CFD Online Logo CFD Online URL
www.cfd-online.com
[Sponsors]
Home > Forums > Software User Forums > FLOW-3D

Creating STL from X-Z (bottom transect) data

Register Blogs Community New Posts Updated Threads Search

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Search this Thread Display Modes
Old   November 30, 2021, 17:40
Default Creating STL from X-Z (bottom transect) data
  #1
New Member
 
Nguyen Quang Chien
Join Date: Nov 2021
Posts: 3
Rep Power: 5
NQChien is on a distinguished road
Hi everybody,



I want to create a STL file from a two-column text file representing the bottom transect, or profile, of a beach (aka. X-Z coordinates). For example, the following data represent an approximately 1:10 beach slope:


X (m) Z (m)

0 0
5 -0.5

10 -1.1
15 -1.5

25 -2.6
50 -4.8



What is a simple way to make an STL file from this? The output STL file would be very useful for running scenarios such as wave overtopping.



Thanks!
NQChien is offline   Reply With Quote

Old   December 1, 2021, 05:53
Default
  #2
New Member
 
Atish
Join Date: Nov 2021
Posts: 5
Rep Power: 5
ati_d94 is on a distinguished road
I would suggest using the feature included in FLOW-3D, called Topo2STL, which may be found under the Utilities tab at the top of the screen. Select your file which has the coordinates in columns as the input.

Please note however that Topo2STL will not produce an output if your data is irregularly spaced/ on an irregular grid. It seems that your data is regularly spaced, so I would recommend trying this option. If you are unable to generate the STL with your 2D data, extend the 2D profile horizontally to create a 3D grid which will fix the issue

Cheers
ati_d94 is offline   Reply With Quote

Old   December 1, 2021, 10:04
Default
  #3
New Member
 
Nguyen Quang Chien
Join Date: Nov 2021
Posts: 3
Rep Power: 5
NQChien is on a distinguished road
Quote:
Originally Posted by ati_d94 View Post
I would suggest using the feature included in FLOW-3D, called Topo2STL, which may be found under the Utilities tab at the top of the screen. Select your file which has the coordinates in columns as the input.

Please note however that Topo2STL will not produce an output if your data is irregularly spaced/ on an irregular grid. It seems that your data is regularly spaced, so I would recommend trying this option. If you are unable to generate the STL with your 2D data, extend the 2D profile horizontally to create a 3D grid which will fix the issue

Cheers

Thanks, I found the 'Topo2STL tool' from the Utilities menu. With the default spatial resolution, I chose the STL output file location, and after Conversion complete - I found no STL file in the output folder! I have tried checking write permission of the output folder, and chose different folders as well.


Maybe the data is too simple? (data points too sparse)

This is the data file (topo/xyz):
-40 -5 18
-40 5 18
-34 -5 18
-34 5 18
-34 -5 5
-34 5 5
-13 -5 5
-13 5 5
-6 -5 10
-6 5 10
0 -5 10
0 5 10
50 -5 0
50 5 0
100 -5 0
100 5 0

Last edited by NQChien; December 1, 2021 at 10:08. Reason: add data
NQChien is offline   Reply With Quote

Old   December 1, 2021, 11:49
Default
  #4
New Member
 
Atish
Join Date: Nov 2021
Posts: 5
Rep Power: 5
ati_d94 is on a distinguished road
The software won't be able to produce an output if the data is not in a structured grid format, try restructuring your data into a more grid-like format at the same intervals when using Topo2STL eg.

x;y;z

-40 -5 18
-35 -5 18
-30 -5 18
.
.
95 -5 0
100 -5 0
-40 5 18
-35 5 18
.
.
95 5 0
100 5 0

Something similar to this. Alternatively, you can draw your beach profile using software such as AutoCAD and export it as an STL
ati_d94 is offline   Reply With Quote

Old   December 4, 2021, 06:54
Default
  #5
New Member
 
Nguyen Quang Chien
Join Date: Nov 2021
Posts: 3
Rep Power: 5
NQChien is on a distinguished road
Quote:
Originally Posted by ati_d94 View Post
The software won't be able to produce an output if the data is not in a structured grid format, try restructuring your data into a more grid-like format at the same intervals when using Topo2STL eg.

x;y;z

-40 -5 18
-35 -5 18
-30 -5 18
.
.
95 -5 0
100 -5 0
-40 5 18
-35 5 18
.
.
95 5 0
100 5 0

Something similar to this. Alternatively, you can draw your beach profile using software such as AutoCAD and export it as an STL

Thank you, but still I cannot get Topo2STL to work. The utility Topo2STL did not issue an error, yet no output *.STL file was produced.

I also looked at the MeshLab tutorial http://fabacademy.org/archives/2014/...loudToSTL.html but Step 2 did not work as I expected. To be specific, there was "Smoothed Poisson" but not "Poisson" on my MeshLab. And the STL file produced was curved in 3-D sense (like a basin, not a profile or transect).

I am trying TinkerCAD building the profile piece-wisely.
NQChien is offline   Reply With Quote

Reply

Tags
stl file, topography, wave


Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
[OpenFOAM] How to get the coordinates of velocity data at all cells and at all times vidyadhar ParaView 9 May 20, 2020 21:06
UDF value to large for defined data type Anna73 Fluent UDF and Scheme Programming 9 September 30, 2018 23:18
studying a valve case mina.basta OpenFOAM 33 August 30, 2013 05:46
How to update polyPatchbs localPoints liu OpenFOAM Running, Solving & CFD 6 December 30, 2005 18:27
creating line for dispalying data ? siswara dana FLUENT 6 September 3, 2001 05:41


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 16:03.