfann Jr.]

Thank you very much for your advice, I'll look into these leads.

But still, if anyone has any direct solutions please let me know as I am under a tight schedule.

 

Steve Pfann Jr.

[zandoriastudios]

The only way you can do it is to bring in the polygon mesh as a reference and rebuild the object in a CAD program. If you have drawings of the sundial design, it would probably be quicker to model from scratch in Rhino.

IGES is a standard file format for NURBS and Solid models, but to turn a polygon mesh into that is a matter of rebuilding all of the surface manually.

[Steve Pfann Jr.]

Thanks Will.

I'll keep that in mind.