Converting 3D STL Mannequin data

Tools Mannequin
#1

Hello DINED team,

I absolutely love the resource that you have provided (especially the 3D Mannequin data).

  1. I was wondering if you would be able to provide a tutorial on the most efficient way of how to convert the STL 3D data into a STEP file using SolidWorks 2020 / Creo / Blender / Mesh Lab / FreeCAD etc. any useful resources, links, step by steps would be very helpful. (as thhe mesh’s are complicated and tends to stall/freeze).

  2. When converting the STL to an OBJ and then importing the mannequin into Maximo and adding a pose or animation is amazing. However, when exporting the now animated DINED 3D Mannequin the FBX fie reduces the overall scale of the file. Is there any software that would allow the now “posed” mannequin to remain anatomically correct and or increase the fbx file to the right scale?

Thank you for your time and efforts,

Best regards Sam.

#2

Hi Sam,

Welcome to our DINED User Forum!

  1. I have not tried the conversion to STEP with Solidworks but have had good results with DesignX, as demonstrated in this tutorial:

  1. I did not realise that Mixamo changes the dimensions of the avatar. Do you know whether it is a fixed scaling (e.g. exchange of units)? One option would be to import the FBX in Blender and scale both the surface and the armature, as discussed here: https://blender.stackexchange.com/questions/109018/how-to-scale-imported-obj-and-fbx .

Note: the full body STLs may have issues around the mouth as the mesh is a bit low in resolution there. We have dedicated head models with much higher resolution that we plan to release on DINED Mannequin as well.

Kind regards,

Toon.

#3

Hi Toon,

thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.

  1. Regarding DesignX, I understand that you have a free trial upon subscription. However, I am looking to utilise software that I have available to me e.g. Solidworks 2020. Similar to DesignX, are there any other programmes that will enable me to convert STL files into STEP.

  2. Also, I found that importing the downloaded STL 3D mannequin into Blender and exporting the STL to an OBJ (keeping the same scale), then importing the OBJ into Maximo and then exporting the fbx back into Blender (then changing the scale values to 1.000) results in a 1:1 scale 3D mannequin this may take longer than usual due to the size of the file).

  3. Another question, do you happen to know if there are any similar resources such as DINED/anatomically correct 3d mannequins but for animals (specifically dogs)?

Thank you very much for your time.