STL Import and redesign

[GordonL]

I know that I am way beyond my ability but perhaps someone can give me some pointers. I am trying to make a clown for a model Cretors Popcorn Engine that I am building. I want to 3D print this. I can find an articulated doll on STL Finder which will be close to what I need but needs some modifications. I have loaded it into FreeCad and exported it as a STP file. This gives me a part consisting of a bunch of triangles which I can live with because the body is covered by a clown suit. The problem is that the head is completely wrong. I can find just a head which is closer to what I need. I have tried modifying the original design and I have been able to remove the head. This is way beyond my machine design experience. So the questions I have are:

-Is there any way to insert the additional STP file to replace the deleted head?
-Is there a method for smoothing out the resulting import?

Gordon
Alibre Atom

 

[languer]

I am fairly new to Alibre as well; but if you are only looking for an Alibre solution hen I would be using STP files and "assembling" them in an Assembly (the Blue/Yellow looking brick in Alibre).

I know of other people that what you are looking at doing using things like Blender or Meshmixer (but I am not familiar with those to even suggest anything about them - other than they exist).

 

[stepalibre]

I know that I am way beyond my ability but perhaps someone can give me some pointers. I am trying to make a clown for a model Cretors Popcorn Engine that I am building. I want to 3D print this. I can find an articulated doll on STL Finder which will be close to what I need but needs some modifications. I have loaded it into FreeCad and exported it as a STP file. This gives me a part consisting of a bunch of triangles which I can live with because the body is covered by a clown suit. The problem is that the head is completely wrong. I can find just a head which is closer to what I need. I have tried modifying the original design and I have been able to remove the head. This is way beyond my machine design experience. So the questions I have are:

Can you share links to everything and/or a zip with what you have so far? It can be examples not your actual files. I can explain possible workflows if you give more detailed info.

 

[stepalibre]

-Is there any way to insert the additional STP file to replace the deleted head?

I download random objs and converted them to STEP. I imported the STEP file and used Alibre for cleanup and replacing the head on a clown body. This is meant to give an example workflow. Downloading obj/stl - convert to STEP - convert to Alibre model. A quick concept. A real job would need more detailing to have the new head look the way you want. This all depend on your requirements. Movable parts can be setup as well.
Clown (wrong head)

Model with the new head

Bearbrick Bedtime with textures | 3D Print Model

Model available for download in Autodesk FBX format. Visit CGTrader and browse more than 1 million 3D models, including 3D print and real-time assets

www.cgtrader.com

Kaws Clown for visualisation | 3D model

Model available for download in 3D Studio format. Visit CGTrader and browse more than 1 million 3D models, including 3D print and real-time assets

www.cgtrader.com

I couldn't upload all the files here, download from my website.

clown-with-a-new-head.AD_PKG | Notion

clown-with-a-new-head.AD_PKG

donetoolkit.notion.site

 

[GordonL]

OK I will keep playing around with this. I think that my problem is that I am trying to combine two items in MODEL instead of ASSEMBLY. I have made assemblies in other projects but I did not realize that I could export an assembly to STL. I don't have time to play around with this today but I will get back to it next week. Another problem may be that I am using Alibre Atom instead of Alibre Design.

Thank you for your input. Gordon

 

[stepalibre]

You can export parts from Alibre Atom and combine them with another app, then import the merged model back into Alibre Atom.

The above example is another method.

You can also export that assembly and do cleanup with another program, then import the merged model back into Alibre Atom.

 

[stepalibre]

Other apps I work with that can help:

Paint 3D for simple meshes.

SolveSpace - parametric 3d CAD

https://meshmixer.com/

blender.org - Home of the Blender project - Free and Open 3D Creation Software

The Freedom to Create

www.blender.org

FreeCAD: Your own 3D parametric modeler

FreeCAD, the open source 3D parametric modeler

www.freecad.org

OpenSCAD

openscad.org