Quick Question About Modeling New Parts

[maranble14]

Ok so I'm fiddling around with the idea of making some custom parts for areas of the game that (at least in my opinion) could use some help. I am an engineer by day and have extensive experience working with 3D CAD software, notably SolidWorks. I read an old post where a guy asked if it's possible to model parts in CAD, but he was referring to the AutoCAD, which is Autodesk's most basic 2D CAD software. So if I were so bold and brave as to undertake a project of making some custom parts, would I be able to model them in SW? SolidWorks has the capability to export 3D models in a variety of different file formats, but I'm not sure which ones would be required to import into blender. Could an experienced modder chime in and let me know please? The ability to do this would vastly soften my learning curve for making a mod (so long as I don't have to jump through too many hoops to make it work). Thanks!

[cxg2827]

Resident SW user here.

I do basically all of my modeling in SW, then export out as .STL for fixing up in Blender.

The main thing you gotta do, is model all curved features so that it is faceted much like it would be in a modeling program.

Use N-sided sketches for cylinders and specify the face count.

 

There is a lot of stuff I can cover in my workflow, but if you bring something specific up, I can explain how I do it, or how I would do it.

 

 

[maranble14]

Ok so the biggest consideration I need to make is making sure that I model things as polygons rather than curves? Doesn't sound too bad haha

[cxg2827]

Yea thats basically it. But it can be a bit of a pain in some instances, especially if you want to make spherical parts. You are forced to almost do individual lofts since you can encounter asymmetrical warping using the boundary feature.

Exporting the STL you have 2 options.

1. Model all individual solid bodies in a single part and export as a single STL. This will require you to manual split up the bodies ones imported into blender.

2. save off individual bodies into their own part, then recreate it as an assembly. THEN export the Assembly to STL (it will create individual STL files for each part). In Blender, you select import, then highlight all the STIL files you want , and that will re-assemble in blender with each body as its own mesh object.

 

Shoot me a PM if you ever need some help.

[maranble14]

Can you work with any of the relative motions or animations within solidworks or does that all the have to be done with the other tools?

[cxg2827]

haven't tried. i setup all my animations in Blender.

 

[VaPaL]

@cxg2827 Can I PM you to ask some questions about it? Only 2 ou 3

[cxg2827]

@VaPaL go for it

[Van Disaster]

Small note - Autodesk 3ds can import a variety of CAD formats. Personally I've never done it so I've no real idea of the process, but 3ds has support for spline modelling & Maya ( from limited exposure ) is all about procedural geometry, so if you have access to Autodesk suites it might be worth investigating further.

[Fengist]

My 2 cents: You don't need Blender!

When I first attempted to learn modelling, I did what everyone suggested and downloaded it and started playing around.  I find it's interface totally unintuitive to the point of being backwards.  I now model everything for my parts in Wings 3D and export them to .obj files.  Unity loves them and I simply drag and drop them into my new Unity scene.

If SolidWorks can export a .obj, AND can do an unwrap, the only other thing you need is a solid paint program like Gimp or Photoshop.  I personally use Fireworks.

And you don't need anything special to do animations.  I create all of mine in Unity and, except for emissives, it's dead easy.  I have tried Daz3D to work with some of the more complex stuff and it's just laborious. I end up going right back to Unity.  I get the parts lined up where I want them in Wings, then select them individually and 'export selected.'  When I import them to Unity, they're already in the positions I want and from there, I use Unity to animate them.

You may want to have a look at this tutorial by Beale. I can't imagine SW not exporting a .obj.  If SW doesn't do an unwrap, you can use Wings to do that pretty easily.  He covers it in the tutorial.