Improving Mesh Resolution & Mesh Repair

Mesh Resolution

It is important to be mindful that the mesh resolution/polygon count will significantly impact the accuracy and smoothness of a model. For best meshing results, you may need to adjust your mesh settings.

To adjust mesh settings follow the below guides.

Rhino

1. Select the object you would like to convert to a mesh

2. Enter command Mesh Here mesh settings can be modified in 2 ways;

   1. Slider (fewer polygons - more polygons)

   2. Detailed Controls dFab recommended method This method allows you to modify; Density, Maximum angle, Maximum aspect ratio, Maximum edge length, Maximum distance edge to surface & Minimum initial grid quads.

   If a setting is 0 or 0.0, it is turned off (not taken into a account)

Polygon Mesh Settings

Understanding Mesh Settings

Rhino Mesh Settings - Detailed Info [McNeel Wiki]

See "The Custom Settings"

Fusion 360

1. Right-click on the Component in the browser tree (left panel).

2. Select Save As Mesh

3. Select File Format. (STL Binary)

4. Check ✓ Preview

5. Click Refinement Options Here you can modify; Surface Deviation, Normal Deviation, Maximum Edge Length & Aspect Ratio.

6. Click OK when you are happy with your mesh resolution

   

   Save As Mesh menu in Fusion 360

Alternatively a body can be converted to a mesh and modified further using mesh modify tools

1. Select Component in the browser tree (left panel).

2. In the design workspace, select the MESH tab

3. Click Create , select Tessellate Check ✓ Preview Here you can select your Refinement Level or manually modify; Surface Deviation, Normal Deviation, Maximum Edge Length & Aspect Ratio.

4. Click OK

5. From here the mesh can be modified further using the mesh tools

Tessellate menu in Fusion 360

Fusion 360 Help

Mesh Modify Tools

Rhino: Quad Meshes

if you would like a uniform mesh (optimised topology) the command QuadRemesh can be used on any solid (Polysurface, SubD or existing Mesh) This command creates a mesh consisting of quad faces ideal for; subdividing, smoothing, sculpting, rendering, animating and performing surface optimisation and analysis algorithms When creating a quad mesh, significantly more faces are required to achieve the same dimensional accuracy of a tri mesh, creating larger files. This can cause issues when preparing files for printing as most 3D Slicers are optimised for tri meshes.

Polysurface

Tri Mesh consisting of 1969 faces 124KB

Quad Mesh consisting of 2978 faces 282KB

When 3D printing dFab recommends tri meshes to preserve dimensional accuracy, limit file size & reduce computational load on the slicer.

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Mesh Repair in Netfabb

Download Autodesk Fusion 360 with Netfabb 2024 | Netfabb Free Trialautodesk

Download Netfabb Trial Here, note staff & students have access to the Autodesk suite via Educational Access

1. Open model in Netfabb File > Open or Drag the .stl into Netfabb

2. Check ✓ Apply repair script & select your desired repair type dFab recommends an Extended repair

3. Select Add Parts

4. Right click part in browser or 3D view

5. Select Export part > as STL

6. Click OK to export part

Netfabb Import Parts Dialog

Alternatively if a part is already open in Netfabb,

1. Right-click the part in browser or 3D view

2. Select Prepare > Run Repair Script..

3. In the Automatic Repair dialog, select Extended Repair, then click Execute.