problems with STEP file
 

Hi Guys,

I had a point cloud obtained from a laser scan of a manikin. The point cloud was stored in a STL file. Using a software called 3DReshaper I processed the point cloud and obtained a water-tight model for the manikin. And I exported the file in STL and STEP format files.

When I imported the STL file to GAMBIT, GAMBIT created a virtual face, which allows me to create only virtual volumes. But I don't want virtual volumes because it limits my Boolean operations. (I have to subtract this volume (manikin) from a bigger volume (wind tunnel) to simulate the flow around the manikin.)

Therefore I had to go with STEP files. However, the STEP file (which holds only data of triangles (facets)) created by 3DReshaper did not work with GAMBIT. I could not figure out the problem yet. Here is my first question: What kind of data (facet data?, surface data? or something else)should a STEP file contain in order to be succesfully read by GAMBIT?

Since I could not find a way out to import the STEP file to GAMBIT, I decided to use Pro-E to create another STEP file just to check if the problem is with 3DReshaper. Therefore I imported the STL file (which was succesfully read by GAMBIT) to Pro-E. And I saw that Pro-E took data as facets. (Gambit had taken it as a surface. It may a translation issue.) Anyway, the I export the facets as STEP file again and GAMBIT failed in reading again:(

As a way out, I decided to convert those facets to a surface and export the surface in STEP format file. However, I could not do that because of my insufficient knowledge in Pro-E. If you guys know how to do that and share your knowledge with me I would deeply appreciate.

If you guys have some experience about the issue I wrote, please share them with me. Any ideas, suggestions to get around the problem is highly appreciated.

EK