Importing different file types (e.g. obj, stl, 3ds) not working

katherine_tan

Hi,

I have previously used Rhino 3D and Blender for my models, thus most of my models are in either obj. or 3ds format. When I tried to import them into onshape to work on them, the file is successfully imported but no model appears at all (totally blank). I saw somewhere that I could try importing the stl. version but still it did not work. Are there any alternatives as I do not want to work from scratch for these models again.

NeilCooke

Onshape can import Rhino 3dm files but not stl files. Check the help for a complete list. If you want to import an stl file you can try Instep in the App Store. 

katherine_tan

Thank you for your reply! But in this case formats such as obj. can't be imported?

NeilCooke

Instep will import obj too

katherine_tan

I see! But is there any reason why my obj. file cannot be viewed when imported?

NeilCooke

Hi Katherine - any files that Onshape cannot natively translate into a 3D model are just stored in a tab (this also includes files that are not 3D such as zip). To convert files to a format that Onshape does understand like STEP you must use a file translator like Instep first - available in the Onshape App Store. 

philip_thomas

Katherine - i will leave Neil as the good-guy and will be the one to burst your bubble

Onshape is a b-rep ('exact edge') modeler that professional engineers and designers use to describe geometry. This is in contrast to a faceted ('lots of triangles') modeler like Blender, Meshmixer, Tinkercad and others. These are primarily used by content creators for games and animations where exact dimensions do not matter. Two different approaches for two different groups of people.Onshape can generate an STL file, but explains why Onshape does not render .stl and .obj (and other mesh/cloud) formats - simply put, Engineers and Designers don't work with those formats.

B-rep




Faceted

kevin_quigley

Wrong Philip. Engineers and designers DO work in polygon formats for early conceptual phase and ongoing visualisation and for 3D printing. We work with Modo (polygons), Rhino, SolidWorks and interchange between the three. Ther are several tools available that enable transfer from Polygon to Nurbs and vice versa. It is just that Onshape doesn't handle that natively. But your App store does!

kevin_quigley

BTW I sincerely hope that faceted file was not a conversion of the nurbs file from Onshape as it has some serious errors in it!! 

philip_thomas

Kevin - you are correct, the b-rep was a quick creation to provide parity with the faceted model. You are further correct that there is an app in the app store that will convert a faceted model to a (faceted) b-rep - INSTEP. FreeCAD will also do this if users want to go this route  
When you import STL into SolidWorks, would you please outline the workflow that you use for the import and then what you do with it once imported?
Thank you.