Importing a mesh file into Onshape

jay_williams

I need to get the shape of an object I have into Onshape. It's my understanding that a 3D scanner will create what's called a mesh file. Can I import that into Onshape and work with it to create a part?

Thanks,
Jay

_Ðave_

At this time, no. There as been some discussion about this and likely has been requested. You should add your vote or request raise a ticket using feedback. 

cody_armstrong

@jay_williams Check out InStep in the Onshape App Store.  It will allow you to convert the mesh data to BREP so it can be used in Onshape.

philip_thomas

Working with scanned data represents an additional level of complexity beyond even reading in STL (faceted) data generated from a b-rep model.
There are fundamentally two types of modellers, faceted and b-rep. Onshape is a b-rep modeller like SolidWorks, CATIA, Creo(Pro/E), NX etc.
The two types of modellers are (exceptions notwithstanding) pretty incompatible.
We receive many requests to view STL data and we obviously want to deliver the functionality that our users want. Note that 'if' we did this, they would not be full-citizens (in the way that a solid model would be). The main reason is that the most complex casting will have a couple of hundred faces - a faceted model could have half a milion. The resulting performance would be terrible! 
Warnings aside, yes our partner 'Instep' can create b-rep models (STEP) from watertight STL data and can be read into Onshape.
Scanned data is another order of magnitude of chaos. Scanning initially creates 'cloud' data (millions of data points in space)
The next step is to create a mesh from this. At the professional level, this is very high-end stuff and comes with a corresponding price-tag (GeoMagic).
We have a makerbot scanner here at the office and it comes with some software that tries to do this in an automated fashion. It's not bad (meaning it can create a mesh), but it has never generated a watertight one (that could be turned into a b-rep).
Bottom line - we really want you to use Onshape for your design work and it has many many advantages but as a re-rep modeller, you might struggle/be-frustrated with your desired workflow. 
Please feel free to ask any questions.