Rhino3DPRINT® 2015 Quick Start Guide

Rhino3DPRINT 2015 Quick Start Guide
MecSoft Corporation

by MecSoft Corporation
What is Rhino3DPRINT?
Rhino3DPRINT is a fully integrated, separately licensed, plug-in from
MecSoft Corporation that runs inside the Rhinoceros 5.0 NURBS
modeler. This plug-in offers efficient, easy and automatic tools for the
preparation of 3D data, such as point clouds and meshes, that
otherwise cannot be directly 3D printed. The seamless marriage of
powerful Rhino's modeling and extensive file import functionality with
Rhino3DPRINT's data preparation tools enables the user to 3D print
models from almost any input source and any major 3D format.
Why Rhino3DPRINT?
Rhino3DPRINT exists as a bridge between users 3D data and the
3D printer. 3D data comes in many formats, such as CAD data,
scanned data etc. that cannot simply be sent to the 3D printer. This
3D data needs to be converted to a format that the 3D printer not only
understands but also can handle. Rhino3DPRINT serves to convert
such 3D data and make it amenable for 3D printing.
About this Guide

This Quick Start Guide will help you get started with three examples
of how to use Rhino3DPRINT. The example files are installed with
the program.
For additional assistance you can use the on-line help provided with
the program or visit www.mecsoft.com for additional tutorials.
For additional assistence you can use the on-line help provided with
the program or visit www.mecsoft.com for additional tutorials.
Contents
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Point Clouds
1 Launch
...................................................................................................................................
Rhino3DPRINT & Load the Point Cloud Data
5
2 Create...................................................................................................................................
a Mesh from the Point Cloud
7
3 Repair
...................................................................................................................................
the Mesh Automatically
11
4 Perform
...................................................................................................................................
Uniform Re-meshing
12
5 Perform
...................................................................................................................................
Mesh Smoothing
15
6 Analyze
...................................................................................................................................
the Mesh
17
7 Slice ...................................................................................................................................
the Mesh
19
8 Setup...................................................................................................................................
for 3D Printing
22
9 Check...................................................................................................................................
the Mesh for 3D Printing
25
10 Export
...................................................................................................................................
the Mesh for 3D Printing
30
Chapter 2: Offset and Split
31
1 Launch
...................................................................................................................................
Rhino3DPRINT & Load the Part File
31
2 Diagnose
...................................................................................................................................
the Mesh
36
3 Stitch...................................................................................................................................
and Close the Mesh Automatically
38
4 Create
...................................................................................................................................
a Uniform Offset
41
5 Split and
...................................................................................................................................
Cap the Mesh
43
Chapter 3: Cavity Block
45
1 Launch
...................................................................................................................................
Rhino3DPRINT & Load the Part File
45
2 Diagnose
...................................................................................................................................
the Mesh
50
3 Stitch...................................................................................................................................
and Close the Mesh Automatically
52
4 Simplify
...................................................................................................................................
the Mesh
55
5 Create
...................................................................................................................................
a Box for the Cavity Block
56
6 Subtract
...................................................................................................................................
Mesh from Cavity Block
59
Index
62
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In this chapter we will work with Point Cloud data to create and prepare a
Mesh model for 3D Printing. We will perform the following steps to prepare
a mesh model for 3D printing using a Point Cloud data file.
Watch the Video!
1. Launch Rhino3DPRINT & Load the Point Cloud Data

2. Create a Mesh model from the Point Cloud
3. Repair the Mesh Automatically
4. Perform Uniform Re-meshing
5. Perform Mesh Smoothing
6. Analyze the Mesh
7. Slice the Mesh
8. Setup for 3D Printing
9. Check the Mesh for 3D Printing
10. Export the Mesh to an STL file for 3D Printing
Our completed part will look like this:
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1.1
Launch Rhino3DPRINT & Load the Point Cloud Data

