What Software for Fixing/Smoothing/Editing STL Files?

RobotChicken · Apr 27, 2016

I'm trying to find quality software for fixing/smoothing/editing STL files and frustratingly having no luck. All I want to do is load a STL file, replace groups of triangles with a smooth flat mesh of triangles, generate support structures, and export the model back out to STL. Seems simple enough, right? Um, apparently not so.

Blender > No. The user-interface is awful and the learning curve is much too steep.

Meshmixer > No. Crashes much too frequently, smoothing tools aren't very good, and triangle selection is very buggy.

MeshLab > No. Has no undo function, has a steep learning curve, and is too overwhelming with its quantity of filters and options.

netfabb > No. Has no undo function, cannot re-mesh faces, doesn't create support structures, and although it has pretty good model "fixing" it's very basic.

123D Design > No. Its highest-resolution STL export is not smooth enough and doesn't create support structures.

Simplify3D > No. Apparently just a slicer program and you cannot try out the software without first dropping $150 on it.

Rhino > Heck no - $500.

Maya > Super heck no - look up the pricing. (Yikes.)

And there are others, but after a week's worth of searching the net I'm still coming up empty on a good program for turning CAD models into quality STL files. What do you modelers use and why?

projectshadow · Apr 27, 2016

There is going to be a learning curve no matter what. I also found the curve for Blender rather steep. I have been trying out 3DS Max. If you are a college student there is a chance you might be able to get the software free through Adobe. That is how I obtained it.

kaween · Apr 27, 2016

I use Simplify3D for pretty much everything, including the fixing of stl's. Milage will vary. CREATING them is done with Inventor or better said, I'm TRYING to do that in Inventor. I tried Blender first but I gave up on it as I'm apparently just too stupid to get it done.

https://www.simplify3d.com/support/tutorials/identifying-and-repairing-common-mesh-errors/

However, I mainly use Simplify3D because it gives me the best output on my Prusa. The output quality of it compared to say Cura is quite astounding. No level of tweaking got me the same results that I got in S3D. In terms of output quality, I got something like Simplify3D > Cura >>>> Slic3r.
Also, S3D allows me to print "zone related", slowing down/changing printer parameters within a given model for places where I know the output quality will struggle using the overall settings. For example, the Reach Combat Knife model is known for giving output quality issues around the highest "outdent" of the grip, several people complain about that, going to the extend of reslicing the part and printing it seperatly or sanding the hell out of it.
Using S3D, that part comes out 100% clean, each and every time.

Is S3D worth it ? Can't say, that's for everyone to decide for themselves. Am I pleased with S3D ? Yes. Is it flawless ? Nope, since 3 it even has "learned" a really nasty bug relating to the release of the model from the raft, so it sure is not. But overall, it gives me the best results.

RobotChicken · Apr 27, 2016

Thanks. I realize there will be a learning curve with any software. However, I don't intend to spend 3-6 months learning something that should be learnable in 5-10 minutes. I'm a professional CAD engineer and know my way around CAD programs, and can quickly spot good interfaces versus bad interfaces. I've heard a lot of great things about Blender and its abilities, but everybody says the same thing about its interface and learning curve (which should be a huge red flag to the developers). At $3700 3DS Max isn't happening (I am not a college student).

My issue with Simplify3D is I cannot try out the software before buying it. $150 is affordable, but if it doesn't perform the tasks I need it to then I've got better things to spend that money on right now. You normally don't buy a car without taking it for a test drive, or buy a house without doing a walkthrough, and I'm a believer that all software should have an evaluation trial period before purchasing.

After 3 weeks of attempting to convert the hand plate CAD file to a STL file that I wouldn't be embarrassed to upload, I'm quickly losing faith that this is going to happen and I should have spent the last 3 weeks pepping instead of fooling around with buggy software.

Chernobyl · Apr 27, 2016

RobotChicken said:
Blender > No. The user-interface is awful and the learning curve is much too steep.

