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My model won't render fully, only the outer shape shows, no features displayed

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2017-04-08
2017-04-08
  • Denis Casserly

    Denis Casserly - 2017-04-08

    Hi, I'm running Pycam 0.6 on Kubuntu 16.04 32 bit and trying to generate a toolpath.
    The .stl or .dxf model file will load into Pycam but model features won't render visually.
    Pocket, through hole, and spiral features don't show up so it looks a solid.
    The model files were exported as .stl and .dxf in FreeCAD ver. 0.16
    Pycam loaded a DXF version also, but it shows up in wireframe only.

    I noticed In the Pycam view tab/plugin manager many listings in the 'Enabled' column are not highlighted and I'm unable to change their status to enabled.
    Is that causing the rendering problem?

    Pycam throws this message at startup:
    "Psyco is not available ( performance will probably suffer slightly)
    Diabaled parallel processing"

    The model is a simple disc with hole, pocket and spiral in the face
    but don't know how to attach a PDF.
    Please let me know if you need more info and thanks for your time.
    cheers,
    Denis

     
  • Lars

    Lars - 2017-04-08

    Hello Denis,

    according to your description I would have expected some "failed to enable plugin ..." warnings during startup. Are you sure, that you did not overlook these?

    Please provide a screenshot of the plugin manager list, a screenshot of your model visualization and the original DXF file.
    Thank you!

     
  • Denis Casserly

    Denis Casserly - 2017-04-10

    Thanks Lars
    I tried to attach a model file or a model PDF but I cannnot find out how to do it. Is there a
    way to attach a file to my post? When I try ' inset image ' ikon ( above ) the program inserts a link. Is there way to set a link to files I want to upload?

    Psyco is not installed and the psyco download page returned this message:

    Psyco is unmaintained and dead. Please look at PyPy for the state-of-the-art in JIT compilers for Python.
    

    Would PyPy be a good substitute for psyco? If so, maybe that will fix everything.

    Please let me know how to send the images or screenshots so they can be sent.

    cheers,
    Denis

     
  • Lars

    Lars - 2017-04-10

    Hi Denis,

    psyco is optional - you can safely ignore it.

    Regarding image attachements: you will sadly need to upload them somewhere else and post the link here.
    If you are interested in pycam development, you may also want to subscribe to the development mailinglist.

    Cheers,
    Lars

     
  • Denis Casserly

    Denis Casserly - 2017-04-11

    Hi Lars,
    I've got 5 .png screendumps ( 2 MB ) to send you. Can I email them to you or can you suggest a file upload service I could use. I tried dropbox and share link but couldn't get them to upload.
    cheers,
    Denis

     
  • Lars

    Lars - 2017-04-11

    maybe http://pasteboard.co could be suitable?
    (I do not know it - but it looks ok on first sight)

     
  • Lars

    Lars - 2017-04-12

    Hi Denis,

    ok - this clears some things up ...

    I noticed In the Pycam view tab/plugin manager many listings in the 'Enabled' column are not highlighted and I'm unable to change their status to enabled.
    Is that causing the rendering problem?

    The plugins with grayed out checkboxes are actually enabled. It is just not possible to disable them, since other currently enabled plugins depend on them. Thus there is nothing to worry about regarding missing plugins.

    The .stl or .dxf model file will load into Pycam but model features won't render visually.
    Pocket, through hole, and spiral features don't show up so it looks a solid.

    Could you post a screenshot of the model visualization? And please describe, what exactly you expected instead.

    Cheers,
    Lars

     
  • Denis Casserly

    Denis Casserly - 2017-04-13

    Hi Lars
    thanks for clearing up the grayed out checkboxes.
    I attached 4 screendump visualizations - 2 in Freecad and 2 in Pycam.

    2 of the files with Pycam in the name are the visualizations of the .stl model, exported from Freecad as .stl type. The pocket and through hole features in the model are missing. A small white line shows the edge of the pocket.

    The other 2 files, without ' pycam ' in the name, are screendumps of the model in Freecad, which shows, a pocket and a through hole. When that .stl model file opens in Pycam the pocket and through hole features, aren't rendered, so it appears like a solid.

    I need to engrave a spiral slot in the front side of this model. I can model the spiral path centerline. It the centerline is converted to .svg or .ps format will it be possible to get a toolpath to engrave the spiral.

    thanks for your time.
    cheers,
    Denis

     
  • Lars

    Lars - 2017-04-13

    OK - I see.
    Indeed I could imagine, that this is just a matter of visualization.
    Maybe you want to create a simple toolpath (e.g. "surfacing") and check if the tool would clear the hole?
    If this is a visualization issue, then I would tend to ignore it, since we will abandon the old gtkglext-based visualiation engine, anyway.

    If it is a problem of the STL importer, then it is something that I would like to fix.

    Regarding the spiral: it looks like the spiral has no physical width? In this case I would expect that it is not visible. In general you would need to make sure that the gap is not smaller than the tool.
    For this kind of problem, you should probably really use a 2D projection instead of the 3D model.

    Maybe you want to upload the STL file, if you think that it is an import problem.

     
  • Denis Casserly

    Denis Casserly - 2017-04-16

    Hi Lars
    I doubt it's an import problem. I think it's something on my end, maybe my graphics card or operator error. The spiral is problematic to draw. I figured I could use the spiral line for a toolpath and engrave it into the face with something like Inkscape.
    I know it needs a width that's got to be wider that the tool diameter.
    Here's the .stl file.
    Thanks for your time checking this out.
    cheers,
    Denis

     
  • Lars

    Lars - 2017-04-16

    I took a look at you STL model with meshlab. It shows me that there are mesh triangles covering the top and the bottom of that hole. Maybe you want to look at the attached screenshot - there you see triangle edges going through the full face area.
    Thus I think, that there is a problem with the STL export.

    Regarding the spiral: yes, Inkscape would also be the tool of my choice for this kind of task.

     

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