Let's begin by launching the Rhino3DPRINT module.
1. From the Rhino Main Menu select Rhino3DPRINT and then Browser from the dropdown menu.
Docked on the left you will see the Rhino3DPRINT Browser.
There is a Ribbon Bar at the top with 5 tabs, Create, Model, Inspect & Modify, Repair
and 3D Print.
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2. For now, select the Create tab. Now, let's load the point cloud data for this tutorial.
3. From the Rhino Standard toolbar, select the Folder icon.
4. Find the part file named RubberDuck.txt located in the QuickStart folder and then pick
Open.
5. From the Points Import Options dialog:
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Select Comma under Delimiters

Check Create point cloud under options
Pick OK to import the point file
6. Once imported, select the Perspective view to work in.
1.2
Create a Mesh from the Point Cloud

First, let's set the correct Part Units in Rhino.
1. From the Rhino Main Menu, select Tools and then Options.
2. Select Units section from the tree and then set the Model Units to Inches and pick OK.
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3. Pick No when it asks you to scale the model.
In the Browser we see that we have one point cloud.
4. From the Create tab of the Browser, select From Point Cloud to create a Mesh model
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from the point cloud.
5. Select the point cloud and press Enter.

Note: If the Point Cloud is already selected from the previous step, just press Enter.
Notice that an options dialog appears below the Browser.
6. Accept the default options and then pick Create.
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From the Browser we see that we now have 1 Point Cloud and 1 Mesh with over
23,000 Triangles.
7. From the Rhino Standard toolbar, select Shaded Viewport.
8. Then from the Browser we'll turn off the point cloud (by unchecking it) and take a look
at the mesh that was created.
We notice that the point cloud data is incomplete, leaving the model incompatible for
3D printing.
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1.3
11
Repair the Mesh Automatically

We can repair the mesh automatically.
1. From Browser select the Repair tab and then select Auto Fix. This will fix holes, selfintersecting facets and more.
2. Select the mesh model and then press Enter. We see now that all of the gaps are
closed.
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The browser now reports that the mesh over 25,000 triangles.
1.4
Perform Uniform Re-meshing

Next we'll re-mesh the model creating a more uniform mesh.
1. From the Inspect & Modify tab, select Re-mesh.
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2. Now we select the mesh model and pick Enter to display the Re-mesh dialog.
3. Selecting the Uniform method will re-mesh the model based on a fixed Edge Length.
4. We'll then set the Edge Length to 0.125 and the # of Iterations to 4.
5. Then uncheck Keep sharp edges and then pick Remesh.
We now see that each facet in the mesh model is uniform.
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1.5
15
Perform Mesh Smoothing

Although uniform, we still see areas in the mesh that are rough. Let's smooth these out a bit.
1. From the Inspect & Modify tab, select Smooth.
2. We select the mesh model and pick Enter to display the Smooth dialog.
3. Next, we'll allow the Vertex of each facet to shift in Both Directions (inward and
outward). This means that any smoothing will both add and remove facets as
needed.
4. We'll set the # of Iterations to 4. This means that the second iteration will Smooth the
results of the first and so on.
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5. Now we'll pick the Smooth button and review the results. We see that the mesh looks
much smoother now.
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1.6
17
Analyze the Mesh

Next we'll analyze the mesh model using a couple of different methods.
1. From the Inspect & Modify tab, select Curvature. This will highlight areas of curvature
across the model.
2. Select the mesh model and pick Enter to display the Curvature dialog.
3. We'll leave the Curvature Type set to Mean and then pick Analyze to see the results.
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4. You can pick the Cancel icon

selected.
to close the command dialog leaving the mesh
5. Now, from the Inspect & Modify tab, select Reflection Lines. This method will indicate
any irregularities or tangent discontinuities.
6. Just press Enter because the mesh is already selected from the previous command.
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7. Again, you can pick the Cancel icon

selected.
1.7
19
to close the command dialog leaving the mesh
Slice the Mesh

Next, we'll visually Slice the mesh model to simulate levels of 3D printing that will occur.
1. From the Model tab, select Slice.
2. From the Slice dialog, we'll set the Distance between each slice to 0.1 and then pick
Slice.
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3. From the Browser, first select the Slice object and then uncheck the Mesh object.
The Slice will be clearly highlighted on the screen.
The Browser displays information about the Slice. Notice that the
icon is displayed
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indicating that NO open curves are present.
4. If you right-click on the Slice object from the Browser you can Export it to actual curve
geometry if needed.
5. For now, we'll hide the Slice from view by unchecking it and display the mesh again by
checking it.
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1.8
Setup for 3D Printing

