Sculpt

[Al_H_C]

Hi All,

 

Looking for some help with what is probably a fairly basic 3d Modelling operation. I have a series of planar surfaces arranged to create a relatively basic object. I am now trying to use the sculpt command to convert these into a 3d solid but keep getting the error message;

 

"Modeling Operation Error:

Operation did not add or remove material.

Solid creation failed, no watertight volume detected."

 

Is there any way of;

 

A. forcing the sculpt command to work through altering some sort of fuzz distance option etc?

 

or failing this

 

B. identifying the non compliant sufaces involved so I can attempt to tweak them to suit?

 

Thanks

 

Al

[ReMark]

Post a copy of the drawing you are working on so we all know what is being discussed. Maybe we can determine the source of the problem.

[JD Mather]

The surfaces must contain a "watertight envelope" to flood fill with material. The edges do not need to be trimmed to intersections - they can overlap, but they must at least meet forming an area that if you imagine yourself within that area there is no way out - ie watertight.

[Al_H_C]

JD

 

As far as I can tell this is the case. Is there any way of highlighting the source of the leak so to speak so I can atempt to fix it?

 

Thanks

 

Al

[Al_H_C]

ReMark,

 

Drawing attached.

 

Thanks

 

Al

termination 3D.dwg

[ReMark]

This is where I think the problem lies.

[Al_H_C]

ReMark,

 

Thanks for taking a look at this. I agree that this is likely the problem surface. Any recommendation on the best way to create this surface to achieve the "watertight volume" required to utilise the sculpt command. I've tried redrawing this surface a few times now with pline and _convtosurface but keep getting the same problem. I'm not exactly a pro when it comes to 3d commands so I might be going about this the wrong way.

 

Thanks

 

Al

[ReMark]

Not at the moment. I'll try taking another look.

 

On second look it seems there is something odd, in my opinion, with that corner regarding the two objects in red and green that appear in the image I posted previously.

[JD Mather]

Try running the command on this one. (see attached)

(why use individual surfaces to create such a simple part?)

Sculpt.dwg

[JD Mather]

BTW the gap was here (zoom in close)

 

Modern CAD programs like Autodesk Inventor will show you where the gaps are (and stitch them if desired).

 

Students can get Inventor for free from http://www.autodesk.com/edcommunity

I didn't try Inventor Fusion, but it might have also solved the problem.

Anyone can get Inventor Fusion for free from http://labs.autodesk.com

[JD Mather]

I don't use AutoCAD anymore - so I went back to the file in AutoCAD and low-and-behold found that AutoCAD now has an Extend command on the Surface tab.

Simply start the command and drag the edges of those two surfaces out more so that they clearly intersect (overlap distance doesn't matter).

Now run Sculpt and it works fine on the original file.

 

If they keep adding stuff like this to AutoCAD - it might become a modern program.

[Al_H_C]

JD,

 

Yeah located the leak and and managed to fix it. As I said earlier Im far from an expert when it comes to 3D commands so I appreciate there is probably a far more effective way of creating this but based on the dimension etc I had to go on this was the best way I could see at the time. I tried using the Loft command between the front and back section using Guides but couldn't quite get it to work properly at the bottom of the chamferred edge. How would you recommend creating this in future? Various extrusions, unions and subtractions or is there a better way?

 

Thanks

 

Al

[Al_H_C]

Remark,

 

Managed to fix it. There was a gap at the lower edge of the green suface that I missed.

 

Thanks

 

Al

[ReMark]

Glad to hear all is well now.

 

The credit belongs to JDM and not me however you're welcomed just the same.

 

Cheers.