Accessing faces of 3D solids

[tcuneio]

I'm trying to access data from 3D solids. I've been working out some rather involved routines to comb through the ACIS data and piece it back together but there must be an easier way. If a face can be identified and assigned a color through a simple click, then surely there is a way to access this information about the solid without exploding it or digging around in an ACIS file. It feels like the kind of information that could be accessed by descending through subentities associated with the solid but unless I'm missing it, that only leads to the ACIS data. I ultimately want to create arrays of points on the faces of solids and I was working down the path of drawing polylines on the faces to set boundaries for the arrays, but for now I'm reluctant to forge much further down the ACIS route since my gut tells me there is an easier way. What am I missing?

[BlackBox]

Well you haven't posted any code for others to help you with, so if you haven't already, you might consider either the 3DFace, or 3DSolid Object.

[SEANT]

A fairly comprehensive API is offered through ARX (Native and Managed), if that is an option. See the AcBr Classes shown here:

 

 

 

http://docs.autodesk.com/ACDMAC/2011/ENU/ObjectARX%20Reference/index.html?frmname=topic&frmfile=ObjectARX_Reference_Guide.html

[tcuneio]

Thanks SEANT. I'm not familiar with ARX but it looks promising. I'm new at this and somewhat unfamiliar with programming options. Face properties of 3D solids seem like the kind of thing you could get from the Object Model but I can't find any vlisp access to these properties - I'm assuming it doesn't exist. It also seem like the kind of thing you could get at from entnext but that only leads to ACIS data which I've had some success with. I know it's accessible since AutoCAD can assign colors easily to faces. If I invest time and effort into researching ARX can it yield access to face data?

[SEANT]

Yes, ARX exposes everything you need to interrogate 3Dsolids at any level – Face, Edge, Vertex.

 

There is a significant learning curve to become familiar with the APIs, though. And the number of coding examples is fairly limited. Fortunately,the folks here, or at www.theswamp.org, do their best to answer any questions that might arise.

[tcuneio]

Ok, I'm realizing that the Object Model available to Vlisp is limited and that greater access can be provided by other means such as through the ObjectARX. I'll begin exploring it. Thanks very much SEANT.