Autodesk inventor - cleaner meshing?
Verfasst: Mo 7. Mai 2012, 23:15
Hi,
I am working on a project that has me stresstesting a frame for a compressor, well, I'm not going to bore you with the details, but I was trying to accomplish this with Aurora. The frame is designed using Inventor. It isn't extremely complex, it basically consists of a central square platform, with extra support on the bottom to reïnforce it and make it more rigid while trying to keep its weight to a minimum. I'll try to add an image on the bottom to illustrate the exact layout.
The problem is as follows: whenever I add complexity to the frame - for example, by making holes, adding more strutts,... - I am well aware that this adds to the complexity of the eventual imported step/stl file. What bothers me, is that I seem to be unable to make a relatively "clean" structure. What I mean by this, is that whenever I import the frame, the basic form that is created is allready quite a mess. I believe this to be the fault of Inventor, as I can see on the screenshots that it is perfectly possible to make very clean objects, but although not extremely complex, it is still too complicated to build in another way than with a solid CAD program. Is there a "proper" way to designing a structure, in such a way that the resulting .stp/.slt is the cleanest way possible, or do I just have to bite trough and work with what inventor/meshlab hands me?
Added below is how the resulting Netgen Mesh looks. As you can see, because of the roundness of the supporting struts, all detail is lost and it just appears as a black "blur" which brings me to the second part of my question. The frame, as you see it, is nearly complete, but in fact, almost every corner of it has to have some kind of "fillet" to it because of the construction process of the steal. (it is basically a steal plate, molded into this form) Adding this detail to the frame, however, makes it impossible to work with. The complexity suddenly skyrockets and all I am left with, is a black square and a nearly frozen computer, which makes it impossible to make any kind of stress assessment. The initial part of that sentence isn't really the problem, as I can perfectly let my workstation run for a long time to come up with an answer, but it is the handling that makes this an impossible venture. Is there a way that makes me able to mesh the structure, and switch over to a sort of low-poly model to make it handle better? Because when all detail is added, I can't even reliably rotate the frame, let alone select nodes on which I want forces to act. All the while demanding 3+GB Memory.
I ask these questions, because I can see in your examples that it is perfectly possible to make clean meshes out of complex items, if I am missing some vital point, I apologize, I've been working with Z88 for a good week now, so when giving answers, keep that in mind. Also, if a similar question has already been asked, I'm afraid I haven't been able to go through all the threads yet. I understand some German, but it takes me a long time to do so.
http://nlt.dommel.be/Shrimp/Bach/framemesh.png
I am working on a project that has me stresstesting a frame for a compressor, well, I'm not going to bore you with the details, but I was trying to accomplish this with Aurora. The frame is designed using Inventor. It isn't extremely complex, it basically consists of a central square platform, with extra support on the bottom to reïnforce it and make it more rigid while trying to keep its weight to a minimum. I'll try to add an image on the bottom to illustrate the exact layout.
The problem is as follows: whenever I add complexity to the frame - for example, by making holes, adding more strutts,... - I am well aware that this adds to the complexity of the eventual imported step/stl file. What bothers me, is that I seem to be unable to make a relatively "clean" structure. What I mean by this, is that whenever I import the frame, the basic form that is created is allready quite a mess. I believe this to be the fault of Inventor, as I can see on the screenshots that it is perfectly possible to make very clean objects, but although not extremely complex, it is still too complicated to build in another way than with a solid CAD program. Is there a "proper" way to designing a structure, in such a way that the resulting .stp/.slt is the cleanest way possible, or do I just have to bite trough and work with what inventor/meshlab hands me?
Added below is how the resulting Netgen Mesh looks. As you can see, because of the roundness of the supporting struts, all detail is lost and it just appears as a black "blur" which brings me to the second part of my question. The frame, as you see it, is nearly complete, but in fact, almost every corner of it has to have some kind of "fillet" to it because of the construction process of the steal. (it is basically a steal plate, molded into this form) Adding this detail to the frame, however, makes it impossible to work with. The complexity suddenly skyrockets and all I am left with, is a black square and a nearly frozen computer, which makes it impossible to make any kind of stress assessment. The initial part of that sentence isn't really the problem, as I can perfectly let my workstation run for a long time to come up with an answer, but it is the handling that makes this an impossible venture. Is there a way that makes me able to mesh the structure, and switch over to a sort of low-poly model to make it handle better? Because when all detail is added, I can't even reliably rotate the frame, let alone select nodes on which I want forces to act. All the while demanding 3+GB Memory.
I ask these questions, because I can see in your examples that it is perfectly possible to make clean meshes out of complex items, if I am missing some vital point, I apologize, I've been working with Z88 for a good week now, so when giving answers, keep that in mind. Also, if a similar question has already been asked, I'm afraid I haven't been able to go through all the threads yet. I understand some German, but it takes me a long time to do so.
http://nlt.dommel.be/Shrimp/Bach/framemesh.png