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.
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?
Posts
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
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
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:
:doh:
Ive used it before, but never noticed I had what I wanted right in front of my eyes. Thanks mate!
Regards
/Doxs
AreaVolume
There is a simplistic script for Blender as well.
Calculating the volume of a model - Blender Artists Forums