• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Process Engineers
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.78-86
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• 2018

The 3D mesh model is used in various fields, such as virtual reality, shape-based searching, 3D simulation, reverse engineering, 3D printing, and laser scanning. There are various formats for the 3D mesh model, but STL and OBJ are the most typical. Since application systems support different 3D mesh formats, developing technology for converting 3D mesh models from one format into another is necessary to ensure data interoperability among systems. In this paper, we propose a method to convert a 3D mesh model in STL format into the OBJ format. We performed the basic design of the conversion system and developed a prototype, then verified the proposed method by experimentally converting an STL file into an OBJ file for test cases using this prototype.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.31 no.7 s.262
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• pp.739-746
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• 2007

Recently, models in STL files are widely used in reverse engineering processes, CAD systems and analysis systems. However the models have poor geometric quality and include only triangles, so the models are not suitable for the finite element analysis. This paper presents a general method that generates finite element mesh from STL file models. Given triangular meshes, the method estimates triangles and makes clusters which consist of triangles. The clusters are merged by some geometric indices. After merging clusters, the method applies plane meshing algorithm, based on domain decomposition method, to each cluster and then the result plane mesh is projected into the original triangular set. Because the algorithm uses general methods to generate plane mesh, we can obtain both tri and quad meshes unlike previous researches. Some mechanical part models are used to show the validity of the proposed method.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.595-598
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• 2002

Laser scanners are getting used more and more in reverse engineering and inspection. For CNC-driven laser scanners, it is important to automate the scanning operations to improve the accuracy of capture point data and to reduce scanning time in industry. However, there are few research works on laser scan planning system. In addition, it is difficult to directly analyze multi-patched freeform models. In this paper, we propose an STL (Stereolithography) mesh based laser scan planning system for complex freeform surfaces. The scan planning system consists of three steps and it is assumed that the CAD model of the part exists. Firstly, the surface model is approximated into STL meshes. From the mesh model, normal vector of each node point is estimated. Second, scan directions and regions are determined through the region growing method. Also, scan paths are generated by calculating the minimum-bounding rectangle of points that can be scanned in each scan direction. Finally, the generated scan directions and paths are validated by checking optical constraints and the collision between the laser probe and the part to be scanned.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.22 no.9 s.174
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• pp.202-211
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• 2005

This paper introduces and illustrates the results of a new method fer offsetting triangular mesh by moving all vertices along the multiple normal vectors of a vertex. The multiple normal vectors of a vertex are set the same as the normal vectors of the faces surrounding the vertex, while the two vectors with the smallest difference are joined repeatedly until the difference is smaller than allowance. Offsetting with the multiple normal vectors of a vertex does not create a gap or overlap at the smooth edges, thereby making the mesh size uniform and the computation time short. In addition, this offsetting method is accurate at the sharp edges because the vertices are moved to the normal directions of faces and joined by the blend surface. The method is also useful for rapid prototyping and tool path generation if the triangular mesh is tessellated part of the solid models with curved surfaces and sharp edges. The suggested method and previous methods are implemented on a PC using C++ and illustrated using an OpenGL library.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.13 no.10
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• pp.46-55
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• 1996

As industrial standard data, the STL format which approximates three dimensional CAD model to triangular facets, is used for RP(Rapid Prototyping) system in recent days. Because most RP system take the only form of two dimensional line segments as an input stream inspite of its imperfectness while converting into STL format, a CAD model is converted into a standard industrial format which is composed of many triangular facets. The error verifying process is composed of four main steps, and these are 1) Remove facets with two or more vertices equal to each other. 2) Fix overlapping error such as more than three facets adjacent to anedge. 3) Fill holes in the mesh by using Delaunay triangulation method. 4) Correct the wrong direction and normal vectors. This paper is concerned with serching the mentioned errors in advance and modifying them.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 1996.04a
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• pp.597-601
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• 1996

Nowadays, the STL format, industrial standard data, which approximates three dimensional CAD model to triangular facets, is used for RP(Rapid Prototyping) system. Because most RP machine is accpted to only two dimensional line segments, but some STL translators are sometimes poorly implemented. The error verifying process is as follows. 1) Remove facets with two or more vertices equal to each other. 2) Fix overlapping error such as more than three facets adjacent to an edge. 3) Fill holes in the mesh by using Delaunay triangulation method. 4) Repair wrong direction and value of normal vectors. This paper is concerned with searching the mentioned errors in advance and modifying them.

• Proceedings of the Korea Multimedia Society Conference
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• 2002.05d
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• pp.901-906
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• 2002

This paper is a research about method, that is used in Rapid Prototyping system, that inserts and extracts watermark in STL(standard transform language) that has a 3D geometrical model. The proposed algorithm inserts watermark in the vertex domain of STL facet without the distortion of 3D model. If we make use of a established algorithm for watermarking of STL, a watermark inserted to 3D model can be removed by simple attack that change order of facet. The proposed algorithm has robustness about these attack. Experiment results verify that the proposed algorithm, to encode and decode watermark in STL 3D geometrical model, doesn't distort a 3D model at all. And it shows that the proposed algorithm is available.

• International Journal of CAD/CAM
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.55-67
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• 2002

In many areas of industry, it is desirable to have fast and reliable systems in order to quickly obtain suitable solid models for computer- aided analyses. Nevertheless it is well known that the data exchange process between CAD modelers and CAE packages can require significative efforts. This paper presents an approach for geometrical data exchange through triangulated boundary models. The proposed framework is founded on the use of STL file specification as neutral format file. This work is principally focused on data exchange among CAD modelers and FEA packages via STL. The proposed approach involves the definition of a topological structure suitable for the STL representation and the development of algorithms for topology and geometry data processing in order to get a solid model suitable for finite element analysis or other computer aided engineering purposes. Different algorithms for model processing are considered and their pros and cons are discussed. As a case study, a prototype modeler which supports an exporting filter for a commercial CAE package has been implemented.

• The Journal of Korean Institute of Communications and Information Sciences
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• v.32 no.12C
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• pp.1194-1202
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• 2007

In this paper, we proposed a blind watermarking algorithm to apply to the rapid prototyping system. The 3D mesh model is used in the step of the CAD modeling before the making of the prototype system of the rapid prototyping system. STL type mesh modeling which is used in this system reduces the error of the system and improves the accuracy of the system. In the step of the CAD modeling, some transformations which do not change the model accuracy are used, but some transformations which change the model accuracy are not used because the mesh model error is related to the accuracy of the prototype system. Most watermarking algorithms embedded a specific random noise as the watermark information into the model. These kinds of the algorithms are not proper to the 3D model watermarking. The proposed algorithm can be used for the accurate prototyping system because it does not change the model after the watermark embedding This means it can be used for the copyright marking and the data integrity.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.23 no.7 s.184
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• pp.187-193
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• 2006

This paper introduces and illustrates the results of a new method for offsetting the triangular mesh generated from multiple surfaces. The meshes generated from each surface are separated each other and normal directions are different. The face normal vectors are flipped to upward and the lower faces covered by upper faces are deleted. The virtual normal vectors are introduced and used to of feet boundary. It was shown that new method is better than previous methods in offsetting the triangular meshes generated from multiple surfaces. The introduced offset method was applied for 3-axis tool path generation system and tested by NC machining.