Calculating the volume of a 3d mesh?

Doxs

Hello

Just as the title says, do any of you know of a tool to calculate the volume of a 3d mesh?

I dont really care if its an old dirty script, just for as long as it works

Regards

/Doxs

biotech

Length x breadth x height always a good place to start.

Doxs

biotech wrote: »

Length x breadth x height always a good place to start.

Im afraid that wont help when one has a complex mesh.

So to clarify, it has to be able to handle complex models. If it can approximate, thats ok, but it has to be fairly close.

Regards

/Doxs

Sphynx

Depends what purpose you have for the calculation. If you have protrusions etc. it's going to seriously mess up your calculation.

I regularly have to do these calculations for rapid-prototyping - the easiest method is to take a STL export of the mesh and run it through a consistancy checking application - some of which are free as they are often built into STL viewers.

That will give you a volume calculation as they are useful in calculating the amount of material that is required for the rapid-prototyping program.

The one big drawback is that many of these calculations are based upon you having a closed STL mesh - a normal mesh will probably mess up the calculation, if it can be loaded at all.

Doxs

Sphynx wrote: »

Depends what purpose you have for the calculation. If you have protrusions etc. it's going to seriously mess up your calculation.

I regularly have to do these calculations for rapid-prototyping - the easiest method is to take a STL export of the mesh and run it through a consistancy checking application - some of which are free as they are often built into STL viewers.

That will give you a volume calculation as they are useful in calculating the amount of material that is required for the rapid-prototyping program.

The one big drawback is that many of these calculations are based upon you having a closed STL mesh - a normal mesh will probably mess up the calculation, if it can be loaded at all.

Now we are talking, thank you!

A watertight model should be assumed, after all, if its not watertight it will technically not have a volume. I wonder if overlapping will cause problems though? Anyway, Ill give it a go once I get home. Do you have any tips on any free STL viewers?

Regards

/Doxs

IRML

biotech wrote: »

Length x breadth x height always a good place to start.

lol, not all models are cubes

Sphynx

IRML wrote: »

lol, not all models are cubes

Wouldn't that just be width cubed?

Doxs:Try the VisCAM viewer here Marcam Engineering

[Deleted User]

Sphynx wrote: »

Wouldn't that just be width cubed?

Doxs:Try the VisCAM viewer here Marcam Engineering

Only if all 3 sides were the same length :thumb:

Sphynx

Er, isn't that the definition of a cube?

Coolhand

haven't you looked in the manual? use the measure tool, gives you the volume down to 3 decimal places... Also, you posted in the wrong place, moved.

IRML

haha you're right, cuboid then then

Doxs

Coolhand wrote: »

haven't you looked in the manual? use the measure tool, gives you the volume down to 3 decimal places... Also, you posted in the wrong place, moved.

:doh:

Ive used it before, but never noticed I had what I wanted right in front of my eyes. Thanks mate!

Regards

/Doxs

Coolhand

np, just make sure you're using it on a closed mesh, otherwise it's not guaranteed to be accurate, or even work at all.

nyrath

Just to be complete, Lightwave users can utilize the AreaVolume plug in.
AreaVolume

There is a simplistic script for Blender as well.
Calculating the volume of a model - Blender Artists Forums