I have a toy prototype that I have done that is completely sculpted in zbrush. The factory in China cannot use the .stl files that I have provided and need files that are compatible with Pro/Engineer. Does anyone know how to convert a model from zbrush into something that can be used in Pro/Engineer? And is there a better workflow, or program to start in, when the final result is to be used in Pro/Engineer? Thanks!
Maybe a DXF file?
exporting your model as an obj, opening it up in your 3d app of choice, and exporting a, or some, dxf files.
Hope that helps.
Hi Stove,
No idea what your budget is. However, I use Rhino V4 (circa £600) with Z-Brush. You can use Rhino to convert a mesh to nurb surfaces, but it is likely to produce massive file sizes.
I just tested it, on my system if the mesh has more than 20,000 faces it reports “its is too large for MeshToNURB” function.
Rhino does have some fab export functions for all the major CAD software’s if used correctly. It even includes one direct to Pro-E, which I have used with Chinese manufacturers in the past with great success.
Depending on the complexity of your toy… perhaps a nurb modeller would be a better starting point if your downstream workflow is always going to be Pro-E. Which from experience is a wonderful engineering package but not alot else!
Good luck
Hurricks
Been thinking… last time I worked with pro-E was 5years ago, but I do remember installing a plug-in wavefront .obj import & export into Pro-E. Used it mainly to export out to 3Ds Max for rendering.
Just a thought but you might be able to use your .obj import & export functions in Z-Brush to take the data too and from Pro-E.
Hope this helps.
Thanks guys for your response. I have tried the rhino thing and wasn’t successful. I have just started messing around with geomagic and haven’t been too successful with that yet either. I know very little about geomagic and don’t have much experience with nurbs either. The factory needs an .igs file to work with and the conversions I have done so far are generally just ugly looking with holes, and or wrinkles. You would think there would be a simple way to convert polys to nurbs but I guess not. I don’t have pro-e either so I can’t check to make sure everything is ok. The only information I have is that the factory couldn’t use the .stls that were sent and need .igs. Thanks again!
… Moment of Inspiration (a zen nurbs modeler , very easy to learn), a free plug that convert your mesh OBJ in 3Dm format 
It has igs, iges format export of course
Maybe you must decimate your object before with Decimation Master
Download Obj23dmWireframe converter
This enables bringing polygon data in an .obj file into MoI to use as a construction guide. Unzip it to some folder, and then you can run the Obj23dmWireframe.exe program. It will prompt you for the name of an .obj file to read, and after that the name of a .3dm file to create. It will read all the polygon data from the obj file and convert the edges of polygons into line segments, and then write those line segments to the 3dm file. You can then load that 3dm file into MoI and use those line segments to snap on to.
Holes and wrinkles you say…
Not enough information given to be sure, but it might be that your normals are messed up.
Take a look a this thread: http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=66625
I had a some problems initially with mesh normals upon export. You’ll have to scroll about half way down… but there are some screen grads with so called holes. Is this similar to what is happening to you?
I have made a number of injection molds for plastic parts and at $17,000 each you want to be sure they are what you want. The carbons for EDM were designed in Solidworks and with the functions of that program, you can “test” your product. I would design prototypes in a program that has a real world measurement system. There are so many companies in the U.S. that can handle your job with no language problems and no file conversion hassels. (no I don’t live in the U.S.) If your toy has moving parts or is more than 1 piece I would recommend to do some local “research” and then go o’seas. 
Frenchy Pilou - Thanks! I will check that out.
Hurricks- Thanks for your reply. I had actually read through your thread a bit ago when doing this project. There shouldn’t be any problems with my files as far as normals. I have checked these things and have ran repair functions. I’ve had stls of my parts printed and everything came out fine. The client I am working for has a factory that they go through in China that can only work with nurbs objects. I get the wrinkles and ugliness from the igs files I export from geomagic. Unfortunately I can’t really show any pictures as the product is still in development. I’m pretty sure I can convert my stuff in geomagic, I just haven’t figured out how to use the program yet.
3Point14- Thanks for your advice. The project I am doing is essentially an action figure with moving arms, legs, head, etc. I agree that modeling these things with a real world measurement system is best. I initially started with a scaled armature from rhino that I built upon in zbrush. The figure has wrinkled clothing and other details that I thought would best be done in zbrush. The client I am working for is looking for other solutions to getting these parts made but I would still like to find a decent way to convert for future needs.