Reverse Engineering

I just looked them up on the web and it the example they give

is the best the software can do then don't bother learning it.

The part this software created, top right, IS NOT a copy of the original part top left.

Look at the surface of the top face of the arch in the original part, it is a smooth curve, look at the softwares take on a smooth arch, straight segments.

If the part created by the software was manufactured it would either not be as strong as the original, curves are the strongest structures, or it would be heavier if the geometry was thickened to allow a minimum cross sectional area.

just saw the price

I paid around one third of that for a licenced copy (forever) of

ptc Creo 2.

Check out "carrier 2" on how to reverse engineer a 3D scan in a 3D CAD package, the example here is from ptc Creo 2.

https://www.iomcad.com/copy-of-portfolio.

or check this out for how not to reverse engineer a ships hull.

It does however demonstrate how I copied the brake carrier.

https://grabcad.com/library/city-of-adelaidem1864-1

I never did get the curves smooth, this is the nature of Creo, the tool for the task was Catia, as in the CAD used for car bodies.

I found, many years after copying the ship hull that there is a better way to copy a ship. It is called laying the lines. It was widely used by old school, Artisan, Naval Architects of the industrial revolution to copy the shape of boats that were better than theirs, or for the Navy to record the form of ship hulls to ensure that they were never allowed to outrun a Royal Navy ship.