mml files
alan notis
I am using Mathematica to create 3D files that I now want to send to be machined. I thought that .dxf or stl files would be good enough but they are asking me for an IGES file. Apparantly when Mathematica exports a DXF it breaks it up into triangles which are then read as separate surfaces making the generation of a program for a CNC machine impossible as there are millions of triangles in the curved surfaces I need to machine. Mathematica can export as .mml (MathML). Is this helpful? What would you suggest?
Besty regards,
Alan Notis
Jens-Peer Kuska
MathML is the Mathematical Markup Language and is
used to display
mathematical expressions. For a IGES file you need
*spline* curves
or surfaces to get smooth patches. Mathematica
can't compute spline
patches form a polygonal surface without a lot of
programming.
Even generate splines form arbitary triangular
meshes is a nontrivial problem
and I'm sure MathML will not help you.
Regards
Jens
"alan notis" <spira...@optonline.net> schrieb
im Newsbeitrag news:d7k3dl$okd$1...@smc.vnet.net...
Chris Chiasson
contains all the basic operations that you used to create the object.
If you have a program like Unigraphics, you may be able to use
whatever function you created in Mathematica (if it is elementary) to
generate the same object in Unigraphics. This could then be exported
in one of the higher order formats they want (or maybe even used as
input to the CNC path generation tools inside Unigraphics).
On 6/1/05, alan notis <spira...@optonline.net> wrote:
>
> I am using Mathematica to create 3D files that I now want to send to be machined. I thought that .dxf or stl files would be good enough but they are asking me for an IGES file. Apparantly when Mathematica exports a DXF it breaks it up into triangles which are then read as separate surfaces making the generation of a program for a CNC machine impossible as there are millions of triangles in the curved surfaces I need to machine. Mathematica can export as .mml (MathML). Is this helpful? What would you suggest?
>
>
> Besty regards,
>
> Alan Notis
>
>
--
Chris Chiasson
http://chrischiasson.com/
1 (810) 265-3161
David Annetts
> I am using Mathematica to create 3D files that I now want to
> send to be machined. I thought that .dxf or stl files would
> be good enough but they are asking me for an IGES file.
> Apparantly when Mathematica exports a DXF it breaks it up
> into triangles which are then read as separate surfaces
> making the generation of a program for a CNC machine
> impossible as there are millions of triangles in the curved
> surfaces I need to machine. Mathematica can export as .mml
> (MathML). Is this helpful? What would you suggest?
I would suggest reading the IGES spec, then writing a Mathematica routine to
output your model in this format. Failing that, there are a number of
commerical vendors that offer translation to & from IGES.
Regards,
Dave.
Christopher Purcell
Mathematica and convert it to CAD files for machining or rapid
prototyping. As you discovered DXF and IGES are not good solutions. If
you have access to CAD software, like Pro/Engineer, Catia, etc, you can
generate text files with Mathematica which contain lists of points that
define cross-sectional surfaces of your solids. Most CAD systems will
let you read in these cross sections and then let you interpolate
smooth surfaces through them and tesselate them. The CAD system then
will offer a number of export format possibilities - right up to
generating tool paths. You might ask, why bother with Mathematica when
you have CAD software - the answer is Mathematica can easily generate a
far greater variety of curves than any of the CAD products. Even when
they offer a programming interface for user defined curves, they
typically only offer basic mathematical functions. The CAD software
however offers GUI based tools for modifying geometry (drilling holes,
putting on chamfers, etc) that would be hard to do in Mathematica, so
if you have to integrate a mathematically defined curve or surface into
an assembly - you probably will find a CAD tool to be essential.
If you want to generate a simple CAD file in Mathematica, this is
possible, but as you discovered, the present Export routines do not
make "air tight" descriptions of surfaces, which are required for rapid
prototyping. I complained about this to WRI some years ago, but support
for CAD/CAM is low on their priority list. There are 2 ways to go here
- either read back into memory the Stereolithography (STL) file that
Mathematica can generate from Graphics3D objects, and "equivalence" it,
or build your own STL file from scratch. These are probably about the
same difficulty. In either case you will need an equivalencer - a
routine which detects duplicate nodes and edges, and then rearranges
the data to eliminate them. The best place to start for the
equivalencer would be Roman Maeder's equivalencing routines which
Google will find in the Mathematica Journal, and probably is in his
books. I have done this but can't post it here. It works, but the
performance is slow compared to generation of STL files by the
dedicated CAD products.
There is another approach that may be feasible depending on the
geometry and your familiarity with machining.
You could write a routine which lets Mathematica write "G-code", which
are the instructions most milling machines use. G-code is just a list
of coordinates of the cutter, with a few minor add ons. This is easy if
the part can be made by what is called 2.5 D machining, where the z
axis simply offsets between cuts and the part is mostly all convex.
There are some fancy examples of machining with Mathematica at
www.mathematica-users.org. Tool path generation for 4 or 5 axis
machining rapidly becomes a very challenging problem that would make a
nice hobby project for someone with an interest in geometry.
STEP files are probably the most reliable and convenient means of
getting CAD data from one system to another, but I have not heard of
anyone writing a STEP generator for Mathematica. That would be very
useful.
Christopher Purcell
Sensors & Actuators Group
DRDC-Atlantic, 9 Grove St., PO Box 1012,
Dartmouth NS B2Y 3Z7 Canada
Work E-mail chris....@drdc-rddc.gc.ca
Work Tel 902-426-3100 x389 Fax 902-426-9654
Home Tel 902-464-9248
Home E-mail christoph...@mac.com
AIM/iChatAV: cffrc
On Jun 1, 2005, at 7:04 AM, alan notis wrote:
>
> I am using Mathematica to create 3D files that I now want to send to
> be machined. I thought that .dxf or stl files would be good enough but
> they are asking me for an IGES file. Apparantly when Mathematica
> exports a DXF it breaks it up into triangles which are then read as
> separate surfaces making the generation of a program for a CNC machine
> impossible as there are millions of triangles in the curved surfaces I
> need to machine. Mathematica can export as .mml (MathML). Is this
> helpful? What would you suggest?
>
>
> Besty regards,
>
> Alan Notis
>
Barthelet, Luc
Alan, I do all my CNC work with Mathematica.
I can probably help you when I understand better what you are trying to
do. You can email me directly.
Some of my stuff is at:
http://www.mathematica-users.org/webMathematica/wiki/wiki.jsp?pageName==
S
culptures_by_Luc_Barthelet2