Preparing Models For Production; Objdf Files: Overview; Model Files - Stratasys Connex500 User Manual

Preparing Models for Production

OBJDF Files:
Overview

Model Files

DOC-13025 Rev. A
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 Connex 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 19 and in "Dividing Objects" on page 53.)
An objdf file describes both the geometry of a single object and the
materials, and finish required to print it. The objdf file can represent an
object that is a 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 Connex 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 assemblies, and their features,
appear throughout this chapter.
To produce models, you open one or more model files in Objet Studio and
position objects on the build tray. You can place objects on the build tray in
several ways:
•
by inserting individual stl or slc files (or an assembly of stl files).
•
by inserting an objdf file (an assembly).
•
by pasting objects that you copied to the Windows clipboard.
Connex500/350 User Guide
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