Importing large point file (approx 130,000 points) for reverse engineering - NX gets stuck 2

[MikeTonolo]

Hi guys,
I have been trying for 3 days now to reverse engineer a part at work.

When I import the point file I get a warning:
"The file contains more than 1000 points. Performance may be decreased."

I click okay, but as soon as I try to select some of the points and use fit surface NX simply doesn't respond,
it just starts to work nonstop.
I have read all the siemens forum threads and the eng-tips threads on this topic, the NX10 documentation and
even a couple of articles on the net. I can't find this warning nowhere in the documentation and also
can't manage to build the necessary shapes from the point file.

I'm stuck. A bit of help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

 

[JohnRBaker]

Yes, 130,000 points is about an order-of-magnitude greater than what THIS particular function was designed for. You need to use tools, such as 'Imageware', designed specifically for handling data sets this large.

John R. Baker, P.E.
Product 'Evangelist'
Product Engineering Software
Siemens PLM Software Inc.
Digital Factory
Cypress, CA
Siemens PLM:
UG/NX Museum:

To an Engineer, the glass is twice as big as it needs to be.

 

[Toost]

What type of file is it that you import ?
Does it create 130' separate points ?

If you want to import / work with this amount of points , you need to import it as a faceted body.
Importing a STL file will create a point cloud , which can handle 130' without problems.
Having 130 000 separate points of the object type "point" is no fun.

Try convert the points into STL.
( Don't ask me how to....)


Regards,
Tomas

 

[SDETERS]

Could you break up these points up, lets say in 10 different prt files. then import the prt file into one prt file?

 

[Toost]

"Could you break up these points up, lets say in 10 different prt files. then import the prt file into one prt file?"
This does not help much, displaying 13 000 ( =130 000/10) point objects is for some unknown reason not what NX likes. ( 13 000 components is ok but not points.)
on the contrary, displaying faceted bodies with very large amounts of points no problem. I have a STL which contains 830 000 points, no problem.

A quick google on converting the points to STL, maybe Meshlab can help ?

http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/

Regards,
Tomas

 

[MikeTonolo]

Hi,
Thank you for all your answers. I also thought that 130,000 might be
too much to import as is into NX, but then I thought for sure it's something
I'm not doing right.
As for importing faceted body using STL, I have been able to import it, but am
still finding it difficult to work with (computer seems to have its hands full).

Probably I'll talk to my boss to get some software designed specifically for work
with point clouds.

Thank you again so much and have a great week,
Mike