Now, we'll setup the model for 3D printing.
1. From the 3D Print tab, pick Select.
2. From the list of 3D printers we select our target printer to be Maker Gear M-Series.
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3. From the Browser toolbar, select the icon to Toggle the visibility of the 3D printer's
volume.
We now see it on the screen but notice that the mesh is positioned outside of the 3D
printer's volume!
4. Pick the Cancel icon
to close the Select command dialog.
5. From the 3D Print tab, select Fit then select the mesh and press Enter to display the
dialog.
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6. For Z Alignment, we select Bottom and for XY Alignment we'll select Center and then
pick Fit.
The model is moved to the center of the 3D printer's volume. Let's check and verify
this.
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1.9
25
Check the Mesh for 3D Printing

Now let's check the mesh model to see if it's truly ready for printing.
1. From the 3D Print tab, select Check. Select the mesh and press Enter to display the
dialog.
2. Notice that
volume!!
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icons tell us that the mesh volume is NOT entirely within the printer's
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to close the dialog leaving the mesh selected.
4. From the Rhino Standard toolbar, select 4 Viewports and we see that the mesh
extends past the printer's volume on two sides.
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Let's rotate the model.

5. From the Rhino Status Bar, select Gumball
for the selected mesh.
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to display the Gumball widget
28
6. From the Top Viewport, select the Gumball's Rotate Z, enter 90 and press Enter. This
will rotate the mesh 90 degrees about the Z axis.
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7. Now select Gumball again

Viewport.
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to turn it off and then select the Perspective
8. Now, we'll select Check from the 3D Print tab once again. If the mesh is not selected,
select it now and then press Enter.
Notice that
volume!!
icons tell us that the mesh volume now fits entirely within the printer's
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to close the command dialog leaving the mesh selected.
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1.10
Export the Mesh for 3D Printing

Now, we're ready to create a file to send to the 3D printer.
1. Select the mesh model if not already selected.
2. From the 3D Print tab, pick Export.
3. From the Save As dialog, set the Save as Type to:

Stereo-Lithography Binary (*.stl) files and then pick Save.
This file can now be sent to your 3D printer server or service center for printing!
This completes Chapter 1 of the Quick Start Guide for Rhino3DPRINT by MecSoft
Corporation.
For further assistance you can visit the Online Help supplied with the program or visit
www.mecsoft.com for additional tutorials.
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In this chapter we will use the Offset and Split tools to create a part with a
uniform wall thickness. We will perform the following steps to complete this
chapter:
Watch the Video!
1. Launch Rhino3DPRINT & Open the part file

2. Diagnose the mesh for possible problems.
3. Use Stitch & Close to combine and fix the mesh.
4. Use Offset Mesh to create a uniform wall thickness.
5. Split, Cap and review the final mesh.
Our completed part will look like this:
2.1
Launch Rhino3DPRINT & Load the Part File

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and 3D Print.
2. For now, select the Create tab.
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Now, let's load the part model for this tutorial.

4. Find the part file named 3DMold.3dm located in the QuickStart folder and then pick
Open.
5. From the Browser we see that this model contains over 400 individual mesh objects
and over 130,000 facet triangles.
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6. From the Rhino Display Properties tab, uncheck Mesh Wires so we can see the
model more clearly.
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7. From the Browser toolbar, select the icon for Toggle Printer Volume Visibility to make
sure the display of the printer volume is turned off.
With Toggle Printer Volume Visibility turned off, the display looks like this:
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2.2
Diagnose the Mesh

The first thing we want to do is perform some diagnostics.
1. From the Browser, select the Repair tab and then the Diagnose tool.
2. Now window select the entire mesh model and press Enter.
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3. The Diagnose dialog will appear below the Browser.
4. Using the default selections, pick the Run Checks button.

