3/17/2016

ECE5322
21st CenturyElectromagnetics
Instructor:
Office:
Phone:
EMail:

Dr.Raymond C.Rumpf
A337
(915)7476958
rcrumpf@utep.edu

Lecture #19

Synthesizing Geometries for

21st Century Electromagnetics
Interfacing MATLAB with CAD
Lecture 19

Lecture Outline
STL Files
File format description
Problems and repairing

MATLAB Topics

Importing and exporting STL files in MATLAB

Visualizing surface meshes in MATLAB
Generating faces and vertices using MATLAB
Surface mesh 3D grid

CAD Topics

Lecture19

Converting flat images to STL

Point clouds
Importing custom polygons into SolidWorks
STL to CAD file conversion
Slide2

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STL File Format

Description

What is an STL File?

STL Standard Tessellation Language
This file format is widely used in rapid
prototyping (i.e. 3D printing, additive manufacturing). It
contains only a single triangular mesh of an objects surface.
Color, texture, materials, and other attributes are not
represented in the standard STL file format. Hacked
formats exists to accommodate this type of additional
information.
They can be text files or binary. Binary is more common
because they are more compact. We will look at text files
because that is more easily interfaced with MATLAB.
Lecture19

Slide4

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Surface Mesh
Despitethisspherereallybeingasolidobject,itisrepresentedinan
STLfilebyjustitssurface.

SolidObject

STLRepresentation

Lecture19

STL File Format

solid name
facet normal nx ny nz
outer loop
vertex vx,1 vy,1 vz,1
vertex vx,2 vy,2 vz,2
vertex vx,3 vy,3 vz,3
endloop
endfacet
endsolid name

Thissetoftextisrepeatedforeverytriangleonthe
surfaceoftheobject.

v v v3 v1
n 2 1

v2 v1 v3 v1

v2

v1

v3

Bold face indicates a keyword; these must appear in lower case. Note that there is a space in facet normal and in
outer loop, while there is no space in any of the keywords beginning with end. Indentation must be with spaces;
tabs are not allowed. The notation, {}+, means that the contents of the brace brackets can be repeated one or
more times. Symbols in italics are variables which are to be replaced with user-specified values. The numerical data
in the facet normal and vertex lines are single precision floats, for example, 1.23456E+789. A facet normal
coordinate may have a leading minus sign; a vertex coordinate may not.
Lecture19

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Example STL File

solid pyramid
facet normal -8.281842e-001 2.923717e-001 -4.781524e-001
outer loop
vertex 4.323172e-018 1.632799e-017 6.495190e-001
vertex 3.750000e-001 7.081604e-001 4.330127e-001
vertex 3.750000e-001 0.000000e+000 0.000000e+000
endloop
endfacet
facet normal 0.000000e+000 2.923717e-001 9.563048e-001
outer loop
vertex 7.500000e-001 0.000000e+000 6.495190e-001
vertex 3.750000e-001 7.081604e-001 4.330127e-001
vertex 0.000000e+000 0.000000e+000 6.495190e-001
endloop
endfacet
facet normal 8.281842e-001 2.923717e-001 -4.781524e-001
outer loop
vertex 3.750000e-001 -1.632799e-017 0.000000e+000
vertex 3.750000e-001 7.081604e-001 4.330127e-001
vertex 7.500000e-001 0.000000e+000 6.495190e-001
endloop
endfacet
facet normal 0.000000e+000 -1.000000e+000 0.000000e+000
outer loop
vertex 3.750000e-001 0.000000e+000 0.000000e+000
vertex 7.500000e-001 0.000000e+000 6.495190e-001
vertex 0.000000e+000 0.000000e+000 6.495190e-001
endloop
endfacet
endsolid pyramid

AnSTLfileisessentiallyjusta
listofallthetrianglesonthe
surfaceofanobject.
Eachtriangleisdefinedwitha
surfacenormalandthe
positionofthethreevertices.

