Stratasys Objet500 User Manual page 45

Objet500 User Guide
Preparing Models for Production
Model preparation involves the following basic steps:
1. Place objects or assemblies on the build tray.
2. If necessary, manipulate the object's orientation and position.
3. Select the materials and model finish.
Just as Objet500 printers can produce different models on the build tray
using different materials, you can produce components of a model with
different materials. To do this, each part of the model must be a separate stl
file.
If the model's component parts were not saved in the CAD software as
separate stl files, you can use Objet Studio to separate the model into
component parts. (This is described in "Splitting Objects into Components"
on page 5-23 and in "Dividing Objects" on page 5-62.)
An objdf file describes both the geometry of a single object and the materials,
OBJDF Files:
and finish required to print it. The objdf file can represent an object that is a
Overview
single stl file, or an object assembled from component stl files.
Objet Studio enables you to split an stl file representing a complex object into
an assembly of component stl files, and save the assembly as an objdf file.
Each part (stl file) described by the objdf file can have its own model-material
characteristic, so that the Objet500 printer produces the component parts
from specific materials.
Another use for objdf files is for saving a group of separate objects on the
build tray as one unit, together with their relative positions and materials.
This is especially useful for producing models in the future with the same
materials. In fact, when you save objdf files, you specify materials for printing
models without regard to the material cartridges loaded in the printer. The
same object can later be placed on build trays for printing. Each time you
send a build tray to the printer, you decide whether to allow printing with
substitute materials or only with the materials specified.
The Connex version of Objet Studio enables you to display, manipulate and
print component parts of a model assembly that was saved as an objdf file,
since each component is a separate stl file. This can be useful for printing
only specific parts of a model.
Further explanations of objdf files, and their features, appear throughout this
chapter.
To produce models, you open one or more model files in Objet Studio and
Model Files
position objects on the build tray. You can place objects on the build tray in
several ways:
• by inserting individual stl files (or an assembly of stl files).
• by inserting an objdf file (an assembly).
• by pasting objects that you copied to the Windows clipboard.
DOC-07027 Rev. E
5 Using Objet Studio
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