lets say customer can only send you a faceted body

[fzvnpg]

am I just out of luck?
is there any way to convert it to anything I can use?
UG is my only system so help me out and how can I use, convert, copy, link , extract this into NX7.5????????


Cj Silver
Senior Tooling Engineer
GKN Aerospace

Working to remember all I forgotten

 

[Xwheelguy]

CJ,

I think it's important to point out that a simple conversion isn't very common with faceted models - maybe if we're working with simple parts which are pretty much large facets, like brackets. Once you start working with toroidal, conical or cylindrical surfaces, then you're pretty much going to have to rebuild the model rather than rely on conversion. About the only thing you're left with is asking for a model with finer (smaller) facets - but then your file size will more than likely jump remarkably higher, probably to the point that your computer will either require to translate all night or simply lock up.

Maya for CAD - really? Shame on your customer. I'd think Maya would have IGES output capability. Something doesn't sound right unless it's the scanning that is giving them a faceted result. They need to look at that or give you some tips on working with that sort of data because faceted models typically (note, not ALWAYS) aren't the best means for CAD, especially if you're needing to create the physical part from the data.

Tim Flater
NX Designer
NX 8.0.3.4
Win7 Pro x64 SP1
Intel Xeon 2.53 GHz 6GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 4000 2GB

 

[Toost]

Tim, if it's modeled in Maya, it might be modeled there as a "Mesh" only, then there is no better model to get.
Many of these Animation specialist systems will model "meshes" rather than Nurbs beacuse it's "limitless".
And since the output will be images and movies there is no need for better quality.

Regards,
Tomas

 

[JohnRBaker]

When CGI (Computer-Generated Imagery) first got going the only software available that proved to be suitable was the NURB based modelers being used by ID (Industrial Design) people, like Alias and Wavefront, and while they were used for some time, eventually facet or mesh-based systems became more popular because, as was alluded to, the smooth solid was no longer needed since rendering tools have always been based on facets anyway and all the smoothing algorithms were already being built into hardware for realtime rendering and into rendering engines for the generation of either still images or animated sequences, so it became a sort of natural technology to use. And while it's easy to go from Nurbs to facets, the reverse is not as simple, hence the dilemma that CJ has found himself in.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Industry Sector
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[Xwheelguy]

Toost,

I realize all of that, but the OP stated there was a scan created somewhere and more than likely there should be an output option for that scan data (NURBS vs polygon model/facet). While I do understand that it's possible to sometimes use faceted models in place of a real CAD model and even machine with faceted models in certain instances, my feeling was (and is) that if there was even a very small chance that a CAD model was going to come into the picture, the whole process should have been a little more well planned prior to settling on a scan output or software that isn't using at least NURBS from the very start. As the OP stated, right now it's nothing more than a pretty picture in Maya. While I am aware of Maya's typical usage (polygon or mesh modeling), I thought it was capable of some NURB modeling, hence why I suggested an IGES output (not knowing what type of model resides in Maya).

Without complete background from start to finish, we're both only speculating, as I'm sure you know. It just drives me a little batty when I see the wrong tool or approach being used for certain things and a guy like me is pulling his hair out trying to make up some ground.

Tim Flater
NX Designer
NX 8.0.3.4
Win7 Pro x64 SP1
Intel Xeon 2.53 GHz 6GB RAM
NVIDIA Quadro 4000 2GB