How to connect parts correctly in Materialise Magics?

#1

Hi,
Maybe someone knows how to connect parts correctly in Materialise Magics?

The part has many separate shells. Those shells like individual parts. I mean, with walls in places where they should not be (in places where they connected). I do not need walls inside the part. So I tried to fix, use the tools in Magics, everything I knew, but it did not help. I tried this:

  1. First of all of course I tried to use “Fix Wizard” and fix the errors automatically. Did not help. Unnecessary walls are not removed permanently, some fragments remain (please look at the attached image).
  2. Then I tried to separate shells in parts, then use Boolean tool. Did not help.
  3. The “Unify” tool did not help too.

No matter what tool I use, there always remains some details (fragments) from the former walls (please look at the attached image). Of course the program shows errors and I can’t print this part. I would remove unnecessary details (fragments) manually, but I can not mark these parts separately from the all body (main part). Such tools as: Mark Plane; Mark Surface; Mark Shell etc., they mark more than those unnecessary details. So I tried to use Mark Triangle tool. But for marking only triangles, this will take a very long time. Not to mention the fact that removing the triangles in the edges where begins a main part, I will remove some triangles from the main part. As you can see in the image that I have attached, that the one triangle goes via main part and those unnecessary details. Those details that I want to remove. So I will need to restore the main part manualy. So I believe, to fix all parts, it will takes forever.

I believe, maybe, the problem is that the part is very small (I’ve attached the mesurment in image), because I have use the Magics tools before, with the bigger parts and everything was good. Magics connect the parts (shells) and deleted those walls that is unnecessary. Oh… and I can’t change anything of this part in different program, because this STL file I downloaded form internet, I do not create it myself.

Thank you

image1

#2

Hello, thank you for sharing this problem with us.

i.materialise is only an online platform for consumers and students and we don’t offer support on how to design or fix bad stl files.

What I can advise you to do is to hire a 3D designer. We have some listed on our website under https://i.materialise.com/en/hire-a-3d-designer

I hope this answers your question. Kind regards Lizy

#3

Hi Donatas,

We are not really experts in the Magics tool and as Lizy indicated,
this forum is not meant as help forum for Magics even though there is a clear link with the software of the company.
But hey, this is a forum so why not call upon Magics users reading this forum ?
Did you try the support request inside magics ?
You might point in your request to this post and ask to answer it on the forum :slight_smile:

cheers,
Wim

#4

I do not know Magics, but if you suspect that the real-world size of your object is part of the problem, have you tried to scale it up before using the “Fix Wizard” ? (Alternatively I guess you could still remesh the whole thing in meshlab or similar, even if the STL is all you have)

#5

Hi Donatas,

From what I can see on your screenshot, the answer is quite simple.
Once you import the part you need to:

  1. Do the Triangle Reduction
    Tolerance - 0.01.
    Max angle - 10.
    Iterations - 10
  2. Filter Sharp Triangles (you can use 0.01 instead of 0.02 - play with this value)
    Filter - 0.015.
    Angle - 10.
    Collapse
  3. Global Offset the part
    image
  4. Unify the result

Then you can repeat the first 2 steps in order to make your part look nice and smooth.

Please note that the first 2 actions are recommended for all cases no matter what are you going to do with the part. The next 2 actions are the keys that will open the door to your solution.

Cheers!

1 Like
#6

Thank you all for the information and advice. I will try your suggestions.

#7

Thank you farspacer, your advice (instructions) helped.

I didn’t know about the possibility of the Offset tool. Since other tools that you have mentioned, I have tried them, it didn’t work well. But with the Offset tool (I mean together with other tools), I got the result I need. In fact, the result exceeded expectations. I was shocked.

Thanks again all of you for your suggestions and help

#8

Glad it solved your problem :handshake:

The thing is that the steps #1-2 are meant for making your part more lightweight yet still printable. The Sharp Triangles tool helps you get rid of the surface roughness, such as this one:
image

#9

Great guys, that’s what a forum can do to help you. Even I learned something from the advice. Thank you farspacer Lizy