Sample HiRes STL output file

[ArtF]

Hi Guys:

 For those of you that do 3d printing, Im posting this sample output from Gearotic Thoughts. Its the new helical
output, ( with spokes ) and in hi-res closed manifold form. Im interested if any of your 3d printing software likes
it or doesnt like it for some reason. It should be accepted easily, though it is about 12 megs in size because its
put out in ascii format. Also, Id like any feedback on if you can use binary stl's or not, if its a common thing
that your importer allows binary, Ill also add binary output from GT.

Thx
Art

[Ya-Nvr-No]

I tried Rhino 4, Rhino 5, ArtCam, Autodesk Inventor Fusion, Solidworks & DeskProto 6
nothing works to import the stl file

[Richard Cullin]

netfab studio and slic3r don't like either

[ArtF]

Wow.. and yet I can load it and Asimp can.. lol.. better broaden my test runs.. I may have uploaded a
defective too, Ill update you shortly.. Thx for the test.

Art

[Ken_Shea]

On import it crashes OneCNC XR5 as well.

[Ya-Nvr-No]

What is asimp? could not find it on google.

[ArtF]

Assimp is a 3d file translator/viewer. I used it to test my stl. Both GT and assimp loaded it fine, so I jumped the gun.
Ive just replaced the file in the original post with a new one, without the export typo's causing failure on most programs.
Ive tested this one in multiple stl viewers.. Bad news is Im still having trouble getting slicr to load it. It loads fine then slicer bugs out.
Im thinking it may be memory in slicer.. anyone know the limit on it? The helical is about 250,000 vertices. ( pretty high res, I notice
slicer has troubles with many samples Ive downloaded as well.

Anyone use slicer alot? Does it fail on large files? ( Am I really going to have to add slicing capability to GT to compensate for that? )

  Please try the updated file and let me know how it does on your system. Vectric Cut3d, assimp, GLC_player have all loaded it fine
so far.

Thx , sorry for the buggy first one..
Art

[Ken_Shea]

Loaded fine in OneCNC XR5 this time Art.

[ArtF]

Ken:

  Thx. Its good to figure this stuff out early on. Most file formats have their up's and downs. STL is really a bad format, it has mutiple vertices in it instead of
indices tables. Coudl be much more efficient really..

I think I have it right now though, it was just a typo in the ouput code, rather simple format to do really. Only the question is, why doesnt slicer load it?
Ill have to experiment, but Im thinking it may be the size is just too large, though that seems funny, its not that big. I plan on allowing a single STL output
of entire mechanisms, so the triangle count would be in the millions. Im hopeing general 3d printing software will allow such large files. I should have my
printer around the end of the month to use in testing, so Ill know better then I guess.

Thx fer the test
Art

[Richard Cullin]

new file loaded into netfabb studio ok,
as you say it crashes slic3r  i used netfabb to save it as a binary stl , which again crashed slic3r
the beta version of the latest slic3r (9.02 i think) accepted both versions happily , i did not try to print it as the resultant gcode looked a bit too small to be valid .
do you really need that sort of resolution / can a 3d printer really resolve that much  detail anyway

[ArtF]

Hi Richard:

Thanks for the test. Must be an issue with size then. You say the Gcode was too small, does that mean it seems
like its incorrect?
  Im not sure the ideal resolution, but unlike most things one can build, gears need quite a bit of resolution to be truly
accurate enough in many cases. Ill likely allow lower resolutions to be made in the end, the ones Im generating now are
maximum res based on what GM put out as contour data in the project file. GT doesnt yet create anything, it loads a
GM project file and re-extrudes them to create a proper stl. My problem in GM was that a licensed library created the
STL's, which were bad resolution if made too large, GT is my own extruder with unlimited res, but the files as a result
are quite large at the moment.

Art

[Ya-Nvr-No]

Nice clean HiRes file lines, loads fine now.

Did have quite an issue getting Assimp to install and work but did manage finally, that's a cool tool too. Exports a very nice .obj file.

The major issue was the DirectX 9 installation. Had to extract the dxwsetup.exe to a folder and then run as admin.

Thanks again.

[ArtF]

Thx..

  3D printers are now commonly in the 150 - 250 micron resolution. The example helical is about the same in terms of its resolution, which is one of the reasons
I selected it for a test. Doesnt seem logical to me to create models with less resolution than the printer itself. We can always have it decimate to an acceptable level for a particular user, but I want to be able to tell any user that his STL will always have enough data to make a clean gear.

Assimp is pretty powerfull and a nice way to convert formats around but not for the faint of heart to get running. A problem Ive noted for most unix written 3d processors.  Ive been playing with Slicr and Im pretty sure its a memory issue there. On the other hand I no
longer am of the opinion that the files are overly large. They are , after all, simply ascii files, its the underlying data thats important, and at 256K vertices,
thats not really that much for a proper 3d file. I can allow for stack setting to control the resolution and make them more corse, but I think when you have a
sweeping path such as a helical you need lots of information to give that swept curvature. Yoda's and dragons for example run into the multimillion vertex sizes.
Bevel will likely be around 500K vertices when done to any acceptable level of resolution.

  Slicr , while it seems a pretty good little program, is written in perl of all things, so it likley has trouble with certain memory allocations. Its display for example is horrible
and could be much better. Ill wait till I have more experience with actual printing before I decide what to do about that situation. I know most 3d printers come with
software for printing so Im not sure yet what standards are in the field. We'll definitely talk more on this topic in the future though as I struggle to educate myself to the level of you 3d printing guys..

  So now that helicals are proper, Im redoing the bevels for the same level of detail, that and a couple of fixups and GT will be at the stage where its basically
a hi-res stl recreator for the low res components of GM's output. Thats the first stage in its development, and probably when Ill release an alpha so that
at least Ill know users CAN have such stl's if they require them. (Something Ive felt bad about since I discovered just how bad the large gears were in stl form..)


  I think I see the direction Im headed and we'll discuss that more after an initial release of the postprocessor.

Thx
Art

[Ya-Nvr-No]

A programmer with a conscience  :o
Your a real find, and a very impressive gentlemen.
Thanks for sharing your loves & interests with us.
I'm sure I speak for many, that without your generosity we would never know what is possible for us hobbyist & hackers.

[John S]

Bobcad V24 and Cut 3D both opened the file up OK.

What's Gearotic thought ?
new version of Gearotic or just the next stage ?