penguinism

In case anybody else runs into this and searches the forums, I was able to find some software that helped. The pay version of netfabb is able to automatically repair the model into something usable. That version is quite expensive, but you can use the automatic model repair tool in the cloud here for free: https://netfabb.azurewebsites.net/ After uploading my STL there and downloading the fixed version, it still looked like the house but other software was willing to work with it. Blender was willing to do boolean operations and such. In my case I needed to slice my model so that I can print it in pieces. The model was still quite usable for Makerware to slice. It looked fine when imported, but resulted in weird shapes in what would be built. The free version of netfabb basic was able to fix this and make it 100% printable. Note that for commercial use the netfabb software and online service is not free.

Wow David, that's neat that they could build a real house straight from the model. I don't need to make a model for the purpose of actually building a house, I'm years away from any actual building projects. I want to 3d print a model so my wife and I can visualize the space better, play with furniture organization, etc. The main reason my wife let me upgrade from 2012 Architectural was the STL export. But I have no idea what the purpose of STL export is if it doesn't produce valid models that can be printed. I'll take it up with tech support, but I imagine they won't do anything about it because creating solid well behaved models is a lot more difficult. So the question remains open if anybody else knows of any software that could fix up the STL after export, though I expect I might have more luck asking on a 3d printing forum.

I'm using the new Home Designer Pro 2015 and love the fact that you can export STLs now. I can play with things in 3d modeling programs and 3d print a miniature version of my house. Unfortunately the models output by Home Designer seem to be badly damaged. They are full of non-manifold (self-intersecting) shapes, faces without width, etc. None of the programs I have tried can effectively deal with these models. They either can't handle the errors, can't handle the complexity (300k faces), or can't fix the problems and effectively use/print the model. Does anybody have recommendations for software that can fix these models so that they are well behaved (closed solid non-self-intersecting objects)? Or is there a way to make Home Designer output better models?