Imported Model can not be vizualized / not valid geometry

Project Support
1

Hello

I have been uploading many model changes for my full car FSAE simulations due to constant mesh failures. (unrelated issue) and the latest model failed to import.

Here is the link
Here is the error code
image

I was importing Parasolid files using soidworks and have had no problems up until now.

I also tried using the native solidworks file and get this error immediately. How is a native solidworks file not a valid format?
image

I have no idea how every model imports fine and now this. Any ideas? @jousefm

Thanks,

Dan

2

Hey Dan!

Very odd, never encountered this before? Can you share the geometry with full access to Drive via email (jmurad@simscale.com)? I will forward your mail to the CAD team.

Best,

Jousef

3

Jousef,

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer on a sunday! I sent you the parasolid and solidworks files through my google drive. Let me know if you have access to everything

Dan

4

Hey Dan!

Can access it and forwarded it to my colleague @afischer, he might get back to you soon.

Cheers and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Jousef

1 Like
5

Hi Dan (@dschroeder)!

  • If you upload a SolidWorks assembly to SimScale, you need to create a compressed archive e.g. zip with all parts and (sub-)assembly files and make sure the root assembly comes alphabetically first (we will improve the UX, but right now that’s how it works). It’s also described in our documentation: How Can I Upload an Assembly? Knowledge Base | SimScale
  • If I do that with your assembly I can upload the model, but get a faceted version of it (see the facet fault and the display mode in the viewer). I am not an expert of the SolidWorks file format, but my assumption is that it imports the visualization as model here as the part files are missing (only the 2.1_R_19.SLDASM is available).
    image
    image1364×665 127 KB
  • That you got an invalid format error is not correct, I created a ticket for this, you should have gotten an warning that linked parts a missing. Thanks for pointing that out.
  • Your x_t upload fails in the tessellation step that is needed to visualize the model in the viewer. Obviously that should work. We need to take a look unfortunately. Just to explain a bit: It is very counter-intuitive or surprising if you make very small changes and suddenly such an error happens, but already small changes can lead to precision changes or geometrical artifacts e.g. very thin, sliver faces and can lead therefore to issues downstream.
  • One of our development teams is currently working on a potential fix, so let me update in the course of this week.

Best Alex

1 Like
6

Alex,

Thank you so much for this detailed reply! I appreciate the time that the Simscale team takes to solve these problems. It was surprising that the x_t upload failed suddenly after such a small change but i understand the sensitivity of this whole process. I will keep trying to get my geometries to work in the mean time.

Thanks a lot!

Dan

7

Hi Dan,

we seem to have a fix that works for your model. Unfortunately this is still a screenshot from the development system, so I can’t share it with you yet:

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image612×521 65.4 KB

I keep you updated.

Best Alex

8

Alex,

Thanks for sticking with this. I just tried a STEP file and it worked! I know Simscale is saying native / parasolid are the best for uploading but i have had no problems with STEP in the past. It really doesnt matter which file format i use, as long as it works

Thanks

Dan

1 Like
9

Hey Alex,

I am trying to upload new geometries again and I am now having more problems. I now get simply and Upload failed error.

image

This is quite odd because this is not selective to the x_t files as before. I had a STEP file fail, another X_T file fail, new geometry of both file types fail. (19 meter testing)

Then i tried to upload another file in a seperate project (7 meter testing) with a different vehicle setup and they also failed. I tried a STL file which failed. And i also tried to re-upload a STEP file of a geometry that was already successfully uploaded in the project (Radius_7_Run_1) … also failed.

Project here

Im thinking this is something on your end. Please let me know when this is fixed as i have a lot of simulations to do.

Thanks,

Dan

10

Hi,
I am having the same issue today.
Friday it was working fine.
Now I can only import geometry from my onshape account.

11

@dschroeder & @jazenha, the issue was resolved this afternoon, could you please retry? :slight_smile:

Cheers!

Jousef

12

Hey Jousef,

I was importing more geometries and got this other weird error. This was from a STEP file this time, luckily i switched back to parasolid and was able to import but i will leave this one in the project for now because it somehow imported only the standard planes from solidworks as shown below. Never seen this before

here is the link to this file. Maybe it will help the staff to identify any other import problems

image
image1650×879 80.1 KB

Dan

13

Hi Dan, would you share the options you chose when you exported the STEP file from Solidworks?

Also, what would be your motivation to do a STEP upload? Are you still experiencing issues with Parasolid?

14

@m_farhan

Here are the settings i am using for the STEP file, i have not changed anything from default in solidworks.

I used step because i was getting upload failures with X_T files as i have described at the beginning of this post. Then only recently did the STEP fail and luckily the Parasolid file worked again.

I dont really have any reason for using one or the other. Simscale says that the platform is optimized for X_T so that would always be my first choice, but if they are not working the STEP is my backup. Are there advantages of using Parasolid over STEP?

Dan

15

Hey Dan,

Generally Parasolid and STEP both go through the same process for upload, with both ending up as a common format to eventually push forward, but there is always the chance that the process of converting STEP to Parasolid could have some issues. So it is generally recommended to use native Parasolid for an optimal workflow.

Let us know if you are still having issues. I have already logged your problem with the planes appearing in the viewer, and the team will tackle it by priority.

16

@m_farhan

Thanks for the info. I havent had issues with X_T recently so hopefully it will stay that way.

Dan