What I don’t get is why there is a scale value in the settings of this plugin. STEP files come with a very clear unit definition in each file, it looks like this:
So it clearly states that the values in the file are written as millimeters in this example, and that angles are represented as radians. There should not be any need for a user to manually compensate this, the Add-on should determine itself that for such a case the scale value has to be 0.001 (millimeters → meters)
Quoting myself here I’d like to add that I found a fix for opening my non-working STEP file with the plugin in Blender. The trick was to open the file in CAD Assistant and then resaving it as a new STEP file. That one opened without problems.
So if you find yourself with a STEP file that doesn’t want to import into Blender (i.e. crashes Blender during import) give this a try.
Thanks. Blender sometimes is spooky. It does things right only to do things wrong the next step but I’m getting to that. I start adding scripts to mimic a more ‘usual’ way how 3d software works. Like being able to parent and unparent (in respect to transform) to outliner, add duplication to outliner etc. I still have to change shift+visibility to be a default. Collections are even more spooky. Why can’t they add layers like everyone else?
Collections are representing Render Layers in first case, but can do more in Blender (in the future). Maybe this is the reason, why they don’t call them Layers.
Blender is not really strange, it has its own philosophy like every tool. And as long as everyone has an own idea, there will never be equal standards.
I would really love to be able to export into .step format from Blender. Of course it would be surfaces and not curved surfaces but I would be fine with that:)
I don’t have a CAD program but the guys over at the engineering firm say they are unable to import stl or obj anywhere. They use Solidworks and want step file. I sent them stl but I guess it’s of no use for them.
The beta version of MoI V4 includes an OBJ importer, so polygons are translated to NURBS solids, and can then be subdivided and exported as NURBS. It works best with low-polygon quad models.
in fact it is, cad programs use manly kind of solid volume geometry, and engineers have no clue bout mesh formats (at all).
And they can’t normally import meshy kind of formats.
But cad - software slowly opens today to also use mesh formats and the dinosaurs make a biig whistle blow out of it -> while they still have not managed a proper export to mesh formats.
I’m glad to see this addon, kickin’ in with the big king - step - in cad formats … !
Haha, well I keep showing my designers how cool working in 3d app is. All the ease of creating organic shapes and modifiers etc. After 15 years I never got them to use a 3D app, except for rendering. And they still hate doing it.
Most of them have even problems dealing with solids in there own app. So I mainly get Rhino files with a lot wrong orientated surfaces.
Ingenieurs are more into solid modeling, but even telling them that I need a standard step export, they often send me files with surfaces only or even bad iges files. It probably will take another 20 years to teach them. Oh and no hope for the young once, they are so bad with computers.
That is easily solvable in blender since you can use the ‘do not affect parents’ and ‘origins’ option and apply transform scale to all objects at once without issues. There’s one drawback if you have negative values. Scaling them fro. -0.001 to 1.0 flips the normals. It’s easy to fix it back by setting those to -1.0 but if there are many objects it gets tedious.
Thanks, already found out that Blender is quite flexible here. But thanks for point that out. It’s actually a big problem when having instances. For example you wouldn‘t construct any vehicle without mirroring a lot elements to the other side. Maybe someday, someone writes a script for this job.
Another much bigger problem in Blender is, that Blender handles hierarchies of objects different the other apps.
So if any action on the parent object, except transform, won’t affect child object. Except you select them too.
So in order to work yourself through you need always to do a hierarchy select step to act like in other software.
Hope someone changes that SOON.
My current plan is to create materials from colors, and is what I’m working on currently. If you have any good example files to link me that has complex materials I would be happy to take a look. The ~20 test files I’m working with currently seem to have only color data, not roughness, metalness, etc.
I think CAD files don’t support material properties like roughness and such. But to get the area (vertex - > material assignments) would be great.
Can’t give you any files cause they’re confidential.
-> while they still have not managed a proper export to mesh formats.