Converting Wavefront.obj to .iges or .stp format

[doug storsved]

:help: My mechanical engineering group uses ProEngineer for 3D modeling. I'd like to convert some of my conceptual designs in Lightwave to a format that ProEngineer or Solidworks can import. One of the export formats that I use is Wavefront's .obj. Does anyone know how I can convert a .obj file to a .iges or .stp format (that can be read by a mechanical design tool)?
Thanks.

[cresshead]

shouldn't say tis prbably but go get the demo for max..import your model and do an stl check [watertight check] then export

[rezman]

Anything you create in Lightwave is not convertable to a true solid file such as .iges or .stp. Anything you would export is polygonal, while those formats are essentially splines. As has been mentioned you can convert to .stl, but that is polygonal and while it can be imported they can't modify it. And, in my experience it drives CAD people nuts to receive such a file. (Also, the scale is usually way off for anything exported)

That being said an expert in SolidWorks can take an .stl and rebuild it "fairly" easily. But, it is no one click conversion...more like several hour conversion.

rez

Hey! Just noticed...Burnsville! I grew up there.

[lwaddict]

The engineers that I have to exchange files with seem ok with OBJs I've exported from Lightwave...

sorry but that's all I know, couldn't tell you what they have to go through to use them.

[borkus]

In light of Cress mentioning 3dmax, I offer another solution. Lwaddict offers a valid point, but one that isn't echoed all that often. I take it that the engineers he speaks of are of a higher caliber. So, I would check Moment of Inspiration (http://moi3d.com/) . It is made by the same guy that did Rhino (http://www.rhino3d.com/) years ago. I found this program to be very easy to use. I haven't picked up the commercial license yet, now that it is available. Funds are a little slim on this end at the moment. But, as soon as I can change that, I will pick it up. I used most of the betas and this thing is sweet!!! One thing that I will mention is that it exports to Lightwave like no tomorrow. So, I'm not sure if it can do it in reverse. May be an avenue to explore. But, in either case, going with using another application to do what you have to do to make your clients/coworkers happy, this is an app that is pretty cheap for what it does and is easy to learn. Just my two cents. Hope it helped.

[Soth]

:help: My mechanical engineering group uses ProEngineer for 3D modeling.

As said before this is not convertable. You need to save it as stl, there is free lightwave plugin to do that, search on the Flay. That will allow them to load your triangle based mesh to CAD tool, but they will have to redraw it anyway.