meshmixer.com

Is meshmixer available for Linux?

Not yet.

Is meshmixer Open Source?

No, it is simply free.

1) meshmixer crashes when I start it up, or open a model. Help!

Are you using the latest OpenGL drivers for your computer? This is by far the most common problem. Even if you have a new computer, it probably did not come with new drivers installed. Instead it would have come with "safe" drivers (on windows, WHQL-certified drivers). These are old drivers that are buggy, but have been tested by Microsoft, so the graphics card manufacturer can pass the buck.

So, please try updating your graphics card first. See the following entries...

There are several ways to update your graphics driver in Windows. The easiest is to run Windows Update, this will install the most recent "safe" driver for your computer. Your computer may also have come with a custom software update utility installed by the manufacturer (Lenovo, Dell, HP, etc). You can try to run that utility to get the latest graphics drivers.

However, for the real latest drivers, you usually will need to go to the website of the graphics card manufacturer. Most likely you have one of these three:

• NVidia
• ATI
• Intel

The links above will take you to the driver update pages for each of these manufacturers.

3) How do I figure out what kind of graphics card I have in my Microsft Windows PC?

To figure out which manufacturer and graphics card you have, you can try the following:

[Win7] open the start menu and type "change advanced graphics" into the search text box. Select the result "Change advanced color management settings for displays". This will open the Color Management dialog. Beside the monitor icon will be a line that says something like "Display 1: [monitor type] - [ graphics card type ]". This is the information you need to identify your graphics card manufacturer and type.

[WinXP]

Right-click on the desktop and select Properties to open the Display Properties dialog. Switch to the Settings tab. Under the image of your monitor you will see a line that says "Display: [monitor type] on [ graphics card type ]". This is the information you need to identify your graphics card manufacturer and type.

For more help, see this webpage: http://tribaltrouble.com/driversupport.php

4) How do I update my graphics driver? I have Mac OS X.

Unlike in Windows, the various graphics card vendors cannot distribute drivers for OS X. Apple controls the graphics drivers, and they only release updated drivers for the current version of Mac OS X. So, to get the latest drivers you need to upgrade to the latest version of OS X (currently 10.6 Snow Leopard).

In some cases you can get driver updates by running the Software Update utility. See this wepage: http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1338

5) How do I figure out what kind of graphics card I have in my Mac?

6) OK, I updated my graphics driver, or can't update it, and I'm still having problems. I can start up meshmixer, but the rendering is broken and/or crashes when I load a model.

Try switching to basic OpenGL rendering. Go to the View menu, Config submenu, and select Basic Rendering.

If this doesn't work, try the next option.

Even if this works for you, I would appreciate it if you would generate a log file as described below, and send it to meshmixer@gmail.com

7) I can't start up meshmixer, it crashes right away. Or, I switched to Basic Rendering but it still crashes.

Generate a log file as described below, and send it to meshmixer@gmail.com

8) How can I generate the log file you are asking for? I am using Windows.

The first thing you need to do is find the meshmixer installation directory. This will be C:\Program Files\meshmixer07\ unless you are using 32-bit meshmixer on Win7 x64, in which case it will be C:\Program Files (x86)\meshmixer07\

In that directory, double-click on meshmixer_debug.bat. It will load a little slower, and then do whatever you need to do to repeat the crash.

Now the log file should be generated in your meshmixer folder. The log file will be in the following location:

[Win7/Vista(?)] \Documents\meshmixer\MESHMIXER_LOG.txt
[WinXP] \My Documents\meshmixer\MESHMIXER_LOG.txt

Either attach that file to an email, or cut-and-paste the contents into an email, and send to meshmixer@gmail.com

9) How can I generate the log file you are asking for? I am using Mac OS X.

You will need to open a Terminal window. Then run the following commands:

cd /Applications
open meshmixer.app --args DEBUG=1

Do whatever you need to do to repeat the crash. The log file MESHMIXER_LOG.txt will now be generated in the folder

/Users/[username]/Library/Application Support/meshmixer

Either attach that file to an email, or cut-and-paste the contents into an email, and send to meshmixer@gmail.com

10) meshmixer crashes on my non-English language Windows XP computer (Russian, Greek, etc)

In some languages, Win XP renames the My Documents folder to a string in the local language. Unfortunately meshmixer stores various model and Part files in My Documents\meshmixer. For reasons I have yet to figure out, the non-English name causes meshmixer to fail.

One workaround is to redirect the non-english My Documents folder. This microsft website has instructions for doing so. Simply re-direct it to a path containing only English characters, and meshmixer will work.

I am trying to add an optional custom directory so that this workaround is not necessary, but it has not yet been implemented.

What mesh formats does meshmixer support?

meshmixer supports import/export of arbitrary OBJ polymeshes, with per-vertex normals and arbitrary UVs. OBJ is a relatively ubiquitious interchange format for meshes, and should be used if possible.

meshmixer can also import/export PLY meshes, with vertex colors.

Meshmixer can also export STL and COLLADA/DAE triangle meshes (these are mainly useful for 3D printing - why not give Shapeways a try?)