07-13-2020, 04:59 PM
I found this keycap campaign too late so I am not a backer, therefore I cannot comment on the campaign itself. I hope this post is OK.
In the latest update (#47) you mention you need help converting from .STL to .STEP. Unfortunately this is a really hard operation, because the .STL format only contains raw triangles, not the surfaces used to generate those triangles. If the number of triangles is fairly low, you can use some CAD software to attempt to regenerate a surface from the triangles, but it is rarely a straightforward operation. If there are more than a couple tens of thousand triangles in the source mesh, the process generally fails.
You can give it a try using the free version of Fusion 360, which can import .STL meshes and convert them to surfaces (they call them BReps) if they don't have too many triangles. Unfortunately you mention the files come from a 3D scanner so I doubt the triangle count is reasonable. It can be worth a shot trying to recreate CAD source from a polygon soup, but it might be less effort to just start over, using the .STL mesh as a guide to create a surface that carefully matches the key. I understand you may not like this solution but on the upside, the STL can serve as validation that the CAD surface is a good match or not.
If that doesn't work, I am told that the commercial version of Inventor has an STL import plugin that works where Fusion 360 fails. Unfortunately I was never able to test this since it requires an active annual subscription to Inventor (my company only provided a basic non-subscription license at the time).
As a hybrid solution, it may be possible to simplify the mesh (merging similar triangles together into a bigger one) until the surface reconstruction succeeds. It may be quite finicky to get a good match, but it might work with a lot of time and effort.
I hope this information helps you!
Cheers,
Ben.
In the latest update (#47) you mention you need help converting from .STL to .STEP. Unfortunately this is a really hard operation, because the .STL format only contains raw triangles, not the surfaces used to generate those triangles. If the number of triangles is fairly low, you can use some CAD software to attempt to regenerate a surface from the triangles, but it is rarely a straightforward operation. If there are more than a couple tens of thousand triangles in the source mesh, the process generally fails.
You can give it a try using the free version of Fusion 360, which can import .STL meshes and convert them to surfaces (they call them BReps) if they don't have too many triangles. Unfortunately you mention the files come from a 3D scanner so I doubt the triangle count is reasonable. It can be worth a shot trying to recreate CAD source from a polygon soup, but it might be less effort to just start over, using the .STL mesh as a guide to create a surface that carefully matches the key. I understand you may not like this solution but on the upside, the STL can serve as validation that the CAD surface is a good match or not.
If that doesn't work, I am told that the commercial version of Inventor has an STL import plugin that works where Fusion 360 fails. Unfortunately I was never able to test this since it requires an active annual subscription to Inventor (my company only provided a basic non-subscription license at the time).
As a hybrid solution, it may be possible to simplify the mesh (merging similar triangles together into a bigger one) until the surface reconstruction succeeds. It may be quite finicky to get a good match, but it might work with a lot of time and effort.
I hope this information helps you!
Cheers,
Ben.