Autodesk Labs - Mesh Enabler for Inventor 2013

The Inventor Mesh Enabler is a free Technology Preview that enables Inventor users to work with imported Mesh data. As shipped Inventor 2012 can import mesh data from Catia files. In addition to Catia files, Inventor 2013 can import mesh data from STL files and from JT files. The Mesh Enabler for 2013/2012 adds the ability to post process the imported mesh data to convert the mesh features to Inventor Base features. The resulting Base features can then be used for further operations including drawings and measurements.

After installing the technology preview, users can right click on one or more imported mesh features of interest, and convert them into Base features (solids, surfaces, or composites) through a new context menu command. The graphical mesh data is converted into B-Rep Model data that can be used similar to imported solids and surfaces. As part of the conversion process, the technology preview also does some simplification of the faceted data by merging multiple mesh triangles into a single face when possible.

The Inventor 2012 compatible preview is available until January 31, 2013 at which time the license expires and the function will be disabled. Similarly the Inventor 2013 compatible preview is available until January 31, 2014 at which time the license expires and the function will be disabled. It is not known if this technology will be incorporated into a commercial product.

Download Mesh Enabler for Inventor 2012 or Inventor 2013

Here is a very detailed tutorial that Paul Munford(The CadSetterOut) did on his blog about the functionality of Mesh Enabler: An introduction to the Inventor Mesh Enabler from Autodesk Labs