Lecture19

Slide7

A Single Triangle
facet normal -8.281842e-001 2.923717e-001 -4.781524e-001
outer loop
vertex 4.323172e-018 1.632799e-017 6.495190e-001
vertex 3.750000e-001 7.081604e-001 4.330127e-001
vertex 3.750000e-001 0.000000e+000 0.000000e+000
endloop
endfacet

1. Facetnormalmustfollowrighthand
ruleandpointoutwardfromobject.
a) Someprogramssetthisto[0;0;0]
orconveyshadinginformation.
b) Dontdependonit!
2. Adjacenttrianglesmusthavetwo
commonvertices.
3. STLfilesappeartobesetuptohandle
arbitrarypolygons.Dontdothis.
Lecture19

Vertex3

FacetNormal

Vertex1
Vertex2

Slide8

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Warnings About Facet Normals

Since the facet normal can be calculated from the
vertices using the right-hand rule, sometimes the
facet normal in the STL file contains other
information like shading, color, etc.
Dont depend on the right-hand rule being
followed.
Basically, dont depend on anything!

Lecture19

STL File
Problems and
Repairing

3/17/2016

Inverted Normals
Allsurfacenormals shouldpointoutwards.

Good

Bad

http://admproductdesign.com/workshop/3dprinting/definitionofstlerrors.html
Lecture19

11

Intersecting Triangles
Nofacesshouldcutthrougheachother.Intersectionsshouldbe
removed.

http://admproductdesign.com/workshop/3dprinting/definitionofstlerrors.html
Lecture19

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Noise Shells
Ashellisacollectionoftrianglesthatformasingleindependent
object.SomeSTLfilesmaycontainsmallshellsthatarejustnoise.
Theseshouldbeeliminated.

Mainshell
NoiseShell

Lecture19

13

Nonmanifold Meshes
Amanifold(i.e.watertight)meshhasnoholesandisdescribedbya
singlecontinuoussurface.

http://http://www.autodesk.com/
Lecture19

14

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Mesh Repair Software

Commercial Software
Magics
NetFabb
SpaceClaim
Autodesk

Open Source Alternatives

MeshLab
NetFabb Basic
Blender
Microsoft Model Repair
Lecture19

Slide15

Importing and
Exporting STL
Files in MATLAB

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MATLAB Functions for STL Files

TheMathworks websitehasverygoodfunctionsforreadingand
writingSTLfilesinbothASCIIandbinaryformats.
STLFileReader
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/29906binarystlfilereader
STLFileWriter
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/36770stlwritewritebinaryor
asciistlfile

Lecture19

17

How to Store the Data

WehaveN facetsand 3N verticestostoreinarrays.
F(N,3) Array of triangle facets
V(?,3) Array of triangle vertices
Manytimes,thenumberofverticesis3N.Observingthatmanyof
thetrianglefacetssharevertices,therewillberedundantvertices.
STLfilescanbecompressedtoeliminateredundantvertices,but
manytimestheyarenot.

Lecture19

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Lazy Array of Vertices (1 of 2)

vx ,1
v
x ,2
V

vx , M

v y ,1
v y ,2

vy ,M

vz ,1
vz ,2

vz , M

V isanarray
containingthe
positionofallthe
verticesinCartesian
coordinates.

5
8
2

M isthetotal
numberof
1
vertices.

7
11

3
12

10

Lecture19

19

Lazy Array of Vertices (2 of 2)

Thereisredundancyhere.Twelveverticesarestored,butthedevice
isreallyonlycomposedoffour.
Whileaninefficientrepresentation,
thisisprobablynotworthyourtimefixing.

2,5,8

SolidWorks exportsalazyarrayofvertices.

vx ,1
v
x ,2
V

vx , M
Lecture19

v y ,1
v y ,2

vy,M

vz ,1
vz ,2

vz , M

4,9,11
1,6,12
3,7,10
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Compact Array of Vertices

vx ,1
v
x ,2
V
vx ,3

vx ,4

vz ,1
vz ,2
vz ,3

vz ,4

v y ,1
v y ,2
v y ,3
v y ,4

2
2
2
2

ArrayofVertices,V

4
4
3

3
4

3
1

Lecture19

21

Array of Faces
n1,1
n
2,1
F

nN ,1

n1,2
n2,2

nN ,2

n1,3
n2,3

nN ,3

F isanarray
indicatingthearray
indicesofthe
verticesdefining
thefacet.

5
allintegers

8
2

9
4

N isthetotal
numberof
faces.
Lecture19

3
11

3
12

10

22

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Example of Lazy Arrays

2,5,8

4,9,11
1,6,12
3,7,10

Lecture19

23

Example of Compact Arrays

4
1
3
Thiscanmakeaverylargedifferenceforlargeandcomplexobjects.

