I've got several STL files of starships, but they all have interior geometry, and I think Shapeways is hollowing out the object when I upload it. I cant figure out a way to create a solid object using solely the exterior geometry. Can anybody here help me?
Shapeways isn't doing a hollow-out operation. If you're seeing something like that, it's because of the data you're providing (for whatever reason). If your software doesn't have a tool which explicitly does this sort of thing, you could do it with boolean ops. For example: Make solid which bounds the object Subtract object from solid Make solid which fills hole Subtract intermediate result above from second solid You may have to do fore and aft sections then union the result depending on how your software feels about solids with holes in the middle.
I tried doing that method, and the Software I have, 3DS Max, likes to subtract the bounding box of a solid with holes in it. And due to the interior geometry of my original file that I'm trying to recreate as a solid, the hole isnt a complete void, but more like a negative of the model.
For Shapeways to make the model hollow with the interior geometry intact, there is a tunnel joining the interior shell(s) to the exterior shell(s) - eliminate the tunnel and it doesn't matter if the internal geometry is still there, Shapeways software will delete it and only go by the exterior shell. If you get stuck, send me a PM with the stl and I'll have a look at it. Paul