Description

The Stereolithography (STL) file format is supported for surfaces containing triangles, quads, and N-sided poly cells beyond four edges. Note that this is an extension of the StereoLithography (Ref. 44) standard which only specifies triangle support.

When the STL format is selected, the presented Export Database panel (shown below) contains three frames: File Format, Mesh, and STL Format Compliance. Standard and extended STL files can be exported in both ASCII and Binary formats by using to the options in the File Format frame. In the Mesh frame, on the other hand, the Single option specifies that all cells be exported to a single solid in the STL file. If the Multiple option is selected, topology and naming will be preserved on export.

STL Database Export Options
The Export Database panel for the STL file format.

The STL Format Compliance frame allows you to specify which cell types are exported to the STL file. The Strict option conforms to the STL standard, resulting in quadrilaterals and N-sided poly cells beyond four edges being decomposed into triangles. The option Allow Quad Facets allows quads, but decomposes N-sided poly cells beyond four edges into triangles. The option Allow Quad and Polygon Facets allows all cell types: triangles, quads, and N-sided poly cells beyond four edges.