3D printing software that can split one VWRL file into multiple parts

Post date: 2018-09-18 08:39:26

I'm working on a project where we take an automatically generated object, load it into Materialise's Magics then use the Split Part by Color sic] function to make it into multiple parts. I'm trying to write up our procedure for other people to use, but Magics costs something like $40K. Are there cheaper/free alternatives that can do the same thing?

I'm working in a chemistry group that has put out a number of 3D printing papers on how to take actual atomic position data and print it. I've made a technique that works quite well for printing an object in multiple parts then connecting them post-printing. This lets you bypass print tray restrictions, reduces how much framework you need, all sorts of good stuff.

We are about to publish, but one of the issues is one step of the processes is taking the data we have generated using one tool (A coloured VRML file), opening it with Magics and using Split Part by Color sic] to make it into multiple parts, each of which we can save separately. The issue with this is Magics costs something like $40K, which means not very many people are going to be able to use the technique.

Are there other alternatives with similar features? That is, opening a VRML file with colour information, then letting you make each colour into a separate part.

Most of the 3D printing software seems to be based around just working with colourless STL files, and even the ones that let you open VRML files seem to lose the colour data, or can't edit it beyond changing its orientation on a print tray. Does anyone know of software for this?

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