Lecture19

24

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STL Files Generated by

SolidWorks
Forsomereason,Solidworks doesnotusethezaxisasthevertical
axis.
Forconvenience,STLfilescanbeeasilyreoriented.
% REORIENT SOLIDWORKS AXES TO MATLAB AXES
Y
= V(:,2);
V(:,2) = V(:,3);
V(:,3) = Y;

OrientationinSolidWorks

ImportedOrientation

AdjustedOrientation

Lecture19

25

Visualizing
Surface Meshes
in MATLAB

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How to Draw the Object

Giventhefacesandvertices,theobjectcanbedrawninMATLAB
usingthepatch() command.
% DRAW STRUCTURE USING PATCHES
P = patch('faces',F,'vertices',V);
set(P,'FaceColor','b','FaceAlpha',0.5);
set(P,'EdgeColor','k','LineWidth',2);

Lecture19

27

Generating
Faces and
Vertices Using
MATLAB

14

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MATLAB Surfaces
SurfacescomposedofsquarefacetsarestoredinX,Y,andZ arrays.
Thesurfaceshownisconstructed
ofarraysthatareall55.

Lecture19

29

Direct Construction of the

Surface Mesh
MATLABhasanumberofbuiltincommandsforgeneratingsurfaces.
Someofthesearecylinder(),sphere() andellipsoid().
% CREATE A UNIT SPHERE
[X,Y,Z] = sphere(41);

Surfacescanbeconvertedtotriangularpatches(facetsandvertices)
usingthesurf2patch() function.
% CONVERT TO PATCH
[F,V] = surf2patch(X,Y,Z,triangles);

Thefacesandverticescanbedirectlyvisualizedusingthepatch()
function.
% VISUALIZE FACES AND VERTICES
h = patch('faces',F,'vertices',V);
set(h,'FaceColor',[0.5 0.5 0.8],'EdgeColor','k');
Lecture19

30

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Grid Surface Mesh

3Dobjectsonagridcanbeconvertedtoasurfacemeshusingthe
commandisosurface().
% CREATE ELLIPTICAL OBJECT
OBJ = (X/rx).^2 + (Y/ry).^2 + (Z/rz).^2;
OBJ = (OBJ < 1);
% CREATE SURFACE MESH
[F,V] = isosurface(X,Y,Z,OBJ,0.5);

Objecton3DGrid

SurfaceMesh

Lecture19

31

May Need isocaps()

When3Dobjectsextendtotheedgeofthegrid,youmayneedto
useisocaps() inadditiontoisosurface().
isosurface()

isocaps()

isosurface()
+ isocaps()

% CREATE SURFACE MESH

[F,V]
= isosurface(X,Y,Z,OBJ,0.5);
[F2,V2] = isocaps(X,Y,Z,OBJ,0.5);
Lecture19

32

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Combining Faces and Vertices

from Two Objects
TherearenofunctionsinMATLABtoperformBooleanoperationsonmultiple
meshes.Wecan,however,combinethefacesandverticesfromtwoobjects.Be
carefulthisdoesnotresultinoverlapsorgapsbetweenobjects.
F1 andV1

F2 andV2

Correctly
Combined

% COMBINE FACES AND VERTICES

F3 = [ F1 ; F2+length(V1(:,1)) ]
V3 = [ V1 ; V2 ]

Incorrectly
Combined

% WRONG WAY TO
% COMBINE FACES AND VERTICES
F3 = [ F1 ; F2 ]
V3 = [ V1 ; V2 ]

Lecture19

33

Converting
Surface Meshes
to Objects on a
3D Grid

17

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Example Pyramid

ER(nx,ny,nz)
SolidWorks Model

Lecture19

ImportSTLintoMATLAB

ConverttoVolumeObject

35

Example Dinosaur
ER(nx,ny,nz)

ImportSTLintoMATLAB
Lecture19

ConverttoVolumeObject
36

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MATLAB Functions for

Voxelization of STL Files
TheMathworks websitehasexcellentfunctionsfor
convertingsurfacemeshestopointsona3Darray.
FunctionforVoxelization
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/fileexchange/27390
meshvoxelisation

Lecture19

37

Converting
Images and 2D
Objects to STL

19

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Load and Resize the Image

% LOAD IMAGE
B = imread(letter.jpg');

% RESIZE IMAGE
B = imresize(B,0.2);
[Nx,Ny,Nc] = size(B);
Thiswillgiveusacoarsermeshinorder
tobefasterandmorememoryefficient.

