I installed the software tonight, and went to import the first stl file that I had exported from my CAD package. The part happened to be designed in inches.
Upon selecting the file, I get two popups
1) Part appears to be extremely small and may be in inches format. Would you like to automatically scale to millimeter format?
2)S3DCreator.exe has stopped working
A problem caused the program to stop working correctly. Windows will close the program....
A close program button is the only choice.
Toshiba Satellite A305
Windows Vista, Intel Centrino 2 64 bit processor
Alibre Design 2012 CAD Package
RESOLVED - first import fails - "part appears to be..."
Last edited by cdub on Sat May 04, 2013 4:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.
Re: first import fails - "part appears to be extremely small
So, I pulled the part up in Alibre, converted it to metric, and exported a new stl file.
I opened a new instance of Creator, clicked import, selected the file, saw it appear on the screen for a brief flash and then got another S3DCreator.exe has stopped working Window.
This software appears to be completely unusable
I opened a new instance of Creator, clicked import, selected the file, saw it appear on the screen for a brief flash and then got another S3DCreator.exe has stopped working Window.
This software appears to be completely unusable
Re: first import fails - "part appears to be extremely small
I tried a few more things before giving up for the night.
1) I shut my computer down and rebooted it
2) I uploaded my models to cloud.netfabb.com and tried importing the "fixed" stl files.
All of this results in more crashes with a relatively complex file.
I have managed to import a couple of extremely simple files, but continue to have software crashes when I issue any commands. For example, I double clicked on a part and got a menu with options to reorient the part. I tried rotating the part 90 degrees here, but when I hit save, I just get another crash.
1) I shut my computer down and rebooted it
2) I uploaded my models to cloud.netfabb.com and tried importing the "fixed" stl files.
All of this results in more crashes with a relatively complex file.
I have managed to import a couple of extremely simple files, but continue to have software crashes when I issue any commands. For example, I double clicked on a part and got a menu with options to reorient the part. I tried rotating the part 90 degrees here, but when I hit save, I just get another crash.
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dalew8abz
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Re: first import fails - "part appears to be extremely small
cdub,
I can't speak for the Simplify3D folks. Just curious how much memory (actual RAM and swap space) you have. I've read here that complex parts can use a whole lot of memory.
I'm not sure what Windows does with the swap space set to be automatically managed. I recall in XP there was a way to override it and give more swap.
I'm running a Dell Latitude E65000 with 6GB of RAM, and either Windows 7 x64 or Linux Mint 13 x64, and not had issues, but I'm pretty new at this and haven't done any really complex parts yet.
Dale
I can't speak for the Simplify3D folks. Just curious how much memory (actual RAM and swap space) you have. I've read here that complex parts can use a whole lot of memory.
I'm not sure what Windows does with the swap space set to be automatically managed. I recall in XP there was a way to override it and give more swap.
I'm running a Dell Latitude E65000 with 6GB of RAM, and either Windows 7 x64 or Linux Mint 13 x64, and not had issues, but I'm pretty new at this and haven't done any really complex parts yet.
Dale
Re: first import fails - "part appears to be extremely small
I have 4 GB of RAM.
Re: first import fails - "part appears to be extremely small
A couple of thoughts...
I like you had the same experience re: the extremely small object problem. A little research into STL format identified the problem. STL files are dimensionless, that is they do not save the unit of measurement. Most (if not all) slicers assume millimeters as the default measurement, which results in the behavior you're seeing. Creator is one of the few programs that actually looks at the size and offers you resizing ability.
Most CAD programs will allow you to convert your measurement unit priot to export as STL. If you haven't tried to do that, you may find that a more reliable way to re-size the part than trying to 'fix' the STL in an external program, as there really isn't anything wrong with it most likely.
Finally, posting a copy of your STL file for the Creator folks to look at is a big help, and they are pretty responsive in evaluating it and offering suggestions. This may help them determine if complexity and memory space is an issue.
Good luck!
GB
I like you had the same experience re: the extremely small object problem. A little research into STL format identified the problem. STL files are dimensionless, that is they do not save the unit of measurement. Most (if not all) slicers assume millimeters as the default measurement, which results in the behavior you're seeing. Creator is one of the few programs that actually looks at the size and offers you resizing ability.
Most CAD programs will allow you to convert your measurement unit priot to export as STL. If you haven't tried to do that, you may find that a more reliable way to re-size the part than trying to 'fix' the STL in an external program, as there really isn't anything wrong with it most likely.
Finally, posting a copy of your STL file for the Creator folks to look at is a big help, and they are pretty responsive in evaluating it and offering suggestions. This may help them determine if complexity and memory space is an issue.
Good luck!
GB
Re: RESOVLED - first import fails - "part appears to be..."
All of the issues I was having appear to have been caused by an interaction with my graphics driver.
Looking in the error logs gave away that the issue was with the ATI openGL driver.
Updating the graphics driver on a laptop can be an issue, as many times the laptop OEM doesn't provide updates and worse doesn't allow the graphics card vendor to either.
After some googling, I came across Mobility Modder, and this seems to have done the trick.
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/modtool.php
Looking in the error logs gave away that the issue was with the ATI openGL driver.
Updating the graphics driver on a laptop can be an issue, as many times the laptop OEM doesn't provide updates and worse doesn't allow the graphics card vendor to either.
After some googling, I came across Mobility Modder, and this seems to have done the trick.
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/modtool.php
