How can I add my imported STEP part to an assembly?

benjamin_pelletier

I'm designing a play structure and I want to see how it's going to look in relation to my house and yard.  I modeled the house as a set of standard OS parts, but the yard itself is sloped and uneven and doesn't lend itself to OS-style modeling (as far as I know).  I have a 3D surface mesh of my yard generated from some drone images that I've managed to convert to an enormous 8 MB STEP file (there are only 10k faces) which I've successfully(?) imported into Onshape (I can see the 3D mesh in Part Studio and rotate it around and such).  However, when I try to insert it in my assembly, it's not listed among the parts I can insert.

So, how can I add my imported mesh object to my house+structure+yard assembly to see how things are going to look?

ethan

Is the mesh STEP import parts of surfaces? Look in the bottom right at the parts list. 

GWS50

Unfortunately you can't insert surfaces into an assembly, you can only import them into a Part Studio. Try using FreeCad to make a solid from the surfaces first. (under the 'Start' drop down, switch to the 'Part' option and find the 'Part' menu at the top of the screen for the convert to solid  Doesn't always work though. It would be great to be able to either convert to solid within Onshape or be able to insert the surfaced part.
(Sorry I can't seem to add a screen grab)

bradley_sauln

For those that find this in a search result on this topic...

You can insert parts, surfaces, sketches and sheet metal flat patterns into an assembly. In the insert dialog, you will see several icons to reveal each entity, by default only parts are visible to insert to make sure to check off the entities you want first!

famadorian

I've imported STL and it says it's a mesh, but still it won't let me import to assembly. Is this mesh not a solid?

NeilCooke

No. Meshes are for reference only. The intended workflow is to import a scanned part and to create a model using the mesh as a reference. 

famadorian

I cannot also move an import from one part studio to another?

Also, there's no way to convert a mesh to a set of NURBS surfaces? It should be easy to just plainly convert these triangles to NURBS surfaces; it's a one to one conversion?

https://wiki.mcneel.com/rhino/meshtonurb

NeilCooke

@famadorian you cannot move an imported part, but you can import the original file into another part studio (and delete it from the one you "moved" it from). For converting mesh to NURBS, please use Rhino. However, converting this mesh to NURBS would result in a very large and slow assembly.

famadorian

NeilCooke said:

@famadorian you cannot move an imported part, but you can import the original file into another part studio (and delete it from the one you "moved" it from). For converting mesh to NURBS, please use Rhino. However, converting this mesh to NURBS would result in a very large and slow assembly.

Ok, so there's no way to view a mesh inside an assembly!

How can I then view a mesh in relation to several parts?

I have this model as a mesh and it's a thing that goes below a sink. There's no way to view how that looks in relation to the sink, the wall and the cabinets in an assembly?

I have to remodel the whole thing?

NeilCooke

If you want to use it in an assembly then yes. Onshape is not a mesh modelling software - meshes are for reference only while modelling. If you want to view a mesh in relation to other parts you can use in-context but that would only be good for viewing/reference. 

famadorian

Not really sure what you mean here with in context.. I can view it "in context" ? 

NeilCooke

If the mesh part is in a part studio with some other parts and those parts are in the assembly, then you can edit the other parts in-context which will open the part studio with the mesh part in it and the rest of the assembly ghosted over the top. Not really a solution but doable.