STL Surface Geometry Fixing

EphemeralMemory · October 28, 2010, 17:50

Hey, all, thanks for reading this.

I have a question about STL surface meshes. In particular, how to fix them.

Unfortunately, I work with biomedical applications, which apparently is notorious for having overly complex geometry, and as a result, geometry that is incredibly hard to fix.

First off, a clarification: what are overlapping elements exactly? I can isolate several in a mesh, and it seems to be a boundary condition on a boundary condition. Because of this, I cannot mesh it properly so that FLuent can run simulations.

I work with Mimics, and I am able to fix everything except overlapping elements, which render me unable to run simulations in Fluent. I was wondering, what tools are out there that don't cost thousands of dollars for licensing that I can use for STL repair? I tried fixing the overlapping elements manually, but I get lost when the image has multiple millions of elements and I narrow it down to about 20 overlapping elements.

andyj · October 30, 2010, 20:05

Hello
You might look at MeshLab. It can repair Stl files and many others. It is free open source.
http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/

EphemeralMemory · October 31, 2010, 14:35

Thanks, I have Meshlab, but I didn't know you can repair STL files actually...

I'll check it out.

October 28, 2010, 17:50	STL Surface Geometry Fixing	#1
EphemeralMemory Member Brian Henry Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 42 Rep Power: 16	Hey, all, thanks for reading this. I have a question about STL surface meshes. In particular, how to fix them. Unfortunately, I work with biomedical applications, which apparently is notorious for having overly complex geometry, and as a result, geometry that is incredibly hard to fix. First off, a clarification: what are overlapping elements exactly? I can isolate several in a mesh, and it seems to be a boundary condition on a boundary condition. Because of this, I cannot mesh it properly so that FLuent can run simulations. I work with Mimics, and I am able to fix everything except overlapping elements, which render me unable to run simulations in Fluent. I was wondering, what tools are out there that don't cost thousands of dollars for licensing that I can use for STL repair? I tried fixing the overlapping elements manually, but I get lost when the image has multiple millions of elements and I narrow it down to about 20 overlapping elements.

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October 30, 2010, 20:05		#2
andyj Member Andy Jones Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Columbus, Ohio Posts: 78 Rep Power: 16	Hello You might look at MeshLab. It can repair Stl files and many others. It is free open source. http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/

October 31, 2010, 14:35		#3
EphemeralMemory Member Brian Henry Join Date: Aug 2010 Posts: 42 Rep Power: 16	Thanks, I have Meshlab, but I didn't know you can repair STL files actually... I'll check it out.