Stratasys Objet500 - StlFiles; Source Files; SLC Files; VRML Files

Objet500 User Guide 3 Introducing the Objet500 3D Printing System
DOC-07027 Rev.E 3-4
Source Files
PolyJetprintingsystemsproducethree-dimensionalmodelsdesignedwith
mostCADtoolsandsomeother3Dapplications.Supportedfileformats:
•STL
•SLC
•VRML
Objet500systemsfeaturethecapabilityofproducingdifferenttypesofmodel
filessimultaneously.
STL Files
STLisshortforStandard Triangulation Language.Thislanguageviewsany
objectasacollectionofsurfaces,anddescribeseachsurfaceoftheobjectasa
collectionoftriangles.
Forexample,asquarecanbedescribedastwotriangles;acube(sixsquares)
as12triangles.Curvedsurfacesneedmoretrianglestodescribethem.The
higherthetolerance(forsmoothsurfaces),themoretrianglesareneeded.
Theresultisthathigh-qualityobjectdescriptionsmeanveryheavyfiles.
MostCADsoftwarecanexportSTLfiles.TheObjet500systemutilizesthese
filesforbuildingmodels(rapidprototyping),andalsofordirectlymaking
moldsformass-producingitems.
STLfilescanbeASCII(text)filesorbinaryfiles.ThecontentoftheASCIIfile
beginswith“solid”andendswith“end-solid”(bothlowercase).Between
thesekeywordsisalistofthetrianglesthatdescribesthefacesofthesolid
model.Eachtriangledefinesasinglenormalvectordirectedawayfromthe
solid’ssurface,followedbyitsX-Y-Zcoordinates.Theseareexpressedas
Cartesiancoordinatesandarefloating-pointvalues.Thecoordinatesofall
trianglesshouldbepositiveandshouldfallwithinthevolumeofthemodel.
SLC Files
SLCisshortforStereo-Lithography Contour.SLCfilesdescribetwo-
dimensionalcontoursofthethree-dimensionalmodels.Thesecontourlines
arepolylines.
SLCfilesareASCII(text)filesthatsavemodelsasaseriesofslices.This
meansthatmodelsbasedonSLCfilescannotbeorientated;onlytheirscale
(size)andpositiononthebuildtraycanbecontrolled.Forthisreason,the
model’sorientationmustbesuitableforproductionbeforeitissavedasan
SLCfile.BecauseofthenatureofSLCfiles,theappearanceofmodelsinObjet
Studiomaybedifferentthanthesolid-objectimagesdisplayedfromSTLfiles.
VRML Files
VRMLisa3Dfileformatwhichincludescolorinformation.VRMLprovides
theabilitytoapplydifferentcolorstoamodelwhiledesigningmodelsina
CADprogram.NofurthercolorassignmentisneededinObjetStudio.
ObjetStudiosupportstheVRML2.0format(alsoknownasVRML97).
WhenyoucreateaVRMLfileinCADsoftware,twofilesarecreated:awrl
file,containingthemodel'sgeometricinformationofthemodel,andapicture
file(bmp, png, jpg,ortiff),containingthemodel'scolorinformation.Before
insertingaVRMLfileontotheObjetStudiobuildtray,savetheVRMLfile
anditscorrespondingpicturefileinthesamedirectory.