Student uses Fusion 360 to Make Mesh Compatible with Inventor Mesh Enabler

The Mesh Enabler is an add-on for Autodesk Inventor. The Mesh Enabler converts mesh features to solid base features or surface features and can be applied to individual or multi-selected mesh features or mesh feature folders. After installing the add-in, Inventor users right-click on one or more imported mesh features and convert them into base features (solids, surfaces, or composites) through a new context menu command. The graphical mesh data is converted into boundary representation (B-Rep Model) data that can be used similar to imported solids and surfaces. In other words, Inventor then recognizes the data as a solid that has a surface with an interior and exterior instead of just a collection of points.

Autodesk subscription customers can download the Mesh Enabler from the Autodesk App Store.

Visit the App Store to download.

Autodesk makes its software free to students around the world, but technically, they are not subscription customers, so they can't download the Mesh Enabler. Students who need this functionality reach out to me, and I provide them with a download link. Recently, I had an exchange with Arne Poelaert.

Arne Poelaert is a student at Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in Brussels, Belgium. The VUB is an internationally oriented university located in the heart of Europe. By delivering high-quality research and customized education, the VUB wants to make an active and committed contribution to a better society. For his master's thesis, Arne is using Inventor 2017 and needed to scale an STL file, so he could really benefit from the Mesh Enabler. In response to Arne reaching out to me at [email protected], I provided him with a link to download the Mesh Enabler. The Mesh Enabler issues a warning when it encounters a feature with more than 5,000 triangles. Prospective users can view its readme before downloading and installing. At first, this posed a problem for Arne. Being the industrious student that he is, Arne used Fusion 360 (also free to students) to reduce the mesh rate of his STL file and then used the Mesh Enabler again. The add-in worked perfectly. Arne can now move further with his master's thesis.

The subject of Arne's thesis is observing the deformation of parts when a rotational load is applied. Autodesk recognizes that today's students are tomorrow's professionals. We are happy to share our software with those improving themselves through education.

Education is alive in the lab.