5. We see that three sets of checks are performed. These include Edges, Triangles and
Vertices.
6. The results of each check are color coded for easy recognition on the mesh model.
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7. For example, Diagnose found over 30,000 open edges which are assigned the color
red by default.
8. For now, we'll pick the Cancel icon
2.3
to close the Diagnose dialog.
Stitch and Close the Mesh Automatically

We can fix this problem quickly.
1. From the Browser, select the Repair tab and then the Stitch and Close tool.
2. Now window select the entire mesh model again, press Enter. The mesh is repaired
automatically.
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3. Notice in the Browser that there is now only one mesh in the Data Tree with a total of
over 150,000 facet triangles.
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4. With the mesh still selected, from the Repair tab, we'll select the Diagnose tool again
and then pick Run Checks to see the new results.
5. We see that we now have zero open edges!!
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2.4
Create a Uniform Offset

Now that we have only one mesh, let's Offset to create a wall thickness.
1. From the Browser, select the Model tab and then select Offset.
2. Select the mesh and then press Enter to display the Offset dialog.
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3. We'll set the Offset Distance to 0.1

4. Then we'll set the Tolerance to 0.01 and then pick Offset.
5. Now we see that a second mesh was added to the Data Tree that is an offset of the
first.
6. We can see the difference clearly on the screen by unchecking and checking each
mesh individually.
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2.5
43
Split and Cap the Mesh

Now that we have a uniform wall thickness, let's Split the mesh.
1. We'll go back to the Model tab and select Split.
2. Window select both meshes or select them both from the browser Data Tree and
then press Enter to display the Split dialog.
3. The upper portion of the dialog contains a slider that allows you to control the Split
Plane Location.
4. You can move the Split Plane, shown graphically on the screen, by adjusting the slider
between the Min and Max of the mesh's Bounding Box.
5. Section curves, shown in Red and also displayed and dynamically update as you
adjust the slider.
6. We are provided with a Cap Results option. Selecting this will ensure that once split,
each section of the mesh will be a capped closed volume.
7. Now we pick Split.
8. Once completed, we'll uncheck all but the upper mesh from the Data Tree.
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9. Now in Rhino, right-click in the display area, hold and drag to rotate the upper mesh so
that the cavity and offset wall thickness can be clearly seen. Mesh offsets can be
used in a variety of applications.
Corporation.
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In this chapter we'll be working with an STL file to create a cavity block.
We will perform the following steps to complete this chapter:
Watch the Video!
1. Launch Rhino3DPRINT & Open the STL file

2. Diagnose the mesh for possible problems.
3. Use Stitch & Close to combine and fix the mesh.
4. Use Reduce to simplify the mesh.
5. Create a Box for the cavity block.
6. Subtract the mesh from the Box to create the cavity.
Our completed part will look like this
3.1
Launch Rhino3DPRINT & Load the Part File

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and 3D Print.
2. For now, select the Create tab.
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Now, let's load the STL model for this tutorial.

4. Find the part file named CarModel.stl located in the QuickStart folder and then pick
Open.
5. From the STL Import Options dialog we check the box for Split disjoint meshes, set
the units to Inches and then pick OK.
6. From the Browser we see that this model contains over 300 individual mesh objects
and over 130,000 facet triangles.
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7. From the Rhino Standard Toolbar, select Shaded Viewport to change to a shaded
display.
8. From the Rhino Display Properties tab, uncheck Mesh Wires so we can see the
model more clearly.
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9. From the Browser toolbar, select the icon for Toggle Printer Volume Visibility to make
sure the display of the printer volume is turned off.
With Toggle Printer Volume Visibility turned off, the display looks like this:
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3.2
Diagnose the Mesh

The first thing we want to do is perform some diagnostics.
1. From the Browser, select the Repair tab and then the Diagnose tool.
2. Now window select the entire mesh model and press Enter.
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3. The Diagnose dialog will appear below the Browser.
4. Using the default selections, pick the Run Checks button.