Lecture19

39

Flatten the Image

ImagesloadedfromfileusuallycontainRGB
informationmakingthem3Darrays.Thesearrays
mustbeconvertedtoflat2Darraysbefore
meshing.

%
B
B
B

Lecture19

FLATTEN COLOR IMAGE

= double(B);
= B(:,:,1) + B(:,:,2) + B(:,:,3);
= 1 - B/765;

40

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Stack the Image

Wewillmeshtheimageusingisocaps(),but
thatfunctionrequiresa3Darray.So,wewillstack
thisimagetobetwolayersthick.

% STACK IMAGE
B(:,:,2) = B;

Lecture19

41

Mesh the Image Using

isocaps()

Weonlywishtomeshasinglesurfacesowegive
isocaps(),theadditionalinputargument
zmintodothis.

% CREATE 2D MESH
[F,V] = isocaps(ya,xa,[0 1],B,0.5,'zmin');
Lecture19

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Save the Mesh as an STL File

WecansavethismeshasanSTLfile.

Lecture19

43

Extrude Using Blender (1 of 2)

1. OpenBlender.exe.
2. File Import Stl (.stl)
3. OpentheSTLfileyoujustcreated.

Lecture19

44

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Extrude Using Blender (2 of 2)

1. Selecttheobjectwithright
mouseclick.
2. PressTABtoenterEditmode.
3. Pressetoextrudemesh.
4. PressTABagaintoexitEditmode.
5. Youcannowedityourobject
orexportasanew3DSTLfile.

Lecture19

45

Point Clouds

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What is a Point Cloud?

KleinBottle(seeMATLABdemos)

PointCloudDescriptionofaKleinBottle

PointcloudsrepresenttheoutsidesurfaceofobjectasasetofverticesdefinedbyX,Y,andZ
coordinates.Theyaretypicallygeneratedby3Dscanners,butcanalsobeusedtoexport3D
objectsfromMATLABintoSolidWorks orotherCADprograms.
Lecture19

47

Other Examples of Point Clouds

Lecture19

48

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Point Cloud Data

Thepositionofallthepointsinthepoint
cloudcanbestoredinanarray.
x1
x
2
PC x3

xN
PC =
0.1200
0.1159
0.0311
0.0000
-0.0311
-0.0600

y1
y2
y3

yN

0.0000
-0.0311
-0.1159
-0.1200
-0.1159
-0.1039

z1
z2
z3

z N
0.7071
0.7071
0.7071
0.7071
0.7071
0.7071

Lecture19

49

Saving Point Cloud Data to File

(1 of 2)
Pointclouddatafilesarecommaseparated
textfileswiththeextension.xyz
Thesecanbeeasilygeneratedusingthe
builtinMATLABcommandcsvwrite().
% SAVE POINT CLOUD AS A COMMA SEPERATED FILE
PC = [ X Z Y ];
dlmwrite('pointcloud.xyz',PC,'delimiter',',','newline','pc');

PC = [ X Y Z ];
Lecture19

PC = [ X Z Y ];
50

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Saving Point Cloud Data to File

(2 of 2)
SolidWorkswantstoseeanXYZat
thestartofthefile.
Youcanaddthismanuallyusing
Notepadorwriteamoresophisticated
MATLABtextfilecreator.

Lecture19

51

Activate ScanTo3D Add-In in

SolidWorks
First,youwillneedtoactivatethe
ScanTo3DinSolidWorks.
ClickToolsAddIns.
ChecktheScanto3Dcheckbox.
ClickOK.

Lecture19

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Open the Point Cloud File

Lecture19

53

Run the Mesh Prep Wizard

ToolsScanTo3DMeshPrepWizard

Lecture19

1.
2.
3.
4.

RuntheMeshPrepWizard.
Selectthepointcloud.
Clicktherightarraybutton.
Orientationmethod,selectNone
becausewedidthisinMATLAB.
5. Noiseremoval,zeroassuming
geometrycamefromMATLAB.
6. Workthroughalloptions.
7. Clickthegreencheckmarktofinish.

54

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Point Cloud Density

Lecture19

55

Final Notes on Point Clouds

Other CAD packages have better point cloud
import capabilities than SolidWorks. Rhino 3D is
said to be excellent.
Generating a solid model from the data can be
done in SolidWorks. The meshed model is
essentially used as a template for creating the
solid model. This procedure is beyond the scope
of this lecture.

