Introduction

This page provides an overview of the data input requirements to adhere to our software's optimal result.

This is relevant for all companies that will source their data for creating personalized or made-to-measure products through our Twikit-software.

Contents

Delivering data

Intro

Efficiently sharing files (like CAD data) can be complex. They can become too heavy for email and sharing them through services like WeTransfer, Drive or Dropbox aren’t always the safest options.

If you already have a dedicated filesharing platform in place, we can use that system. If you do not have such a system in place, we do have one in place ourselves that we can use.

How to

At Twikit we use our TwikBox system, which is a secured file-sharing platform. If you haven’t received access yet, ask your contact person at Twikit to set it up if needed.

TwikBox is very similar to a Shared Dropbox or Drive but hosted on our SharePoint environment. You will have access to a shared folder where a whole tree of folders with content can exist and is synced between you and your contact. Multiple people from your organization and Twikit can have access to this folder with edit and/or view rights.

The (folder) structure of each TwikBox can be defined between the parties. Remember that structure makes life easier. We don’t get automatic notifications if something has changed, so always notify your contact if you added a file and want us to take a look at it.

3D data

Intro

3D data is used a lot at Twikit. The visualization in the configurator works based on meshes and if the product is 3D printed or a 3D file is needed as an output, also the production files will be based upon meshes.

Definition of a mesh:

A mesh in 3D computer graphics is a collection of vertices, edges, and surfaces that define an object. For more info about meshes specifically, visit the Wikipedia page.

TwikBot, the Twikits core engine, works best if these meshes comply with certain requirements. Also, when certain 3D files are visualized in the browser, they first need to get downloaded from the cloud to the device the configurator is used on. The larger the file size, the longer it will take to download, which can lead to the configurator feeling slower.

Requirements

Category

Requirements

Filetype

Recommended: .3dm (+ .gh), .3ds, .blend, .fbx, .step

Minimum: .obj, .stl

Scale

Correct scale needed for production

Mesh (.obj or . stl) specific requirements

Visualization purpose

Production purpose

Characteristics
(if a mesh-based file is given)

  • 0 non-manifolds

  • 0 intersecting faces

  • 0 bad contiguous edges

  • 0 Zero faces (all faces must have an area larger than 0.01mm2

  • 0 non-manifolds

  • 0 intersecting faces

  • 0 bad contiguous edges

  • 0 Zero faces (all faces must have an area larger than 0.01mm2

Mesh (as an obj) file size

Max 5Mb

Max 30Mb

Topology

Topology and polygon count optimized for visualization

Topology and polygon count optimized for production

Digital materials

  • Include Digital Material Resources as described in Digital material resources

  • Include UV mapping in the mesh

  • Include material assignment

Not applicable

Examples

Rhino (.3dm) & Grasshopper (.gh) specific requirements

Rhino data

Include the Rhino file or internalize all needed data in the grasshopper file

Plugins

Add a list of used plugins

Readability

  • A clear buildup of the GH script

  • Added notes where needed for understanding the script

Blender (.blend) specific requirements

External data

Pack all external data into the .blend file.

2D data

Intro

2D data can be used for multiple purposes. It could be you want to add predefined logos or patterns of some sort to your product. They are either used as digital material resources or as production templates.

Requirements

Category

Requirement

Icons & Logo’s requirements

Filetype

Recomended: Vector file format (.ai, .svg, .eps, …)

Minimum: Any common image format (.jpeg, .png, .tif, .psd, …)

Image quality

Ensure that the image quality is according to the expected application and production requirements

Scale

The correct scale needed for production

Digital material resources requirements

Filetype

Recommended:

  1. All available texture maps for realistic material representation (albedo, diffuse, specular, roughness, bump, normal…) in any common image format (.jpg, .png, .tiff, .psd...).

  2. In case geometry displacement is required, a heightmap in greyscale needs to be provided.

  3. Physical samples & reference images in any common image format (.jpg, .png, .tiff, .psd...).

  4. Colour codes in RGB, HSL of HEX.

Minimum: Reference images in any common image format (.jpg, .png, .tiff, .psd...).

Image quality

Recommended: Square resolution with a pixel amount in width & height of a power of 2 (eg. 1024, 2048, 4096…)

Minimum: Any resolution that is high enough to realistically visualize materials.

Examples

Environments requirements

Filetype

Recommended: High Dynamic Range Images with 16 or 32-bit information in .exr, .hdr…

Minimum: Environment maps with 8-bit information in any common image format (.jpg, .png, .tiff, .psd...).

Image quality

Recommended: 4096 x 2048 pixels in equirectangular format.

Minimum: 2048 x 1024 pixels in equirectangular format.

Examples

Background templates requirements

Filetype

Recommended: Layered Photoshop file (.psd).

Minimum: Any common image format (.jpg, .png, .tiff, .psd...)

Image quality

Recommended: Width of 2048 pixels or more.

Minimum: Width of 1440 pixels