An introduction to the Inventor Mesh Enabler from Autodesk Labs

The Autodesk Labs team just love to keep on giving. This week sees the release of a new tool for converting mesh objects to solids.

If you regularly need to use Catia, JT or STL files inside of Autodesk Inventor, then check out this new tool that might just help you out.

Autodesk Labs – Autodesk Inventor mesh enabler

Autodesk Inventor 2012 onwards can already import many mesh formats. Whop-de-do! but what next? Well – next up is the ability to convert those meshes into water tight solids.

The Autodesk Inventor mesh enabler preview plugin is available to trial until January 31st 2013 from the Autodesk Labs web site.

Lock and Load

The download contains a zipped file with .EXE installers for both Inventor 2012 and Inventor 2013. Just unzip the folder and run the exe for your version of Inventor.

Now what?

Now you need something to test. There are some sample files that you can download on the labs web site. Once you have your test files, open Inventor and click on the big ‘I’. Select ‘Open’ and ‘Open’ again.

Importing a mesh file

In the open file dialogue, pick the file type you wish to import from the drop down list – or select ‘all files’. Select the file you wish to import, and chose ‘Open’.

Importing files into Autodesk Inventor

The mesh file is loaded into a new part.

Covert mesh to base feature

Converting the Mesh to a base solid

To convert the mesh into a more useful solid, simply right click and choose ‘Convert to base feature’. You will be presented with a few options, including converting the mesh into a solid or surface, and deleting the original mesh.

Convert to base feature options

The final result! A solid feature, ready for you to start working with.

The mesh is converted to a solid

Notes

As you can see from the illustration, the mesh converting tool doesn’t do magic. The end result is still faceted, like a mesh would be. However this new base feature behaves as a solid allowing you to add in place features, such as holes.

You could also process this solid further by taking it into Inventor Fusion.

 

What do you make of the Inventor Mesh enabler preview?

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How was it for you?

Is this a useful tool? Do you think that you could make use of it? If you have something to say – please leave a comment or join in the discussion on the Inventor mesh enabler discussion forum.

 

2 Responses to “An introduction to the Inventor Mesh Enabler from Autodesk Labs

  • Enrique
    9 years ago

    Hi! This article is very informative, but I’d you help me with a thing. I imported a stl. file in Inventor 2016 and I applied the app to convert a Base Feature, and I want to convert it in a solid, but what I got was a surface, I mean “the solid” created is empty. Also, I cannot calculate the properties (mass, volume…) and the software doesn’t allow me to do any operation. Inventor doesn’t recognize it as a solid. I wish you could help me with this.