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3D CAD 6
This chapter will introduce you to the modeling in EASY-
ROB™. Modeling in EASY-ROB™ is supported with several 3D
CAD files (IGRIP®, STL, Rhino 3dm) and basic 3D primitives.
You can load the predefined 3D CAD bodies or you can model
directly in EASY-ROB™. EASY-ROB™ allows you to
manipulate with 3D CAD primitives (selecting, modifying,
coloring moving etc.). During the simulation, you can also work
with models. CAD Preview command allows you to switch 3D
CAD and Simulation preview. While modeling the Environment,
EASY-ROB™ allows you to enable check collision between the
Robot and the environment objects. Robot detects the object
and informs you about the collision. During the collision the
object appears with predefined color. Each object has the
following attributes:
• Reference position and orientation.
• Geometrical attribute (it depends of the primitive)
• Name of the body.
• Colour.
Before changing the properties of the object, it needs to be
selected. In 3D CAD there are three groups:
• Robot group – objects of the Robot.
• Tool group – objects of the Robot Tool.
• Environment (“Body”) group – objects of the
Environment group.
When you choose the desired group, then you can select the
specified object. Menu for modelling in EASY-ROB™ is 3D-
CAD. The picture below shows the 3D-CAD menu.
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The first two options of
the 3D-CAD menu
allow you to select
group and body from
the selected group.
When you chose the
Select Group option
Dialog Box appears.
The picture below shows the Dialog Box for selecting the group.
Choose the group from
which you want to
select 3D object and
press the Ok button.
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You can select the body via Selection Dialog Box. It shows all
bodies (objects) from the selected group. The Picture below
shows the Dialog Box for selection the Bodies (Objects).
Selection of the objects is
achieved by its names.
Dialog Box always shows
the current selected
object, which you can see
in the Status Bar.
Click on the Name of the object and press the Ok button. When
you select group and body from the group, you are able to
modify properties of a body. If you are working with bodies
(Objects) form the same group, you can select the next or
previous body by using the Next Body in Group or Previous
Body in Group options from the 3D-CAD menu, or by using the
Arrow keys as well as the appropriate Toolbar Buttons.
Build-In 3d primitives
EASY-ROB™ support the standard 3D primitives for 3D CAD.
3D primitives available in EASY-ROB™ are:
• CUBE
• PYRAMID
• WEDGE
• CYLINDER
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• CONE
• SPHERE
The picture below shows the 3D primitives in EASY-ROB™.
You can also change the render method for the 3D primitives.
You are able to specify the following render options: FLAT, Wire
Frame, Bounded Boxes, Bounded Boxes FLAT and WIRE,
Points model, and Invisible. Mentioned types of Model can be
found in Attributes submenu.
In the next subtopics creation of the 3D primitives is explained.
Creating a CUBE
Create the 3D primitives by choosing the Create/Import 3D
CAD Body option from the 3D CAD menu. Dialog Box appears.
Choose the CUBE and Press Ok button.
Choose Yes to specify
the new position of the
body. Otherwise click on
the No Button.
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If you choose Yes, Dialog for specifying the reference position
appears.
Specify the new
reference position
and/or orientation and
click the Ok Button.
After specifying the reference positions Dialog Box for defining
position appears.
The values of the position
are calculated with
respect to the previous
defined coordinate system
(Reference position).
After specifying the positions, Dialog Box for defining the
geometric attributes appears.
Note: The Dialog Box also appears if you choose the No button
of the Message Box.
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Geometric attributes
for the Cube are:
-X- the length in the X
direction,
-Y- the length n the Y
direction and
Height- is the length
in the Z direction.
The next sep in creation of the Cube is setting the name of the
body.
Double click on
the Item for
getting the
Focus. Enter the
Name and press
the Ok button.
The name of the body is very important, because with it you can
select the body, and change the attributes.
Creating a PYRAMID
In a similar way you can create the Pyramid body. Choose the
Create/Import 3D CAD Body from the 3D CAD menu. Dialog
Box appears. Choose the Pyramid and click Ok button, or
double click on the Pyramid Item. Procedure for defining the
reference position and position is the same as for the CUBE.
Dialog box appears for defining the geometric attributes.
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Geometric attributes for
the Pyramid are:
-X- the length in the X
direction,
-Y- the length n the Y
direction and
Height- is the length in
the Z direction.
- dx and dy will shift the
top of the pyramide in x
and y direction.
The last step for creating the 3D CAD body is specifying the
Name of the Body.
Double click on the
Item for getting the
Focus, enter the
name, and click Ok
button.
Creating a WEDGE
By choosing the Wedge Item and making the same procedure,
Dialog Box for specifying the geometric attributes appears.
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e the length in the X and
Y direction respectively.
