Just out of curiosity. Has anyone tried to create a flow analysis based on 3D models available on the internet? For instance of a car or a ship. There are several sites who sell 3D models for graphic rendering and commercial presentation but I was wondering if it was possible to take the 3D model and successfully complete a flow analysis. Some free models are also available. Typically there are create in "3ds" or "Lightwave" format. See for instance this detailed car http://www.3-d-models.com/3d-model_files/369m709.htm or this free ship. http://gunpoint-3d.com/model-PBoat.html. I've downloaded some of them, typically in my spare time , and imported them into Rhino, www.rhino3d.com, which has STEP and parasolid exporting format. But so far no luck.

Hej Michael. I have used Rhino for the making of some of my geometries. The export to standard parasolid or iges format have worked pretty good. I have afterwards imported my geometries into Designmodeller, and my experience is that iges works best. I have however not tried to import such complicated drawings as you are planning to. Best regards Jesper

Is it polygonal model or nurbs? If it is polygonal then this model somehow must be converted to STL - which can be read by ICEM and meshed.

I guess it is polygonal. How does one convert polygonal to STL or IGES?

In case of polygonal models some packages have ability to export models in STL (I can be wrong, but 3DS MAX can do this). But you cannot convert polygonal models to IGES(preserving original geometry). But one way is by using subdivision abilities of Alias Maya Complete(or Unlimited), begining with version 6. That technology developed to model organic forms by using polygonal envelope, thus smoothing original polygonal mesh. And in latest versions (from 6.0) it have ability to transform subdivision surface to bezier or NURBS patches and thus model can be exported to IGES. I transfered by such way organic surface to CATIA v5.