0.20 binary stl create part from mesh

Have some feature requests, feedback, cool stuff to share, or want to know where FreeCAD is going? This is the place.
Forum rules
Be nice to others! Read the FreeCAD code of conduct!
bkw
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:18 am

0.20 binary stl create part from mesh

Post by bkw »

I have a particular model designed in openscad and exported as binary stl.

In 0.19, I can open this stl and do Part->Create shape from mesh...

In 0.20 this no longer works for this file but does still work for others.

The stl does open/import and render normally, only Create shape from mesh doesn't work

If I export the same model as ascii stl instead of binary stl, 0.20 can successfully Create shape from mesh.

I can't seem to attach the files here. The binary stl is 1.4M but the ascii one is 5.6M. A zip containing both files is only 1.0M but when I try to attach it it just gives some kind of "http error" and the attachment sticks at 0% uploaded.
However I was able to upload both files to the discord https://discord.com/channels/8708774110 ... 6202863699
Is there a suggestion for a place to upload these files where it won't just be a broken link in a couple weeks?
drmacro
Veteran
Posts: 8869
Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2014 4:35 pm

Re: 0.20 binary stl create part from mesh

Post by drmacro »

For posterity...
Attachments
ascii_MISE_M3SE_enclosure_top_cover_2.2.004.stl.zip
(514.33 KiB) Downloaded 22 times
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: Spock: "...His pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking."
drmacro
Veteran
Posts: 8869
Joined: Sun Mar 02, 2014 4:35 pm

Re: 0.20 binary stl create part from mesh

Post by drmacro »

And again
Attachments
binary_MISE_M3SE_enclosure_top_cover_2.2.004.stl.zip
(514.33 KiB) Downloaded 22 times
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: Spock: "...His pattern indicates two-dimensional thinking."
bkw
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:18 am

Re: 0.20 binary stl create part from mesh

Post by bkw »

drmacro wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 7:09 pm For posterity...
thanks much
bkw
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:18 am

Re: 0.20 binary stl create part from mesh

Post by bkw »

BTW I'm not trying to say this is some big problem I desperately need an answer to.
It's annoying but there are at least two easy work-arounds (use 0.19, use ascii stl).
This is just a report.
The bug tracker says to search first, and post/ask here first, so that's what this is.
GeneFC
Veteran
Posts: 5373
Joined: Sat Mar 19, 2016 3:36 pm
Location: Punta Gorda, FL

Re: 0.20 binary stl create part from mesh

Post by GeneFC »

drmacro wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 7:09 pm For posterity...
Wrong file zipped. Binary in both zips.

Gene
chrisb
Veteran
Posts: 53930
Joined: Tue Mar 17, 2015 9:14 am

Re: 0.20 binary stl create part from mesh

Post by chrisb »

It's a different issue, but wouldn't it be better to import the OpenSCAD file?
A Sketcher Lecture with in-depth information is available in English, auf Deutsch, en français, en español.
bkw
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:18 am

Re: 0.20 binary stl create part from mesh

Post by bkw »

chrisb wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:02 pm It's a different issue, but wouldn't it be better to import the OpenSCAD file?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. Usually you do not have the source, just a step or stl, for example electronic components.

The only reason I mentioned openscad is just for background in case for instance maybe it's a known thing that openscad produces bad stl, and mostly because that is how I happen to be able to have both an ascii and a binary version of the same mesh, and both generated from the same source and from the same rendering engine at the same time, not a conversion. From openscad I can run "openscad --export-format asciistl -o foo.stl foo.scad" or "openscad --export-format binstl -o foo.stl foo.scad" to get both versions from the same source file and using the same rendering engine. openscad could still be producing a different mesh in those two cases, but it's the best I can do, and, 0.19 doesn't brok on the same file, only 0.20.

Also, this scad file, at least today, fails to import directly in freecad, and it fails in two different ways in both 0.19 and 0.20. So there's that ;)

I do routinely open scad files directly in freecad, so I do have the openscad workbench preferences does have the path to the openscad binary configured, same binary. But it's not uncommon for things like that to break any time freecad updates, not every update, but frequently enough that it's normal for it to fail and I have to go google up how to get it working again. Usually by installing some new dependency that for some reason the ubuntu .deb package doesn't declare as a dependency so that apt would just install it automatically. For instance just today I had to manually install a qt network pyside package for 0.20. It was available right in the standard repo, all I had to do was apt install packagname, so I don't know why the 0.20 .deb package didn't have that already declared as a dependency. And I had to google up a forum post about it to even figure out that's what was missing. This was for the addon manager I think, probably didn't affect scad import but still it's an example.

All in all, opening the scad directly is just introducing a bunch of unrelated variables and complications, unless the openscad binary or some other part of the package like a csg library or something is used by the create-shape-from-mesh function, which it doesn't seem to.
bkw
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:18 am

Re: 0.20 binary stl create part from mesh

Post by bkw »

On the tangent of opening the scad directly instead of the stl, the scad is a little complicated because it's not a single file, and the same source file produces a few different models from a Makefile, using commandline args to set a variable.

To import directly into freecad you have to download two scad files into the same dir, edit the main file to set the "make=..." variable, save it, and then open in freecad.

Both files are in a github repo, and the default make=... value happens to already be this model (top_cover), so this is a tangent, but just in case anyone wanted to investigate the other issue of why an scad file fails to open, you'd clone this repo and open the MISE_M3SE_enclosure.scad file:
https://github.com/bkw777/MISE_M3SE_enclosure

But I'm not asking anyone to look at that. I'm merely not hiding it since it was brought up.
bkw
Posts: 31
Joined: Tue Mar 01, 2016 12:18 am

Re: 0.20 binary stl create part from mesh

Post by bkw »

drmacro wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 7:09 pm For posterity...
This still has the wrong file in it as someone else mentioned earlier. The ascii zip has the binary stl in it.
Post Reply