So, I have a design which is essentially a hollowed out dome. Whenever I upload the design, Shapeways run it's error checking routines on it and when the design is displayed, I find that Shapeways has more or less filled in the hollowed out section. This adds a lot to the cost, essentially making it unaffordable. You can see in the screenshots how the design looks natively, and then how it looks once Shapeways has worked it's routines on it. Running it through Netfabb has had no effect. Shapeways fills in the hollow whether the .stl file comes straight form the CAD program (Moment of Inspiration) or from Netfabb. The issue seems to be with Shapeways interpreting the hollowed out or shelled inner area as a hole needing to be filled in, for some reason. Does anyone know how to avoid this? Any help? Many thanks, Bob
Thanks for the reply! I couldn't get your solution to work, but was able to find a work around by doing some Boolean operations on the part in the CAD program. What's odd is that this issue only affects designs done in my NURBS program, Moment of Inspiration, but not in my solid modeler, Geomagic/Alibre Design. Bob