CAD alternatives for model basing/editing

[Theo T]

I work for an Ortho lab, where 95% of our digital workflow is adding bases to scans, removing brackets, engraving an ID on the bottom of the models, then printing. Right now we're using 3Shape OrthoAnalyzer and Netfabb, but I'm looking for alternatives, specifically outside dental/ortho-specific software, that could accomplish the same thing.

I tried a demo of Geomagic Wrap that was pretty promising, but adding a base to a scan using anything other than straight extrusion was a challenge. Meshmixer would be great, if it didn't crash on 3/4 attempts to do anything substantial with the triangle counts that a full-palate scan has.

Just curious if anyone here has had any success with other software (other than 3shape/exocad) for creating models, I'm having a hard time finding other softwares that handle organic meshes well!

Thanks!

 

[XxJamesAxX]

Which version of mesh mixer do you have installed? If you have 3.5 installed try version 3.3.

I first installed 3.5 and it seemed to crash more then the 3.3 I currently have installed. Meshmixer is the easiest I’ve found for adding bases. Though I just started playing with it in the recent weeks and am not using it at no way near production capacity.

 

[XxJamesAxX]

Netfabb basic is another software to try if you haven’t already. It’s free and has the ability to do what your wanting. So far I like meshmixer better but it can do it.

 

[Theo T]

Which version of mesh mixer do you have installed? If you have 3.5 installed try version 3.3.

I first installed 3.5 and it seemed to crash more then the 3.3 I currently have installed. Meshmixer is the easiest I’ve found for adding bases. Though I just started playing with it in the recent weeks and am not using it at no way near production capacity.

I've been using MeshMixer since 3.0! I agree that just adding an extruded base in MeshMixer is fairly consistent, but we add flared bases to our models, for a couple reasons, and that's a fairly complex procedure in MeshMixer. Not impossible, but more steps than I'd want our technicians doing every case. And also it crashes half the times I try it haha.

Here's a model with just an extruded base (easy to do),and a flared base (how we prep):

 

[Theo T]

Netfabb basic is another software to try if you haven’t already. It’s free and has the ability to do what your wanting. So far I like meshmixer better but it can do it.

Are you using Netfabb for adding bases to models? How are you doing that? Netfabb is great for prepping a watertight STL for print, but I haven't found anything substantial in terms of mesh editing or appending. The free-cuts and Boolean operations work great, but I would need it to do things like extrude surfaces and generate membranes between solids, which I haven't found any evidence that it can (I have Netfabb Standard).

 

[JMN]

I work for an Ortho lab, where 95% of our digital workflow is adding bases to scans, removing brackets, engraving an ID on the bottom of the models, then printing. Right now we're using 3Shape OrthoAnalyzer and Netfabb, but I'm looking for alternatives, specifically outside dental/ortho-specific software, that could accomplish the same thing.

I tried a demo of Geomagic Wrap that was pretty promising, but adding a base to a scan using anything other than straight extrusion was a challenge. Meshmixer would be great, if it didn't crash on 3/4 attempts to do anything substantial with the triangle counts that a full-palate scan has.

Just curious if anyone here has had any success with other software (other than 3shape/exocad) for creating models, I'm having a hard time finding other softwares that handle organic meshes well!

Thanks!

Greetings Earthling! Welcome!

 

[XxJamesAxX]

As I mentioned before I’m new to this but I know i seen a video on YouTube of a guy using netfabb to close models, not 100% sure about extruding. I haven’t played with it near as much.

One idea I had but haven’t tried yet is making some stone bases, say a small, medium, large. Scanning them in as there own stl then in meshmixer when I bring in a model bring in the appropriate size base and merger the two together.

I haven’t tried this yet and it may be more steps but it may help the crashing issue. Just an idea.

 

[zero_zero]

One idea I had but haven’t tried yet is making some stone bases, say a small, medium, large. Scanning them in as there own stl then in meshmixer when I bring in a model bring in the appropriate size base and merger the two together.

That's what we do... I designed a few sizes instead of scanning stone bases...

 

[JustDavid]

Very nicebase Zero, just this one would work fine in NetFabb scale it to the size needed for the job and merge the stl of the model to it.

Thanks Zero for the base

 

[Theo T]

That's what we do... I designed a few sizes instead of scanning stone bases...

Thanks for sharing! I made one myself back when I was trying to establish a passable workflow for MeshMixer. I'd love to see an example of one of your finished models. What tool are you using to connect this to the scan?

The process I had worked out previously was to open the top of my "base" model, smooth the boundary, then use the "Join" tool to connect the boundary of the top of the "base" with the bottom of the scan. This was the only way I could figure out to get the smooth transfer from the scan to the base. Problem is, the "Join" tool is very finicky, crashes a lot, and just plain doesn't work if the two boundaries aren't perfect.

Here's that process done with your base:

Still a lot of wasted material, so I would trim it from there:

Which is about as aesthetically pleasing and efficient in material as I can get without spending half a day prepping a file in MeshMixer, and still a lot more work and not as pretty as the preps out of OrthoAnalyzer.

 

[Theo T]

Greetings Earthling! Welcome!

Thanks! Excited I found this community! No longer shall I be relegated to scrounging for information from manufacturers and Facebook groups!