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3D models make our world possible - and fun too! Whether our 3D models are the internal bulkhead of the next major airliner or the latest clothing mod for our hot avatar, 3D makes it better. 3DVIA.com is a gathering place for all kinds of models and modelers. Check out the latest architectural ideas or explore historical steam engines for some perspective. Learn some cool new things and have some fun.

In order to keep the fun factor up and the frustration factor down, this post provides some useful tips to export your CATIA models so that they can be easily uploaded and shared on 3DVIA.com.

     

Dassault Systemes’ CATIA is a creative tool that is highly respected throughout the world for its wide-ranging capabilities. Fortunately; Fabrice Pinot, member of the CATIA Solutions team in Suresnes, France, has kindly offered some valuable information to help make it as easy as possible to export your CATIA V5 models in a way that allows them to look their best on 3DVIA.com. So, in his own words:

There are 2 options that are very important for the 3DXML exports from CATIA V5 to 3DVIA.com.

First is the type of 3D mesh which is used for the geometry. At the present time, the supported mesh in 3DVIA.com is specified in the following option, it is a mesh in ASCII code.

The second option deals with 3D Accuracy:

For products; where all the parts have roughly the same size, such as consumer goods or hi-tech products, we recommend setting a fixed accuracy from 0.1 to 0.2.

Fixed 3D Accuracy sets a fixed sag value (from 0.01 to 10), which is used for calculating tessellation on all objects and does not vary with object size. The sag value defines the chordal deviation for curves and surfaces. The “curve chordal deviation” represents the maximum distance between a polyline (”chord”) whose end points lie on a curve and a point on the curve:

For detailed models of cars, boats or planes, we recommend setting a proportional tessellation of 0.1 to 0.2 as you may have small parts and huge ones. In this case tessellation is calculated according to object size: the larger the object, the coarser the tessellation. For the same 3D accuracy setting, the tessellation on small objects is always finer than on large objects. Please note that the toggle does not represent a distance, but a parameter, as the actual sag will depend on the object’s size.

Of course, in both cases, the finer the parameter, the larger the 3DXML file. Uploaded files are limited to 10MB on 3DVIA.com. If your file is bigger, then toggle this 3D accuracy parameter in order to be below this value.

Other tips:

Products originally created in CATIA V5 have the Z axis as the vertical axis, so there are no modifications to perform to have them appear in the proper orientation in 3DVIA.com. If this is not the case, it is always possible to insert this product into a newly created one and rotate the inserted model with the 3D Compass.

Textures created in CATIA V5 are supported, do not hesitate to use them. It gives a better aspect of your product at a minimum cost.

SPECIAL NOTE: These suggestions are valid for V5R18 and V5R19SP1. V6 compliance and tips are in the works. Stay tuned. 

Thank you Fabrice, for making it easier for 3DVIA.com users to upload their CATIA models!

People all over the world create lots of 3D models for lots of different reasons. 3D models are the building blocks of many industries that we depend on to make the things we use and to make the things we relax and have fun with too. Educational use of 3D models is exploding too as new tools become available to even more users eager to let their imagination loose to create better ways to learn.

3DVIA.com is a place where all of those creators and their 3D models can come together to show their results, explore other parts of the 3D model creation world and to learn from each other. Imagination and fun drive the users, which makes 3DVIA.com a place to enjoy yourself!

               

SolidWorks is an excellent tool for creating 3D models. Those models are used throughout the conceptualization, development, manufacturing, marketing and sales of many of products that we use every day. It is also a creative tool that is used for lots of fun projects. Many SolidWorks models have been uploaded to 3DVIA.com already (you can find them all at one time using this link).

One thing you may notice about some of the uploaded SolidWorks models, is that the models aren’t oriented in a natural way. They’re often lying on their side or on their back. This post is meant to help you avoid that when you upload your SolidWorks models.

The first image shows a model (by “anonymous”) as oriented in SolidWorks after I downloaded it from 3D Content Central. After I created a 3DXML file in SolidWorks (by using the drop-down list in either SolidWorks 2007 or 2008 to “Save as type:” 3DXML), I uploaded it to my free 3DVIA.com account. The second and third images show the results when I displayed it in first the 3D XML Player and then the 3DVIA Player.

       

What happened? It all comes down to where your axes are in your SolidWorks model. SolidWorks uses the Reference Triad to indicate this. The following is from SolidWorks Help (with my highlight of the triad).

If you don’t see a triad at all in your models, use the simple 1-2 steps shown in the image above to turn the triad back on.

The image below shows the DEFAULT SolidWorks triad on the left, and the way we want it to be oriented on the right.

Depending on your default part and assembly template files, your triad may be in a totally different orientation. Whatever spatial orientation your files are in, you can download and use the appropriate SolidWorks assembly file template below to easily get good upload results without changing your own templates.

sw_2007_3dvia_upload.ASMDOT  or  sw_2008_3dvia_upload.ASMDOT

Just be sure to put them where you can find them and use “Tools>Options>System Options>File Locations>Default Templates” to make their location easily accessible within SolidWorks.

