surfaces via point cloud

G'day there,
I'm trying to create a mesh of a seat (some curved surfaces, some flat), and
I was wondering if anyone had any tips on the best method. My end aim is to
import the model into HyperMesh for use in some dynamic analyses.

So far I've:
1. Used a FARO arm to scan the seat. This creates a very fine mesh of
triangles - far too complex for my purposes, so...
2. Used ModelMax (supplied FARO arm software) to perform a number of mesh
reductions (fill holes, weld adjacent triangles, resample points at greater
intervals). This seems much more an art than a science, and I'm still not
entirely happy with the result (ie, a much coarser mesh of triangles that
still look somewhat random).

The point is, I can almost *see* how I would like my seat mesh to be
arranged (ie, where I would put the 'simple' flat panels and the more
complex curves), but I don't know if it's possible to go from the complex,
random triangle mesh to this simple mesh.

Does anyone know of a standard 'technique' and/or tool that people use to
generate a clean mesh from a digitizer like the FARO arm?

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers, Sven.

 

Look into GeoMagic Raindrop software. This does a great job of
turning point clouds into surfaces. A well-defined surface can then
be used to generate your mesh.

 

Thank you, Mr Tick, this is the kind of thing I'm looking for. Looks (from
their website) like a very intelligent suite of products.

Ta, Sven.

 

I'm trying to create a mesh of a seat (some curved surfaces, some flat),
and

Thanks Cliff, I'm actually working on this kind of method now anyway... I'm
selecting points from my point cloud to manually define surface 'patches'.
The seat is actually a baby capsule, so its geometry is slightly more
complex than I may have indicated in the last post, but that just means this
method will take a little longer... and besides, I'm learning so it can't be
detrimental.

Cheers, Sven.

 

In all likelyhood the original part was designed using geometry, such

Ah, don't worry Cliff, I understood your method, and when I say that I'm
selecting points from my cloud to define 'patches', I mean that I'm
selecting *a small number* of points, but these points define the large flat
surfaces (SW terminology) on the baby capsule. Therefore I'm not
introducing small bumps/ripples etc into my final surfaces, as I'm not
literally using the whole cloud.

I guess the main difference is that I've chosen to make just these flat
surfaces manually, and then 'join' my adjacent surfaces with fillets, rather
than define the full curve of parts of the capsule and sweeping along these
curves. I think that the geometry I'm trying to make validates my choice of
using the flat surfaces > fillet method, but I still see the merit of your
suggestion, and I'll probably have a go at your method as a comparison as
well.

Cheers, Sven.

 

....Have a look at what Delcams CopyCad has to offer, it takes point clouds
back to surfaces / geometry, with some handy tools.

Best,

JAG

 

Also have a look at Raindrop's Geomagic, this seeme to be the be all and
end all for handling point clouds.