{"id":57,"date":"2011-05-05T07:46:30","date_gmt":"2011-05-05T11:46:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/?page_id=57"},"modified":"2026-02-23T14:44:53","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T19:44:53","slug":"file-format","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/rapid-lab\/file-format\/","title":{"rendered":"File Format"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>To submit a file for additive manufacture the format must be <strong>STL<\/strong>. STL is a generic, faceted surface model created from datapoints on the approximate surface of the original part&nbsp;originally created for <strong>ST<\/strong>ereo<strong>L<\/strong>ithograpy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since all surfaces will be broken into triangular facets the actual location of the sufaces will be dependent&nbsp;number of points used to to create the faceted surface. When you are creating an STL file you can control the chord height &#8211;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/files\/2011\/05\/chordheight.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"118\" src=\"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/files\/2011\/05\/chordheight-300x118.png\" alt=\"Chord Height\" class=\"wp-image-175\" srcset=\"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/files\/2011\/05\/chordheight-300x118.png 300w, https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/files\/2011\/05\/chordheight.png 905w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Varying the chord height will allow the variation of the size of facets in the generated file. A smaller chord height will bring the facets closer to the actual, modeled surface. This will create smaller facets and a larger number of facets resulting in a larger file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For example, a sphere saved to STL will have a coarse surface with a large chord height:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/files\/2011\/05\/LargeChordHeight.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"669\" height=\"668\" src=\"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/files\/2011\/05\/LargeChordHeight.png\" alt=\"CoarseSurface\" class=\"wp-image-180\" style=\"width:208px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/files\/2011\/05\/LargeChordHeight.png 669w, https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/files\/2011\/05\/LargeChordHeight-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/files\/2011\/05\/LargeChordHeight-300x300.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 669px) 100vw, 669px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>And the same sphere will have a smoother surface with a smaller chord height:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/files\/2011\/05\/SmallChordHeight.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"670\" height=\"670\" src=\"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/files\/2011\/05\/SmallChordHeight.png\" alt=\"STL small chord height\" class=\"wp-image-181\" style=\"width:217px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/files\/2011\/05\/SmallChordHeight.png 670w, https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/files\/2011\/05\/SmallChordHeight-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/files\/2011\/05\/SmallChordHeight-300x300.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 670px) 100vw, 670px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>To submit a file for additive manufacture the format must be STL. STL is a generic, faceted surface model created from datapoints on the approximate surface of the original part&nbsp;originally created for STereoLithograpy. Since all surfaces will be broken into triangular facets the actual location of the sufaces will be dependent&nbsp;number of points used to &#8230; <a title=\"File Format\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/rapid-lab\/file-format\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about File Format\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":0,"parent":19,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-57","page","type-page","status-publish"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":943,"href":"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/57\/revisions\/943"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/19"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coefs.charlotte.edu\/jsraquet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}