Each template’s default opening screen has the triad placed correctly and a standard view added (just hit the space bar to see the list), so that you can easily go back to the “3DVIA Upload” view.

Whether you have a SolidWorks part or assembly, the fastest way to get it oriented correctly is to open a new assembly using the new downloaded template. If your model is already open and shows as a choice to insert into your new assembly, then select it and click the green check. This will put the model at the origin in your new assembly.

Or, you can split your viewing screen (”Window>Tile Horizontally”), so that you can see your model and the new assembly. Click on your model’s title in the Feature Manager Design Tree and drag and drop it onto the origin in the Feature Manager Design Tree of the new file. Don’t worry about orientation, just get it in there.

Save it with some appropriate name so that you won’t forget that it has been re-oriented.

Now, go into the Feature Manager Design Tree of the new file and right click on the name of the item that you brought in and then click on “Float” in the resulting list of choices.

A

All of the mates you carefully set up in the parent model will stay locked as you spin the model to the orientation that you want it to show up on 3DVIA.com using “Rotate Component” or “Move with triad”. You are only trying to get it in the ballpark, not exactly where you want it.

 I use “Rotate Component” because I can whip it around in all three axes, rather than one at a time. While you do this, your reference triad should not move. Do not use “Rotate View” or you’ll have to go back to the pre-set view to correct your triad position.

Next, you’ll need to mate the planes to match your new view. This will ensure that your model sits on the floor, rather than being at an odd angle. Depending on your naming conventions, you may have “Front, Top, and Right”; “1,2, and 3″; or goodness only knows what else. Just match up the closest plane in the model to the closest plane in the assembly. Create coincident mates one by one until your model is locked in .

Now, after a ctrl Q and a save, you’ll be ready to save it as a 3DXML file. Please note that the shadows still won’t show correctly until the file is saved, closed, and reopened.

When your 3DXML file is uploaded to your model selection at 3DVIA.com, it will display correctly in the thumbnail and in both 3D players.

       

There are always many ways to do anything in SolidWorks, so feel free to follow your own path, based on your own experience. This is just one reliable way to get good results.

Please be aware that 3DVIA.com has an upload file size limit of 10MB, so be sure to check the size of your file before you try to upload it. The upload process will assume that the file is within the limit, so it chugs merrily along (while you wait and wait) and then, at the end, if it’s too big it gives you an error.

If your file is too big you can zip it and (as long as the resulting zip file is now less than 10MB) you should be OK to upload.

Now you can quickly modify and upload your SolidWorks models to 3DVIA.com and know that other folks will see them the way you intended. Have fun exploring all of the other models - there’s a lot to see.

P.S. Feel free to contact me directly if you have questions or suggestions.

As we are thrown into an increasingly computer-savvy world, it seems the term “3D” comes up more and more. Whether it relates to the 3D you might see in the movies, the 3D in a brochure, or something entirely unexpected, 3D is everywhere. While you hear the term and see examples often enough, do you ever find yourself wondering “what the heck is 3D?”

Most of us realize that 3D is an abbreviation for three-dimensional— a concept we apply to everyday life and understand. We live in a 3D world where we can walk around objects, pick them up and see them from all sides. But how does this relate to computers, movies, brochures and all the media we see everyday claiming to use 3D? Perhaps the best way to understand 3D is to start with 2D.

Below we see a 2D image of a bowl of water with floating tea lights. In this image, the artist has given the illusion of depth through shading techniques. It looks as though the bowl is three dimensional, but it in fact is not. The bowl and its surrounding environment are flat, and for eternity will only be viewed from the perspective they were painted (unless the artist sketches from another angle).

Here we see several images of a house created using 3D software. Next to the house is the 2D image described above. As we move around the house we can see that it has depth, whereas the 2D image is flat. Unlike 2D, 3D objects can be viewed from infinite angles, as well as moved from place to place, just like objects in the real world. The images we see below are merely “photographs” (known as renders in the 3D industry) where a 3D artist has navigated around the house on the computer and taken snapshots from interesting angles.

Hopefully, the above example better defines what 3D is, but perhaps you’re now wondering why even bother. Why spend the time to build a 3D object and render it when you can take two seconds to snap a photo of its real-world counterpart and get the same result? The reason is control. It’s true, 3D can produce the same photorealistic effects a digital camera can; however, with 3D every variable can be controlled and manipulated. Imagine a photographer who could control the weather, add more branches to a tree, change the color of the sky, etc., and you would have a 3D artist. In addition to realistic objects, 3D software has the ability to create believable, non-realistic objects as we see often in movies (e.g., the fantasy characters in The Lord of the Ring movies, the cities in the latest Star Wars movies, etc.).

When trying to understand 3D, it is best to think about it in the context of real life. While 3D objects and their 3D environments may not exist outside of computer confines, they behave in the same way real-world objects do, and for all intents and purposes, can be thought of as such.