Direct Stl to Solid Model

Is there any way to directly convert from an .stl or .ply file to a solid surface model in SolidWorks. I use a program to create iges files but it requires an extensive amount of legwork on my part and we lose some of the detail in the conversion process. TIA

you can open an stl file in SW, no conversion needed. However the model will be listed as an STL Graphics type. Stl files take a triangular mesh of the surface of the part so you loose all solid data when exporting to a 3d plotter or other CAM application. PLY is a similar format where polygons are used as opposed to triangles in the mesh but i have not tried to open one of these in SW.

What do you need to do with the model once in SW? As far as i know you will only be able to view your stl object. No operations can be done to it and I do not know of any method to convert it to a usable solid.

I need to be able to pull a surface to create geometries for armor that can mimic the shape of an individual that we scan. Currently I either use a program to painstakingly create a NURB surface (.iges) and then pull the solid surface from that. Or, as I used to do before discovering the NURB approach, use the stl as a template in Solid Works and place points on key areas and use splines to create a lofted surface... Neither approach gives me exactly what I want and requires extensive work to get a simple surface...

Well SW can handle point cloud data. Maybe just import the point cloud into SW and build your armor from that?

Swx will stitch solids from relatively simple stl files (I don't have SWx in front of me right now to explain the exact procedure), but your human form would most likely be way too complex. And of course as noted it would be heavily faceted faces.

When you go FILE/OPEN, select STL and then click Options befor eyou hit OPEN and you can select import as Graphics, Surfaces or Solid. There is a limit to polycount though and a high poly model will only import as Graphics.

I didn't realised that I could use these options for a long time!

When you go FILE/OPEN, select STL and then click Options befor eyou hit OPEN and you can select import as Graphics, Surfaces or Solid. There is a limit to polycount though and a high poly model will only import as Graphics.

 

I didn't realised that I could use these options for a long time!

thats really good to know spittle! I just played with it a bit using a lofted surface that i thickened. It would not import it as a solid body because of the number of facets. It did however let me bring it in as a surface rather than a graphics body.(or try to)