Importing Maxsurf IGES to Rhino as a workable surface

[SOYUTA]

Hi, I can't do any operation on the surface that I imported to Rhino from Maxsurf IGES. How can I change it to a workable surface in Rhino?

[Yacht Skipper]

Hello, same problem, can anybody help ?

[CGN]

click on the button "surfaces", you will find in one of the columns "locking", here make sure that the option is not selected, leave the boxes blank, also check "symmetry" and play with it to make sure that the imported surfaces are oriented properly, so they can behave like a native maxsurf surface.

also make sure that the orientation of the surfaces are correct eg. the bow pointing to the right side of your screen or to wathever orientation you are working with.

[SOYUTA]

I want to do the opposite of you told. I want to export the maxsurf surface to rhino. when I do it I cant work on the surface in Rhino. I need to learn how can I change that surface to a workable surface in Rhino.

[CGN]

are you exporting as a iges? or i think on the new version you can save as a rhino file directly that should work fine.

do not use dxf or stl.

let me know if it works

[SOYUTA]

I have the Maxsurf 9.52 and I can't save it as Rhino file. Only as IGES.

[CGN]

I never had any problem opening and using iges files from maxsurf, is the imported file in "locked" layer on rhino? or make sure when you import the surface is not converted as a block or something like that, use "import" instead of "insert", or just directly open the iges file using rhino. eg. "open"/select the iges file.

can you post a surface to have a look at it?

[Mikey]

You should save as IGES NURBS, not poly lines in Maxsurf, that should do it

[SOYUTA]

Yeah it works when I open the file in Rhino. There is a problem when I import it to Rhino. It imports the surface as a block or something like that and don't allow to make changes on it. But I still have problem on Expander. It failes to expand that surface. Why can it fail?

[Steve Baer]

Do you have a sample that I can look at to figure out what is going on? Does UnrollSrf work on your surface?

Thanks,
-Steve

[SOYUTA]

Neither expand nor unrollsrf... they don't work. I sent you a part of the shell that I can't expand or unroll. Have a look.

[CGN]

Here is a workable version of your file, and yes, ,does not work with Rhino3D V3 the latest version. rhino3d must have a bug on reading certain type of iges files, i never had any problem with rhino2.

this is what i did:

i open the file using Moi3D and resave the file as iges, open it on rhino V2 and save it as a .3dm.

about "unrolling" i think you need to "cut or slice" the hull in patches that can be easier for the program to unroll or develop

[Steve Baer]

Originally Posted by SOYUTA

Yeah it works when I open the file in Rhino. There is a problem when I import it to Rhino. It imports the surface as a block or something like that and don't allow to make changes on it. But I still have problem on Expander. It failes to expand that surface. Why can it fail?

What version of Rhino are you running? I opened this file in both Rhino3 SR5 and Rhino4 and I was able to perform operations like trim or dragging control points on the file. You will also want to adjust your units or scale the model because it is 29000 meters long.

UnrollSrf won't work on this surface because it is not developable. I don't have Expander, but we do have a Expander replacement that we are prototyping that you could try with Rhino4.
http://en.wiki.mcneel.com/default.as...lattening.html

Thanks,
-Steve

[SOYUTA]

it seems to be good. but unfortunately I use Rhino 3. It would be better for me to upgrade to Rhino4 I think

[Steve Baer]

As an owner of Rhino3, you can still download and try Rhino 4 along with this plug-in.
http://download.mcneel.com/beta/?p=25

Thanks,
-Steve