[liying02ts]

hello,everyone:
I want to convert the foam mesh to stl, it likes ICEM exporting stl file.
but, I don't know if OpenFOAM has the functions.

I find there is a utility named surfaceFeatureExtract, but it only used on surface mesh, but not a whole foam mesh.

I wonder if there a way to exporting stl file from the foam mesh by using OpenFOAM not a third soft.

thank you ~~

[olesen]

Originally Posted by liying02ts

I wonder if there a way to exporting stl file from the foam mesh by using OpenFOAM not a third soft.

A "foamToSurface" doesn't seem to exist yet, but you can try the following:

• foamToStarMesh -surface [-latestTime | -constant]

This should create surfExport.{cel,vrt} files

• touch surfExport.inp

This creates a dummy file that identifies the grouping of files as proSTAR files.

• surfaceMeshConvert surfExport.inp surfExport.stl

Convert to STL (or other) surface format.

[eugene]

If you just want the outside of the FOAM mesh as an STL, there is a handy tool called "surfaceMeshTriangulate" that will do it for you.

[liying02ts]

thank you for your reply

I tried it just now, but surfaceConvert can't read the .inp file.

The suppurted extensions are .ftr/.stl/.stlb/.gts/.obj/.ac/.off/.nas/.tri .

The OpenFOAM extension I use is OpenFOAM-1.6.

Originally Posted by olesen

A "foamToSurface" doesn't seem to exist yet, but you can try the following:

• foamToStarMesh -surface [-latestTime | -constant]

This should create surfExport.{cel,vrt} files

• touch surfExport.inp

This creates a dummy file that identifies the grouping of files as proSTAR files.

• surfaceMeshConvert surfExport.inp surfExport.stl

Convert to STL (or other) surface format.

[liying02ts]

Oh, It is just what I want.

Thank you very much

Originally Posted by eugene

If you just want the outside of the FOAM mesh as an STL, there is a handy tool called "surfaceMeshTriangulate" that will do it for you.

[olesen]

Originally Posted by liying02ts

thank you for your reply

I tried it just now, but surfaceConvert can't read the .inp file.

Sure, but surfaceMeshConvert is what I use.

[Sofia]

Hi everyone;

I have a .stl file which represent a body and I want to calcul a flow around it. I need to choose the dimension of my external box (in which there is my body) but I don't know how...Have you got an idea?
Thank you for your reply
Sofia

[ordinary]

Originally Posted by olesen

A "foamToSurface" doesn't seem to exist yet, but you can try the following:

• foamToStarMesh -surface [-latestTime | -constant]

This should create surfExport.{cel,vrt} files

• touch surfExport.inp

This creates a dummy file that identifies the grouping of files as proSTAR files.

• surfaceMeshConvert surfExport.inp surfExport.stl

Convert to STL (or other) surface format.

I tried this method. It did not work for my 3D surface body (zero volume) which is in MSH and MESHDAT file format from Ansys.

[olesen]

Originally Posted by ordinary

I tried this method. It did not work for my 3D surface body (zero volume) which is in MSH and MESHDAT file format from Ansys.

The conversion utils only work to export from OpenFOAM format. In the meantime (since the first post), there is a foamToSurface utility to export the mesh boundaries directly.

[wenhuicc]

Originally Posted by olesen

A "foamToSurface" doesn't seem to exist yet, but you can try the following:

• foamToStarMesh -surface [-latestTime | -constant]

This should create surfExport.{cel,vrt} files

• touch surfExport.inp

This creates a dummy file that identifies the grouping of files as proSTAR files.

• surfaceMeshConvert surfExport.inp surfExport.stl

Convert to STL (or other) surface format.

I tried this on my 3D.msh. But the size of created surfExport.inp is zero and the created meshExport.stl showed nothing.
OpenFOAM i used is v5.
Can you please give some comments? thanks

[olesen]

Did you try with surfaceMeshTriangulate? The name is misleading (will be updated soon). Exports OpenFOAM patches (all, or just some) to various surface formats, including stl, obj etc