Lecture19

56

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Importing
Custom
Polygons into
SolidWorks

The Problem
Supposewecalculatetheverticesofapolygonfromanoptimization
inMATLAB.
Howdoweimportantthe
verticessothatthepolygon
canbeimportedexactlyinto
Solidworks sothatitcanbe
extruded,cut,modified,etc.?
Thereisnofeaturein
SolidWorks todothis!!

Lecture19

58

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Example Application
PlacingaGMRfilteronto
acurvedsurface.

Gratingperiodisspatially
variedtocompensate.

sin x R
x
tan 1

R
1 d R cos x R
K x K 0 k0 ninc sin inc x

inc x

x K x dx
0

r x
r

cos x cos f
cos x cos f

R.C.Rumpf,M.Gates,C.L.Kozikowski,W.A.Davis,
"GuidedModeResonanceFilterCompensatedtoOperate
onaCurvedSurface,"PIERC,Vol.40,pp.93103,2013.

Lecture19

59

Be Careful About XYZ Curves

ThereisafeatureinSolidWorks CurveThroughXYZPointsthat
appearstoimportdiscretepoints,butitfitsthepointstoaspline.
Thiseffectivelyroundsanycornersandmayproduceintersections
thatcannotberendered.

Thisshouldbeasquare!
Lecture19

Thefourpointsarefittoaspline!
60

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Step 1 Define the Polygon

CreateanN3arrayinmemorycontainingtheallthepointsinthe
polygon.N isthenumberofpoints.
P =
0.6448
1.0941
1.3427
0.3642
0.4753
-0.0651
-0.5258
-0.4824
-0.8912
-0.9966
-0.9087
-1.0666
-1.1762
-0.5403
-0.1403
0.3818
0.7795
0.8293
1.0972
0.6448

0
0.3758
1.0452
0.5573
1.8765
0.7853
1.1984
0.5240
0.4822
0.1664
-0.1517
-0.5774
-1.2777
-1.2314
-1.6931
-1.5074
-1.1927
-0.6455
-0.3766
-0.0000

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

Lecture19

61

Step 2 Save as an IGES from

MATLAB
Thereisafunctioncalledigesout() availableforfreedownload
fromtheMathworks website.ThiswillsaveyourpolygontoanIGES
file.
% SAVE IGES FILE
igesout(P,'poly');

Thiscreatesafilecalledpoly.igsinyourworkingdirectory.

Lecture19

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Step 3 Open the IGES in

SolidWorks (1 of 2)
SelecttheIGESfiletypeinthe[Open]filedialog.Thenclickonthe
[Options]button.

Lecture19

63

Step 3 Open the IGES in

SolidWorks (2 of 2)
1. Makesurethat
Surface/solid
entitiesis
unchecked
2. EnsurethatFree
point/curveentities
ischecked.
3. ClickontheImport
assketch(es)radio
button.

Openthefile.

Lecture19

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Step 4 Convert to a Standard

2D Sketch
Thepolygonimportsasa3Dsketchbydefault.
Editthe3Dsketchandcopy.
Openanew2Dsketchandpaste.
Nowyoucandowhateveryouwishwiththesketch!Extrude,
revolve,cutextrude,etc.

Lecture19

65

Extrude Using Blender (1 of 2)

1. OpenBlender.exe.
2. File Import Stl (.stl)
3. OpentheSTLfileyoujustcreated.

Lecture19

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Extrude Using Blender (2 of 2)

1. Selecttheobjectwithright
mouseclick.
2. PressTABtoenterEditmode.
3. Pressetoextrudemesh.
4. PressTABagaintoexitEditmode.
5. Youcannowedityourobject
orexportasanew3DSTLfile.

Lecture19

67

STL to CAD
Conversion

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Import STL Into MeshLab

1. Openmeshlab.exe.
2. File ImportMesh
3. Openthe3DSTLfileyoujustcreated.

Lecture19

69

Convert to SolidWorks Part

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

Openmeshlab.exe.
File ExportMeshAs
SelectDXFfiletype.
Savemesh.
LaunchSolidWorks.
File Open
SelectDXFfile.
SelectImporttoanewpartas:
then3Dcurvesormodel
thenNext>.
9. SelectAllLayers

Lecture19

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35