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CADKEY

Exporting STL Files to Photopia

If your model is built from solids (bodies), then you can save the parts to STL files. Each part of your assembly needs to be exported to its own STL file. This is because Photopia will put each STL file onto is own layer and materials are assigned to each layer in Photopia. Select the option to save to an STL file from the File menu. We recommend the following export options:

  • Turn off the option to “Transfer vertices into positive space.”
  • Use a normal angle tolerance of 5° at most.

    • Exporting DXF Files to Photopia

    CADKEY can create DXF files and the entities that Photopia requires in DXF files are 3DFACEs or meshes. 3DFACEs are created from CADKEY POLYGONs. You can use whatever means you prefer to create a POLYGON or mesh-based surface model in CADKEY. If you are using SOLIDs to create your reflector surfaces, then you can convert the SOLIDs into POLYGONs by choosing the following from the CADKEY menu: Solids > Application > Convert to Polygons. If there is an equivalent method for creating meshes, then that is preferred by Photopia. Be sure to keep different luminaire parts on different levels in CADKEY so they translate to different "layers" in the DXF file. When importing the DXF file into Photopia you can specify the layer type "Reflective," "Transmissive," etc. for each of your CADKEY levels. You need to separate different parts onto different levels because Photopia assigns luminaire materials on a per "layer" basis.