Convert Solid Model to Surface ONLY - not Shell or Hollow

ross_lloyd

Hi

I am using OnShape to create models of airport terminals and buildings which will go into a flight simulation program such as Microsoft Flight Simulator X so that I have something nice to look at when I fly from them! For the sake of performance, it is far better to have geometry which is a pure surface, with no associated wall thickness.

For this reason I would like to know if it is possible to convert my 3D model to pure surface some other way than hollow or shell, which will still ultimately more than double the number of polygons used to make the model.

If OnShape itself cannot do it, is there some other route I could take? I have access to free tools only such as Blender, as I am just an enthusiastic amateur

Thank you for reading

mahir

There is an Offset Faces featurescript that can copy surfaces, but it doesn't always work as expected. Probably the most direct route would be to just model your buildings as surfaces from the get go. If you don't really need the volume, then the only thing that solid modeling gets you is automatic capping of ends. If you're ok with manually capping your extrudes, this will get the results you want.

ross_lloyd

I should add, the conversion path is Onshape > Collada > third party flightsim software that works with its own formatting. It definitely works, but I just need to find a way to rid the model of the wall thickness

mahir

There is an Offset Faces featurescript that can copy surfaces, but it doesn't always work as expected. Probably the most direct route would be to just model your buildings as surfaces from the get go. If you don't really need the volume, then the only thing that solid modeling gets you is automatic capping of ends. If you're ok with manually capping your extrudes, this will get the results you want.