Mesh to Nurbs

Coding Python Support
1

Hi everybody!
I have just started using blender and I was wondering wether it’s possible to convert a model made out of 1 mesh into nurbs…i need to import the mesh in rhino or other 3d softwares and be able to modify it and fix it (like I would do with a polygon/nurbs model) for prototyping and then for the production…
???
thank u

2

no, blender does not have a convert to surface button yet.

For prototypeing I have exported STL files directly from blender.
If you are using subsurface there are a few applications that wil convert a subsurface mesh cage to nurbs, Maya and rhino both do it, Im not sure if rhino needs a plugin as ive only ever had meshes converted through maya.

At present blender also does not export surfaces so even if yo ucreate a surface model in blender you cant get it out at IGES, STEP etc.
There is a blender build on graphicall which is a revival of the nurbana patch for blender (integration of nurbana surface modeller) which may eventually be integrated and provide some solution for subsurf mesh to iges.

Converting a more complex mesh gets very tricky, there are quite a few programs that attempt it usualy the come with a scanner, cyslice does it but is expensive (to me atleast) http://www.headus.com/au/cyslice/ , in practice for prototyping I find exporting STL’s from blender works very well, for production I always model the final in CAD either ProE or Solidworks.

If you simply want to convert a mesh to a solid there is a program called mesh to solid http://www.sycode.com/products/mesh_to_solid/index.htm which I have tried and seems to choke on lerge meshes but its free to try.

hope that helps even if there is no straightforward solution.

3

There are builds on Graphicall which try to convert mesh to nurbs based on nurbana. Hopefully those work for you.

4

thank you guys!
I’ll figure out which is the best way for me!
bye

5

Let me see if I got this right…

Does the new NURBS implementation in blender have a function to convert a mesh to a NURBS? If so, how do you do it? (keyboard shortcut, button?) I downloaded the latest nurbs branch from svn and compiled it, but I didn’t see this function.

I am aware of the fact that a mesh and a NURB surface have a very different nature and that the conversion is not trivial. However, if it is possible to this even with loss of detail/quality it would be be a very useful feature.

6

it would be a good idea as a new feature for nurbs
but again this would aplly to wish one - there are line - circle - surface ect,

so you should make a request on the thread for the new nurbs

and it will be considered!

Happy blendering

7

Thanks for the reply RickyBlender.

My purpose with the post was not to request this as a new feature. If I understand pkt’s comment right, this feature exists in a development branch.

(“There are builds on Graphicall which try to convert mesh to nurbs based on nurbana”)

Is this correct?

If so, which branch is it and how does it work? As I mentioned above, I tried the nurbana branch in svn but I couldn’t find any such function.

Hope someone can answer this.

Thanks