Unable to create solid from surfaces

Hi all,

I am currently having difficulties making a smart solid from 3 different surfaces that I created using the 'Loft' tool.

The issue I think occurs from the original shapes, being that of a 'pringle crisp' shape the arcs along the shape go off in different directions from each other and that of the other shape lofting between.

This caused me some issue originally when trying to loft between the curves, though eventually I manage to create the surfaces.

My issue now is that no matter what I try, I just can't seem to get the surfaces to convert to 'smart surfaces' and therefore can't create a 'smart sold'.

If someone could have a look at the file attached for me and hopefully find solution, that would be great!

I am hoping it is something simple that I have just missed.

Kind Regards

David

Concrete Surround.dgn

  • H David,

    You're welcome!   It is trickier to create a single solid from surfaces generated in this fashion since the outer edges between the various pieces need to be completely coincident with each other - that seems to be essentially what the mesh conversion + audit is showing.    You're revised method of thickening the surface into a solid and then subtracting one from the other does seem like a much better approach. 



  • Hi David,

    Glad you were able to find a solution.

    Regards

    Marc

  • Hi Steve,

    Thank you for taking time out to reply to my question.

    I got the same result as yourself when turning it into a mesh....thinking this would easily allow me to create a smart solid from it.

    I eventually got the solid created using a different method. (See my reply to Marc)

    Regards

    David

  • Hi Marc,

    Thanks for your reply to my question.

    Sorry for the late reply, though got pulled away on another task for a week or so. I am currently using V8i (SelectSeries6) due to project requirements. I have tried changing the chain line to a b-spline curve and multiple sequences, though I get the same result. I think what is happening is as the curves are going off in different directions it creates the surfaces slightly different to the actual b-spline curve, thus making them impossible to join due to having different edges. I have since used a work around which I did by creating the top surface and pulling the face to create a solid. I then created another solid from the b-spline curves on the same horizontal plane and subtracted one from the other. This then gave me the smart solid wedge I needed.

    Regards

    David

  • Yes, I think the creation process could be coming into play.    I converted each surface into a mesh, and then stitched them together into a single mesh element.  After running the Mesh Audit tool it's reporting a number of overlaps and voids.