GaryDawson
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Sep 20, 2019 8:55 pm

Set unit system per model upon import

Just got simplify today but I'm no newbie to CAD and printing. I mostly build models using MM as my units but sometimes I work in CM. I'm not seeing where I can set the unit in Simplify. I can change my CM models to MM prior to exporting, or I can scale by a factor of 10 once in Simplify, of course.

But is there a setting in Simplify where I can designate units for each model I import? It would be a great feature if it doesn't already exist.
TIA for your responses!
Gary Dawson
Last edited by S3D-Jake on Tue Sep 24, 2019 12:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: more accurate title for request tracking
S3D-Jake
Posts: 1048
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2018 12:45 pm

Re: Is there a "set units" feature?

Hi Gary,

Great question! The unit system in Simplify3D is global. So currently you cannot switch the units per model. I think this would be really slick! I'll add it to our developers' list to review.
"A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song."
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dkightley
Posts: 2405
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2015 4:09 pm

Re: Set unit system per model upon import

We do, however, have to bear in mind that stl files do not contain any information about what system of units the shape has been created with....its just UNITS!

And there is a setting to specify the default units within S3D......so the best I think that S3D can offer is to have a flag or option on the load window to allow the user to specify what the units are for the incoming file....and possibly scale accordingly to the default within S3D.
Doug Kightley
Volunteer at the National Tramway Museum http://www.tramway.co.uk
Railway modeller and webmaster at http://www.talkingtgauge.net
S3D-Jake
Posts: 1048
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2018 12:45 pm

Re: Set unit system per model upon import

Doug is correct and that would be the exact implementation I would suggest to our development team. Sort of an extension of the existing scale on import action, however, it'd be able to be toggled on or off inside the import window.
"A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song."

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