5. We see that three sets of checks are performed. These include Edges, Triangles and
Vertices.
6. The results of each check are color coded for easy recognition on the mesh model.
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7. For example, Diagnose found over 25,000 open edges which are assigned the color
red by default.
8. For now, we'll pick the Cancel icon
3.3
Stitch and Close the Mesh Automatically

We can fix this problem quickly.
1. From the Browser, select the Repair tab and then the Stitch and Close tool.
2. Now window select the entire mesh model again, press Enter. The mesh is repaired
automatically.
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3. Notice in the Browser that there is now only one mesh in the Data Tree with a total of
over 150,000 facet triangles.
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4. With the mesh still selected, from the Repair tab, we'll select the Diagnose tool again
and then pick Run Checks to see the new results.
5. We see that we now have zero open edges!!
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3.4
Simplify the Mesh

Now that we have only one mesh, let's simplify it some before moving on.
1. From the Browser, select the Inspect & Modify tab and then select Reduce.
2. Select the mesh and then press Enter to display the Reduce dialog.
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3. We'll adjust the slider to reduce the mesh by a percentage of the total facet triangle
count. In this case we'll set it to 25% and then pick Reduce.
4. With the mesh selected in the Browser Data Tree we now see that the total number of
facet triangles is reduced to 116,000.
3.5
Create a Box for the Cavity Block

Next we'll create our cavity block by.
1. First we'll go to the Rhino Standard toolbar and select 4 Viewports.
2. Then from the Create tab of the Browser, we select Box.
3. We want to pick two diagonal points to define the base of the box.
4. First, from the Rhino Status Bar, select Grid Snap and then activate the Right view to
work in.
5. For the first corner of the base, we select a grid point that is above and on the
centerline of the mesh.
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6. For the second corner of the base, we select a grid point that is below and to the right
of the mesh, making sure the half of the mesh is completely enclosed by the base of
the box.
7. Now and third point is needed to define the height of the box.
For this we switch to the Top view and select a grid point that is behind and to the
right of the mesh, again making sure that half of the mesh is completely enclosed by
the height of the box.
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8. Now we activate the Perspective view to see the box clearly.
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3.6
59
Subtract Mesh from Cavity Block

To create our cavity block, we will subtract the mesh from the box we just created.
1. In the Browser, we'll switch to the Model tab and then pick Subtract.
2. The command prompt says "Select mesh set to subtract from:" For this we select the
box ad then press Enter.
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3. Now the prompt says "Select mesh set to subtract:" For this we select the mesh and
then press Enter to see the results.
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Corporation.
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Box
56
Diagnose
36, 50
Export to STL
30
from Point Cloud
7
Offset
41
Re-mesh
12
Setup for 3D Printing
22
Simplify
55
Slice
19
Smooth
15
Split
43
Stitch and Close
38, 52
Subtract
59
Index
-33D Printing
Check for
25
Export Mesh for
Setup for
22
30
-AAnalyze Mesh
17
-O-
-BBox
Offset Mesh
56
-P-
-CChapter 1: Working with Point Clouds

4
Chapter 2: Offset and Split a Mesh
31
45
Check Mesh
25
Curvature Analysis
17
-D-
Point Cloud
Create Mesh from
Load File
5
Repair Mesh from
Working with
4
36, 50
11
17
-S-
-E-
Simplify Mesh
55
Slice Mesh
Create Curves from
Split Mesh
43
Stitch and Close Mesh
Subtract Mesh
59
30
-LLaunch Rhino3DPRINT
-RReflection Line Analysis
Diagnose Mesh
Export Mesh
41
19
38, 52
5, 31, 45
-MMesh
Analyze Curvature
17
Analyze Reflection Lines
Auto Fix
11
17
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