Dmonheart Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 (edited) (please bear with me, this is my first post and I am very new to Autodesk products) Hello I need help with a project I am attempting to do on Inventor. I used Google Sketchup to create a model and realized that it needed to be in inventor- I exported the sketchup as an .stl and imported it into inventor. However, it imported it as a mesh instead of solid. I can't figure out how to make it solid and I need it badly. (Yes, I know, I should have thought this through before using sketchup). Any help is appreciated, thank you I am using the student license for Inventor 2014 Edited May 27, 2014 by Dmonheart Forgot some information critical to post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD Mather Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 You will need to download and install the Autodesk Mesh Enabler to covert to solid. But first, do you really really really understand what an stl file is? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmonheart Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 It's what the 3D printer at my school uses... I think.. I'm such a newbie I'm sorry. Thank you for the answer it helped a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD Mather Posted May 27, 2014 Share Posted May 27, 2014 Do you understand the geometric definition of a "plane"? An stl file divides up the surfaces of an object into small triangular faceted planar surfaces. So if you have a round cylinder - it is simplified into a large number of planar facets that approximate a curve. The more facets - the closer to being a curve. But never a curve. stl file are generally of little use in an engineering program other than for reference. Unless your design was simple boxes - you will probably not be satisfied with the results of the conversion of stl to solid. I recommend that you start over. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dmonheart Posted May 27, 2014 Author Share Posted May 27, 2014 Thank you for the clarification Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lazer Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 JD just out of interest is the Autodesk Mesh Enabler a free plug in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JD Mather Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 JD just out of interest is the Autodesk Mesh Enabler a free plug in? It is free to students and free to commercial users who are on subscription. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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