Hi, I’m working on a large scale model of an open-plan office. It spans over three levels, and I have to make the model completely watertight for simulations. Is there a way to check for holes in the model? Since it spans over several levels, I can’t just make a box around one level.
You could use Solid Inspector and Solid Inspector2 to check groups ans components for water-tightness. They’re available in the Extension Warehouse.
I tried that, but it cannot fix all, and I have e.g. 4359 Internal Face Edges.
That indicates you have lots of holes to fix. Unfortunately you’ll probably have to do that manually. TIG’s Solid Solver from Sketchucation might help but I expect you’re going to have to fix most if not all manually. Might actually be easier to start over and model it cleanly so every object is a solid from the beginning. Usually that’s easier and faster than trying to fix things later.
Manifold is manifold whether the model is super tiny or huge. A lot of people ask for a quick and easy way to make complex models manifold, but the simple fact is, there is not always an easy path to making a model solid. It can be done, but it may take quite a bit of work or even (yikes) starting from scratch, maintaining a solid as you go.
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FWIW, I regularly create complex models. I found it’s better to create every object as a solid and maintain that than it is to fix things later. Solid objects are easier to work with and generally lighter in terms of poly count.
Maybe in the case of your model there’s things that could be simplified while you are modeling. Maybe you don’t need to add all of the details your current model hass in order to be used in your simulations.
I have been simplifying the model a lot while hoping I would make the model watertight. I don’t mind doing the work manually, but it would help greatly if there was a way of identifying the holes in the model. E.g. in the literal sense filling the model up with water to identify holes.
You are the only one who knows what the model looks like and how it was created. And only you know how you want the ‘watertight’ model to be.
Have you used components and groups and want them to be solid? Do you want the model to be a single solid object?
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internal faces
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missing faces
Hi @Christina98,
I developed an extension that have the ambition to solve similar issues, so your problem is very relevant to me (see the forum thread here).
The option called Voxel Shell creates a watertight shell of your model, but you may lose some details on the way. It is controllable by a resolution parameter.
Would you mind giving it a try? I would be very keen to learn more about the simulation processes that you are running and the sort of constraints that you have.
Hi, I understand that it’s up to me to do the simplification, however, this is an open-office model (for app. 300 people) from a client where I need to make simulations. So for future use it would be a great help if I could identify holes in stead of making the model again.
I wrote about something completely different and showed you how you can solve the problem, depending on how your model is created and what you want to do with it.
Your answer is related to the advice you received from other users. But even so, it does not contain useful information.
What exactly do you mean by ‘simulations’?
Did you watch the two videos, did you notice that it show you where there are problems in the model that prevent it from being solid?
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Hi,
I appreciate your help in this matter and I’m currently trying out the different solutions in this thread. I apologize if it came across in a different way. My comment was only explaining that I will have cases where I receive a model and it’s “new” for me to work in, and in my field the workaround is oftentimes to simply make a new model from scratch.
I’m checking your recommendation out now.
Thanks!