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I want to edit some STL projects with Inventor. According Autodesk documentation, since Inventor is not able to edit mesh models, the most practical way without installing other software in my situation, seems opening the STL with a program able to export to DWG, then importing the DWG in Inventor.

I have tried to open the STL model with 3DS Max but using the export to DWG function the resulting DWG seems a skeleton of the model rather than the DWG version of the original model.

Example

Original STL model enter image description here

Exported DWG model enter image description here

How could I avoid this problem?

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  • $\begingroup$ What sorts of edits are you hoping to do? With a mesh model, you're best sticking with a mesh editor (Autodesk Meshmixer is free). If you want to use Inventor to do some modelling e.g. to attach things to the STL, or subtract bits away, then use the DWG wireframe as a reference, export your solids from Inventor as STL, and then use Meshmixer to combine them. $\endgroup$ – Jonathan R Swift Feb 15 '20 at 18:51
  • $\begingroup$ @JonathanRSwift Meshmixer isn't good for accurate technical editing. I have to add some mechanical components to a model editing the size of others sections (the one above is just in order to show the problem). $\endgroup$ – AndreaF Feb 15 '20 at 19:26
  • $\begingroup$ Mesh file formats aren't good for accurate technical editing! They can be converted to solid formats e.g. STEP, of course, but things will have a face for every triangle - there's no way to convert cleanly back to a Brep. Have a look at this tutorial using FreeCAD grabcad.com/tutorials/how-to-convert-stl-to-step-using-freecad this may be a better option for you than converting to DWG if you are determined to do your editing inside Inventor. Bear in mind, importing a solid with thousands of faces can slow Inventor down, so be careful if your model is more complex than your photo here. $\endgroup$ – Jonathan R Swift Feb 15 '20 at 23:14

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