Greg Pettengill wrote:
> I have a client that wants to convert scanned organic shapes into
> solid CAD models or surface models that can be used in a CAM system.
> What kind of software would you recommend to do this and why?
Greg - The exact steps you take depend on the format of the point data. If
it's ordered and formated correctly, Surfcam from Surfware (Westlake Village,
California) can import it and create spline curves through which you can loft
machinable surfaces. I did it years ago, and at the time, it was
straightforward.
Another option is to triangulate the points to produce a surface approximation
such as an STL, OBJ, or DXF file. Surfacer from Imageware (Ann Arbor,
Michigan) enables you to produce these file formats from x,y,z coordinate data.
You can machine STL files using products such as DUCT from Delcam (Birmingham,
England), according to the company, and the Windows-based DeskProto software
from Delft Spline Systems (The Netherlands). A friend that owns a machine shop
and I evaluated DeskProto recently and were impressed with it. As with most
1.0 software, there's room for improvement, but it works, and at $1,700, it's
worth a look.
Below I've included contact information for these companies:
Surfware
(800) 787-3927
Fax (818) 991-1980
http://www.surfware.com
Imageware
(313) 994-7300
Fax (313) 994-7303
http://www.iware.com
Delcam
44 121 766 5544
Fax 44 121 766 5511
http://www.delcam.com
Delft Spline Systems
31 30 296 5957
Fax 31 30 296 2292
http://www.spline.nl
Good luck!
Terry Wohlers
Wohlers Associates
OakRidge Business Park
1511 River Oak Drive
Fort Collins, CO 80525 USA
(970) 225-0086
Fax (970) 225-2027
twohlers@cis.compuserve.com
http://lamar.colostate.edu/~wohlers
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 22:37:29 EEST