You'll find that the learning curve for any 3D modelling program is going to be a little steep - that said, I've been working in Blender for so long now that I can't really get to grips with other programs that well. If you sit down with a decent tutorial and have the patience to see it through, you'll find you're glad you did. It's a program designed around the 'one-hand user' - very rarely will you have to move your hand any great distance away from the standard WASD position, since the basic hotkeys are positioned in easy access of the left hand. If the keys aren't to your liking, you can re-map them, and once you're familiar with the workspace you'll find that you can hammer out a project pretty quickly.

As for the UI - honestly, that's subjective. Having familiarised myself with the program I find myself wondering sometimes why other programs don't follow suit, and often I find myself floundering in other programs with vastly more complex UIs (3DS Max is a massive offender here, and I only own a student copy in order to help me process model extraction more smoothly).

I'd honestly give it another try. I taught myself how to use the very basic functions of Blender in about a week - without a tutorial or guide. I've had to do some research since to learn how to do the more complex things (rendering, mainly) but otherwise it's a damned solid program that I'd urge anyone interested in modelling to use, 'steep learning curve' be damned.

kaween · Apr 27, 2016

You could take a peek at Cubify Design which has been my main workhorse up till recently and it still is as I'm not nearly good enough in Inventor for what I wanted to achieve. They have a free 14 days trial so you at least can see if it's something up your mindset, because THAT's what breaking it for me trying to use Blender.
I always have the idea Blender is doing its best to do just what I do NOT want to do.

I'm sure Blender is a brilliant piece of remarkable free software. But after 3 failed attempts I've given up on it.

I hear what you're saying about Simplify3D. I admit to having used a "less then official" version prior to buying the package. Their "hey fork out 150USD first and we'll get it back to you if you reeeeaaaallly don't like it" is off-putting to say the least. The output quality difference on itself is a huge timesaver for me (that's if you disregard the hasstle to get your crummy model of the raft

) and that's what convinced me to pay for it.

As for buggy software, the only software I call really buggy for me is Meshmixer. I've got it on Mac, I've got it on PC. Both are about as stable as a drunken sailor after 5:00AM. Small tasks ? Sure. Bigger, more complex things ? "Mayday Mayday, we're going down HARD".

PS : I'll post a comparisson picture of two identical models, one done with Cura, one with S3D to illustrate why I used S3D as output platform later today if you'd be interested.

RobotChicken · Apr 28, 2016

I've been looking through the features and tutorials for Simplify3D and I haven't seen yet whether it can re-mesh a selected group of triangles. My model looks great in TurboCAD and 123D Design (freeform CAD with true mathematical curves and smooth spline surfaces), but those programs export STL about as well as your drunken sailor is at a game of darts (like, you might want to move away from that dart board, buddy). So, several areas of the model end up needing repair and cleanup after translating to a triangle mesh. Meshmixer is the only program I've found so far that supports re-meshing selected triangles, but the results are usually not much better than the original faces. Of course, if the CAD programs would generate decent STL then I wouldn't even need to clean up the file. And sadly, there is no compatible intermediate file type between the CAD programs I use and Blender for maintaining the freeform curves, so even if I was in the mood for some self-punishment I wouldn't be able to import the model anyway without sacrificing surface resolution.

kaween · Apr 28, 2016

You could always try Moldflow.

No seriously, fixing it by "selected group" isn't possible in S3D afaik. It's more a "one click solution" which probably tends to look equally crappy in other comparable programs.
You could always ask the guys at S3D, I found them to be reasonalby responsive.
I just talked to a collegue of mine, he suggested http://remesh.sourceforge.net/ but I have no knowledge concerning this package.

As for S3D's output quality : here's a shot of 2 identical parts, running from the same printer, the same speed, flowrate, infill, surface, ect ect ect.

But even after a week of tinkering, I still couldn't get Cura's output to match S3D's output which came out like that more or less by default settings. (no prizes guessing what version was printed with Cura and what came out using S3D)

RobotChicken · Apr 28, 2016

ReMESH looks interesting, but it looks to be a Windows only application and I'm a Mac boy.

SavedbyGraceG12 · Apr 28, 2016

I have tutorial from CGcookie that can I upload to my mediafire account. Wife has her laptop with her. I can get it to you this afternoon, if you like?

The tutorial is Blender based.

Sentri · Apr 28, 2016

Another Professional CAD designer here. found some info that might help you out. I was looking to see if solidworks could do it and read this.