Height determines the
length in Z direction. X
top and Y top
determine the length in
the X and Y direction on
the top of the Wedge.
dx and dy determine
the slope of the Wedge.
Creating a CYLINDER
By choosing the Cylinder Item and making the same procedure,
Dialog Box for specifying the geometric attributes appears.
Dialog Box contains 9
geometric attributes.
Radius-radius of base
plane of the cylinder.
Height- distance
between the bottom and
top.
y Scale- scale in the y direction (Bottom plane).
y Scale Top- scale in the y direction (Top plane).
Height1- Height of the left side cylinder (negative direction of
the x axis).
Height2- Height of the right side cylinder (positive direction of
the x axis).
Radius Top and Radius –radius of the top and base plane
respectively.
dx, dy –angle between the cylinder axis and the xy plane in the
x and /or y direction.
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Angle – angle of the revolved body.
Creating a CONE
By choosing the Cone Item and making the same procedure,
Dialog Box for specifying the geometric attributes appears.
Dialog Box contains the 6
geometric attributes.
Radius-radius of base plane
of the cylinder.
Height- distance between
the bottom and top.
dx, dy –angle between the
cone axis and the xy plane in
the x and /or y direction.
y Scale- scale in the y
direction (Bottom plane).
Angle – angle of the revolve
body.
Creating a SPHERE
By choosing the Sphere Item and making the same procedure,
Dialog Box for specifying the geometric attributes appears.
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Dialog Box contains the 6
geometric attributes.
Radius-radius of the
Sphere.
y Scale- scale in the y
direction.
beta1 and beta 2 – angle
between the negative and
positive direction of the z
axis and xy plane.
Angle – angle of the
revolved body.
3D CAD import and export file format
Instead of creating the new 3D primitives you can load
predefined parts from the EASY-ROB Library as IGRIP or
STL file formats. You can also create parts from the current
loaded robot axis and the whole robot can be saved as IGRIP
Part file and/or Vrml version 1.0, as well as files with only ones
part. This export can be achieved by choosing the
• File-> Save-> World to IGRIP Part v11,
• File-> Save-> World to Vrml v 1.0.
While importing it is very important to define scaling. If you
choose wrong value for scaling your loaded part will be with
non-proportional dimensions.
Important Note:
• When importing ascii or binary STL files, the
XYZ-Scaling must be 0.001 (conversation from
meter to mm), and for IGRIP Part file can be 1.0 by
default.
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For import the IGRIP Part file follow the following steps:
• From the 3D CAD menu choose Create/Import new 3D
CAD body
• From the Dialog Box choose the IGRIP PART FILE
item.
• Choose the [Link] from the ./EASY-
ROB/Lib/Igp_Lib/ path name.
• Message Box appears
Click The Yes Button if
you want to change
base position of the
BMW body. Otherwise
choose the No button.
If you choused Yes, Dialog box for specifying reference
position(similar for the 3D Build In primitives) appears.
Specify the new
reference position and
click the Ok button.
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Dialog Box for specifying the position of the imported body
appears.
Specify the new position
and click the Ok button.
After specifying the position you can specify the scaling value
for x, y and z-axis or for xyz-axis.
Enter scaling value:
Note:
If you enter a value for the
’4 - xyz-Scal’, the values
for ’1 - x Scal’, ’2 - y Scal’
and for the ’3 - z Scal’ are
neglected.
Finally you can specify the name of imported part, similar as
previous for 3D Build In primitives. EASY-ROB will suggest the
file name per default.
Name of body: "BMW" red colored geometry
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The same situation is for STL file format. You can import STL
file format as Binary or ASCII file format. Binary file format is
preferred, cause it is smaller than ASCII and provides speed up
import.
While importing the CAD data available in the IGES such a
VDA-FS or CATIA format, it must be converted into STL using
3D CAD System, for example Rhinoceros, see below.
Export the Render Scene to other formats
EASY-ROB provides to save whole Robot bodies as a IGRIP or
VRML as well as tool or bodies from the Work cell file. Such
files have postfix _r,_t or _b.
For the exporting the Work Cell into IGRIP Part files follow the
following steps:
Load Kuka_Robot.cel Work Cell file from the Lib\Workcells
directory.
• From the File menu choose
• Save->World to Igrip Part V11
Specify a suitable prefix name, for example ’ROBOT’, select an
’IGPDIR’ directory and choose the Ok button. With explorer
open the directory in which files are stored, and you will see the
13 stored files. The first file is ’[Link]’. This file contains the
complete workcell stored in one file. Files with a postfix contain
data for parts which postfix indicates.
• _b Body/Environment file
• _r Robot without tool
• _r(number) Part for specified robot joint.
