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CAD/CAM? Does anyone know what it is?
Hi all, I have a possible project coming up where I might be given some CAD/CAM data for use in Cinema4D and have never seen or used any such data before. Having surfed the web for info I cannot figure out if it is just a general term or actual file type? Can anyone suggest anywhere I can get a step by step approach to using this data and/or any example files on the web I could use to try out?
thanks for any help you can give
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4 Replies
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CAD/CAM stands for computer assisted design and manufacturing: basically creation of water tight models that can be sent to 3D printers or mills for manufacturing.
There are quite a few CAD formats, depending on which program is used to create the files. Cinema has native support for .stl files which many CAD programs can export. Another common format is .igs/.iges, which is supported in Cinema Studio (only).
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Hi Adam thanks a million for that, it was what I was expecting so that’s good, but I’m trying to get some more details as in what to expect from it ‘visually’ if you know what I mean? as in would it likely open up in cinema 4D as splines as say an illustrator format? or just data collated as numbers or coordinates that have to be somehow manipulated further before it can be visually accessible?
Would you know of any example files on the net anywhere I could maybe do some testing on?
thanks again for your reply and help.
http://www.cascadepictures.co.uk
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Again, depends on the specific format used and what’s used to import it. .stl files come in as real geometry with no splines. The Cinema .igs importer can import both splines and geometry. You may also be able to get regular .obj or .3ds files. If your client can provide .obj that’s what I would recommend as the importer supports normals information which improves rendering in most cases.
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ahh ok its good to know that obj is considered within that realm. Would there be any negatives to obj other than availability that would negate its use?
I’ll certainly try to get it in OBJ.
http://www.cascadepictures.co.uk
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