Download FreeCad then import the stl file in the "mesh design" work space. At this point you can clean up your stl using the mesh design tools.

I've never used freecad myself, but it might be worth checking out.

RobotChicken · Apr 28, 2016

FreeCAD is one of the applications I tried to test out but failed. Their download page states, "FreeCAD is under heavy development and might not be ready for production use". Despite that disclaimer, I tried clicking the Mac OS X download link only to get a 404 Page Not Found error. So not even having downloaded the software yet and already getting errors is not a very good first impression. Anyway, I may try getting it elsewhere, like SourceForge, on the weekend to see if it can get the job done. At this point I'm thinking the root problem is the crappy STL export from TurboCAD Mac "Pro".

kaween · Apr 29, 2016

Not trying to bombard you with PC software, but Cubify Sculpt may be something to look into too. It works pretty different from other 3D software, basically you're "shaping virtual blocks of clay" and I've seen a couple of videos where existing less-than-perfect 3D models get cleaned up in it quite well and with very little effort, and the output is highly STL/3D printer oriented.

I'm on MAC too, but I've no problems switching to PC/Bootcamp when I think the PC offers a better solution for this or that.
My previous job demanded totall flexibility in regards to platforms and I never had any prefered platform to begin with, which is a wonder as "Windows ME" should have killed the chance of me ever using a Microsoft OS again back in the early days.

RobotChicken · Apr 29, 2016

I got FreeCAD downloaded and installed, and although it reads STEP format from TurboCAD very nicely (the model looks perfect in FreeCAD) the STL export is worse than 123D Design. Instead of just a few derped areas, all the surfaces on the model are poor resolution and uneven. There are no STL export options for controlling the mesh density, only a "maximum mesh deviation" setting - which at 0.0 still yields a very poor STL model. I'm going back to pepping.

Sierra 165 · May 4, 2016

Interesting

Sentri · May 4, 2016

Not sure how familiar you are with Inventor, but you can get a free 30 day trial. After a little research, I found that it does open STL files. I hope this could be of some help.

Termhn · May 4, 2016

Check out 3DCoat's voxel converter/auto-retopology features - it might suit your needs. Won't generate support material, but should be pretty efficient for cleaning up a broken mesh.

RobotChicken · May 5, 2016

ChaosDynasty said:
Not sure how familiar you are with Inventor, but you can get a free 30 day trial. After a little research, I found that it does open STL files. I hope this could be of some help.

It will take more than 30 days to convert the models made thus far, and that's not including the models that aren't finished yet. I'm looking for a more permanent solution to side-stepping TurboCAD's cruddy STL export, and Inventor's subscription-based pricing of nearly $2000 per year is impractical for my purposes.

Termhn said:
Check out 3DCoat's voxel converter/auto-retopology features - it might suit your needs. Won't generate support material, but should be pretty efficient for cleaning up a broken mesh.

I had never heard of 3D Coat before, but it looks to be mostly for rendering. The auto-retopology feature looks really cool, but another $400 is a little pricey with family things going on at the moment. If I get time I might play around with the trial version.

RobotChicken · May 11, 2016

I redrew the hand plate model tonight using a different technique for creating the surfaces, and the model now exports to STL without any distortions. Yay! Before I upload it to the File Archive I will be printing a pair to make sure all is well, and that won't happen until I get support structures generated. I'll probably use Meshmixer for that, since it's the only free application I've found thus far with that feature. I am uncertain about something though. Should the model in the File Archive have the support structures included (as Meshmixer "fuses" them to the model) or would it be better to upload the model without any support structures?

RobotChicken · May 21, 2016

Can somebody recommend a good slicer that's compatible with the Dremel Idea Builder? Their slicer pretty much sucks, generating random "sticks" which aren't in the STL model:

After watching a few review videos I think I'm gonna go with Simplify3D. If anybody's got any advice on settings for good prints I'd love to hear it. Like, does anybody mess with changing temperatures during a job? How do you know what and when to set it? Those of you who have printed wearable armor parts, how many shells did you use? Etc...

What Software for Fixing/Smoothing/Editing STL Files?

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