Loading and saving, as well as importing and exporting files
Load and save files from and to the file system to get work data into and out of Netfabb. Open file and Save file dialogs remember their last paths depending what kind of file was opened or saved last, such as part files, projects, slice files, and others.
Jump to:
- The FABBPROJECT
- What is NOT stored in the FABBPROJECT?
- Loading files into a project
- Auxiliary files
- Deriving files from a project
The FABBPROJECT
Netfabb operates primarily on projects, and projects in turn contain parts, slices, lattice bodies and components, loaded modules to create supports, to repair, or to manipulate meshes, for example, as well as machine workspaces known to the Netfabb installation the project is opened on. Projects also store information about visibility, display color, and grouping of slices and parts.
When Netfabb launches, it creates an empty, untitled project. As soon as a part or slice file is added, the name is changed to match the name of the loaded file.
To save and load an entire project, Netfabb has its own file type named FABBPROJECT.
TopWhat is NOT stored in the FABBPROJECT?
- Support and repair scripts
- Support sets
- My Machines definitions
- Build configurations and strategies
- View visibility and arrangement
- Command configurations
If you want any of these included when sharing the FABBPROJECT files with someone who does not have access to the same machine or configuration database, you must export them and share the exported files with the FABBPROJECT file together.
TopLoading files into a project
Netfabb accepts parts and slices contained in files in several ways:
- The various commands in the
File menu
- The
Add command in the project tree, as well as commands in context menus in the display for both parts and slices
- Drag & drop from the OS' file explorer into the display view of the Netfabb window
- Using the OS' Open with method
- Through Lua automation
Auxiliary files
Additional files that can be loaded and saved usually have their dedicated dialogs. Some of them are not just loaded, but imported, and their content remains available to the local Netfabb installation even for future projects. Examples for additional files:
- Repair and support scripts, support sets
- Lua automation scripts
- Thermo-mechanical simulation results, such as those created by Autodesk® Optimization Utility for Netfabb® for example
- Buildstyles for toolpath generation
- Images for texturing, extrusion, or as thumbnails for custom machine workspaces
Deriving files from a project
As a FABBPROJECT file is only used in Netfabb itself, making your work available for further steps in your additive manufacturing workflow requires writing files in the appropriate formats. There are several avenues in Netfabb to create these formats:
- Save individual parts to mesh and parametric (CAD) formats (3MF, IGS, …)
- Save slice stacks to parametric formats (CLI, …) or images
- Create dedicated print files for supported AM machines from machine workspaces
- Create intermediary files for use with simulation (including FEA) and optimization