• _t Robot tool
If your explorer is already open, drag one of the exported file
and drop it into the EASY-ROB ™ window, this will visualize
the geometry in the PreView Window. Use the icon to
toggle between the PreView and the Simulation View. Drag and
Drop works as well as for the other EASY-ROB™ files.
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Import CAD data from other CAD Systems
In most cases, a 3D CAD system, such as Rhinoceros ,
SolidWorks, ProEngineer or CATIA is available. To overtake the
3D CAD Geometries into EASY-ROB™ it is recommend to
export the CAD in binary or ascii STL format.
Example with Rhinoceros, we create a simple NURBS
geometry, a cylinder with a whole in it.
Now we export our "Whole-Cylinder" as STL file.
• File-> Export Selected...
Select file type:
Steroelithography (*.stl)
Choose Binary file type
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STL format cannot store NURBS, thus our whole cylinder has to
be converted into a polygon mesh, into triangulated polygons.
Choose the number of polygons and press Preview to see the
result.
Now we import the [Link] file into
EASY-ROB™ from the 3D CAD Menu
• 3D CAD-> Create/Import new 3D CAD Body
• select "8 - STL ASCII or Binary FILE"
• select file "[Link]"
Important:
Enter for xyz-Scal
xyz Scal = 0.001
to convert the STL file from
mm into meter
The whole-cylinder
appears in cyan color. We
give it a yellow colors
instead.
Important:
If you cannot see the
geometry, make sure that
the attribute is not "invisible"
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Attributes
Attributes option of the 3D CAD menu contains the following
sub options:
• Info
• Render
• Invert polygons
• Check Body Collision
Info sub option gives you information about selected 3D CAD
body:
• Name of the selected body
• Reference position and position
• Body Type
• File name
• Etc
The picture below shows the Info Dialog.
Choosing the
Info you can get
all the
information
about selected
3D CAD body.
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Render sub option allows you to render selected body in the
different models. By choosing this option Dialog Box appears.
The 6 available Render
model can be selected.
FLAT, WIRE, BOUNDED
BOXES FLAT, BOUNDED
BOXES WIRE, POINT
VERTICES and Invisible.
Invert polygons option sets the body in the invert mode.
Check Body Collision enables the Collision Command for the
selected body.
Example
This topic will show Example how to model in EASY-ROB™.
Follow the next steps:
• Open the EASY-ROB™ application.
• From the 3D CAD menu choose
Create/Import new 3D Body
• Select the WEDGE Item
• Choose Yes button in he Message Box
• Enter the following values in the Dialog Box
X = 0.5
Y = -1
• Click the Ok
• Enter the following values in the WEDGE Dialog Box
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X=1
Y=2
Height = 0.2
X Top = 1
Y Top = 2
• Choose the Ok Button.
• Enter “Body0.1” in the Name Dialog Box.
• Create the CYLINDER
• Choose Yes in the Message Box
• Enter the following values for Reference position
X = 0.5
Y=1
Z = 0.2
• Press the Ok button.
• Enter the following values for the position
X = 0.5
Y=1
Z=0
• Press the Ok button.
• Enter the following values for the Cylinder
Radius = Radius Top = 0.3
Height 1 = Height 2 = 2
• Pres the Ok button
• Set the name on “Base0.2”
• From the 3D CAD menu choose Color.
• Select the LIGHTBLUE Item
• Select the Base0.1 body by choosing the
Select Body from Group option
• From the 3D CAD menu choose Color
• Select the LIGHTRED Item
• From the File menu choose Save->Bodyfile
• Press the Ok button in the File Dialog box.
• From the 3D CAD menu choose position->
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• Select the LIGHTRED Item
With the last action you have saved the bodies in the
my_bodies.bod file.
The picture below shows the model.
This model is saved in the
body file, and if you load the
cell file and enable the
collision robot can detects
the bodies.
• From the 3D CAD menu choose Create/Import new 3D
Body
• Select the CONE Item
• Choose Yes button in he Message Box
• Enter the following values in the Dialog Box
X=0
Y=0
Z = 2.3
• Click the Ok
• Enter the following values in the CONE Dialog Box
Radius = 0.3
Height = 0.5
• Press the Ok button
• Choose the Position’s->Position
• Enter the following Values
X=1
Z = - 0.1
• Press the Ok button
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• Choose the Position’s->move all bodies
• Enter the following values
X=0
Y=0
Z=2.7
Rot X=180
• Press the Ok button
• From the 3D CAD menu choose Color
• Select the LIGHTRED Item
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The picture below shows the previous model.
This model shows
you how to
manipulate with the
commands from
the 3D CAD menu.
With 3D CAD you can easily simulate any kind of environment
bodies as well as modelling the robot links and tools. By loading
the desired Robot, making the program and creating the
environment bodies, you will make a powerful simulation.
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