STL

Reference

Category

Import-Export

Menu

File ‣ Import/Export ‣ Stl (.stl)

This format is useful if you intend to import/export the files for CAD software. It is also commonly used for loading into 3D printing software.

Warning

Currently the script does not handle importing or exporting of normals and does not handle endianness, there is nothing in the STL specification about it.

Properties

Import

Transform

Scale

TODO.

Scene Unit

TODO.

Forward / Up Axis

Since many applications use a different axis for pointing upwards, these are axis conversion for these settings, Forward and up axes – By mapping these to different axes you can convert rotations between applications default up and forward axes.

Blender uses Y forward, Z up (since the front view looks along the +Y direction). For example, it is common for applications to use Y as the up axis, in that case -Z forward, Y up is needed.

Geometry

Facet Normals

TODO.

Export

ASCII

TODO.

Batch Mode

TODO.

Include

Selection Only

TODO.

Transform

Scale

TODO.

Scene Unit

TODO.

Forward / Up Axis

Since many applications use a different axis for ‘Up’, these are axis conversion for these settings, Forward and Up axes – By mapping these to different axes you can convert rotations between applications default up and forward axes.

Blender uses Y Forward, Z Up (since the front view looks along the +Y direction). For example, it’s common for applications to use Y as the up axis, in that case -Z Forward, Y Up is needed.

Geometry

Apply Modifiers

TODO.

Usage

Use the operator to import ASCII or binary STL-files, you can select multiple files at once. For exporting you can select multiple objects and they will be exported as a single STL-file. You can select between ASCII/binary file format (binary is more compact). You can also choose to enable or disable the modifiers during the export.