CAD Conversion
From CandyFabWiki
One of the important goals for the CandyFab project is to create or preferably identify a set of conversion tools that will allow various 3D model file formats from various 3D and CAD programs to be fabbed on the CandyFab.
This part of the project is at a very early stage of development. Slicing is currently performed in POV-Ray. Input to be sliced is typically generated either in POV-Ray directly or in any other program which can generate STL output files, and STL is converted to POV using an external utility. The CandyFab Desktop Software will take the 2D slice files and use them as input to create the 3D tool path for actually fabbing the model. The present challenge lies in (1) converting existing file formats into STL and/or POV-Ray which can be then sliced and fabricated and (2) in simplifying that process-- perhaps eliminating one or both of the intermediate files between raw 3D files and the sliced images.
[edit] CAD Conversion Examples
Tutorial on converting Eagle (printed circuit board) files to POV-Ray for rendering
[edit] File formats of note
- POV-Ray: .POV
- Currently standard tool for slicing
- See this list of conversion utilities for various formats that can be converted to POV-Ray.
- Various programs: .STL
- Known and working export path: .STL > (stl2pov) > .POV
- STL is the de facto standard 3D file format for stereolithography and other rapid prototyping technologies.
- Google Sketchup: SKP
- Please add others
