Objet260 User Guide
3 Introducing the Objet260 3D Printing System
DOC-37004 Rev. E
3-5
Source Files
PolyJet printing systems produce three-dimensional models designed with
most CAD tools and some other 3D applications. Supported file formats:
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•
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Objet260 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 Objet260 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.
