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HectorAtLmco1-Visitor
1-Visitor
December 3, 2020
Question

CAD Import and Optimization Parameters in Vuforia

  • December 3, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 2592 views

Hello fellow Vuforians!

 

We have been having a few issues when importing CATIA V5 models into Vuforia. It seems the models are 'too light' and we have received feedback to make them more 'realistic'. You can see this issue mostly in a circle or hole. While I believe that making the model as light as possible is super important, we also don't believe that a circle should be represented as a 4-sided polygon!

 

I don't control the CAD Import process in Vuforia, you just pick your model and click on a box for 'Run CAD Optimization'. However, I find myself needing to control this (polygonal tolerance and scale, specifically).

 

Does anyone know how/where to control this? If not, is there a separate procedure for converting the CATIA file with the settings of my choice?

 

See example:

HectorAtLmco_0-1607027299140.png

 

Thanks everybody!

1 reply

A
AllanThompson16-Pearl
16-Pearl
December 3, 2020

The recipe files used to control the conversion are stored in C:\Users\<username>\Documents\VuforiaStudio\Projects\node_modules\cad-import-filters\import_filters\recipe.

 

Personally, I would just use the higher quality versions and then the users just need to wait for it to download and load up.  The first time will be slow, but then it should have cached it, so subsequent loads will be faster.  You could also make the experience available for download, so they can just download it in the office on Wi-Fi.

 

If it's a big problem, then you could build a PVZ with a mix of high quality and low quality geometry files.  I've used this when I've needed an optimised model with textures in some parts.  I've described the process here.

    H
    HectorAtLmco1-VisitorAuthor
    1-Visitor
    December 7, 2020

    Hi Allan! First off, thank you for replying!

     

    I looked at the rcp and pvr files, but I cannot seem to find any setting that would control tolerances or scale at all.  Does anyone have a document listing what some of these settings do?

     

    I also took a look at your post for crafting a mixed PVZ file (which I think is super smart) but the challenge I have there is that not even the High Quality PVZ file created by Vuforia actually fixes this issue. All 4 versions of the converted PVZ seem to draw my circles as squares!. 

     

    Is there anything else you can suggest?

     

    Just out of curiosity... Which is your CAD application? Also, do you work in inches or in metric units in the CAD?

     

    Thanks again!

    A
    AllanThompson16-Pearl
    16-Pearl
    December 8, 2020

    If all 4 versions of the PVZ (the original and the 3 optimised ones) show this, then it will be something do do with the conversion of the files from CATIA to PVZ.  I'm assuming that the original CATIA files don't show this issue?

     

    Rather than messing around with the recipe files - which will likely get overwritten when you install the next update for Studio, you could try exporting out a STEP file from CATIA and then bring that in and see if it is better.

     

    I'm usually using Creo Parametric files, but I'm typically exporting them as a PVZ from Creo Parametric and then using those in Creo Illustrate to add sequence animations, and then publishing a PVZ from Illustrate that gets used in Studio.  I've also used files from SolidWorks and NX, but for both of them, I actually started with a STEP file that was exported from CAD.

     

    And lastly, the files I've worked with are nearly always metric, but I have used some Creo files from the US that were imperial 🙄

     

     

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