As well as scanning and software, we offer 3D data conversion services. The most common request is for "Polys to NURBS", where a polymesh made up of flat faces is converted to a smooth NURBS surface ready for CNC machining.

From Polys

This process is ideally suited to polymeshes that are already nicely ordered, because we can then turn the polygon topology directly into the NURBS surface patches. For denser meshes, such as those created by a 3D scanner, a whole new topology needs to be drawn over the top.

 

To NURBS

CySlice is used to compute the SUBD surface control points. These Catmull-Clark subdivision surfaces are similar to NURBS in that they are smooth, but also share the arbitrary topology properties of polymeshes. The resulting smooth surface passes through all of the original polymesh points, so preserves the overall shape and volume. The SUBD surface is then converted into a traditional NURBS surface.