I have an STL model made in Rhino of a site for an architectural model. This includes topography as well as rectangular carveouts designed to fit building footprints. Everything is modeled EXACTLY how the final CNC carve needs to look.
The issue I’m running into is that when I import the STL file it automatically sizes to fit whatever the stock material size is listed as. This is annoying because the stock will actually be larger than what I want to carve from it. But I can workaround this by setting the stock size to be the exact XY dimensions of the STL model.
Yet the “Import Parameters” make me also choose a “height”. This is impossible as there is no single defined height, the model is topographic corner to corner.
How can I import an STL object EXACTLY as it is modeled and to 1:1 scale in every axis? I just cannot understand why Carbide makes you fill out Import Parameters rather than just bring in the object as-is. Please help!
The height is there so you can make an adjustment if necessary. You can’t change it afterward.
If I have an stl that’s 12 x 12 x 3", and I want to cut that contour into a 1" thick workpiece, I would need to adjust the height scale. The height is the height difference between pure white & pure black in the height map, or the total height of the faceted model in .stl.
You can cut outside the workpiece in CC. But you can also scale & move the contour when you import it, yes? (My pro trial ran out, so working from memory).
Yes but my issue with this is there is no single Z dimension. The entire top of the object has a topographic texture. Eyeballing it by stretching the height upon import is not acceptable in this scenario as it needs to be a precision model.
I do understand the purpose and benefits of being able to adjust heights/ scale upon import. And yes you’re right, you can scale and move contour when you import. In fact, you HAVE to, which is my issue in a nutshell. This is a precision model I need it to be exactly at 1:1 scale, including everything on the z axis.
When I bring in the file, it automatically resizes to fit the dimensions I entered for the stock material. I don’t want it to do this.
For some reason it also defaults to a “Height” of 0.1181, even though the STL object varies in height from 1"-2". So the default Height upon import squishes my model flat. I know that I can enter a different height, but estimating is not good enough. I need it to be the precise thickness as it is modeled at.
I hope that’s clear, I’m not very good at verbally describing issues like these.
Forgive me if I’m being daft, but I’m not sure how to “set” the height upon import of an STL object that has a topographic surface, and thus many different heights.
by “overall height” do you mean the tallest/thickest point? Because with the topographic textured surface that’s not an even dimension. (the tallest point is 1 247/256")
Is there no way to simply import an STL file “as-is”, without being required to manually enter parameters?
Ah, yes. the Highest point on the model (from the lowest point on the model).
If you have your workpiece the size of the model, then you import the height at 1.9648.
I agree, it should use that number, the height of the faceted body, as the default for the height, which you can then adjust if you need to.
That’s definitely an option I hadn’t considered. However, my difficulty comes from uneven dimensions that sometimes measure out to x/256". I understand that most things that people machine are to nice and clean numbers, but when this isn’t possible I just wish that there was a way to bring in as-is, rather than manually entering dimensions/scale by default.
Is there no way to avoid having to enter the tallest point manually? My difficulty comes from uneven dimensions that sometimes measure out to x/256". I have four pieces of topography that will need to be carved separately due to size. Because these need to line up, it’s a significant issue not being able to bring an object in as-is.
If determining what the three overall dimensions are for each part and entering them into the import window aren’t workable, then I’d suggest using some other tool such as MeshCAM.