Functions for reading and writing STL files. More...

Functions
Mesh	read_stl (const std::string &path)
	Load a mesh from an STL file (ASCII or binary).

void	write_stl_binary (const std::string &path, const Mesh &mesh)
	Write a mesh to a binary STL file.

void	write_stl_ascii (const std::string &path, const Mesh &mesh)
	Write a mesh to an ASCII STL file.

void	write_stl (const std::string &path, const Mesh &mesh, const std::string &format)
	Write a mesh to an STL file, choosing the format.

Detailed Description

Functions for reading and writing STL files.

Function Documentation

◆ read_stl()

Mesh scimesh::stl_io::read_stl ( const std::string & path )

inline

Load a mesh from an STL file (ASCII or binary).

STL files contain only raw triangle geometry — each triangle is stored independently with its own vertices (no indexed face set sharing). Colors and normals are not stored in STL files.

Parameters

path	Filesystem path to the `.stl` file.

Returns: A Mesh with vertices and triangles populated.

Exceptions

std::runtime_error if the file cannot be opened or parsed.

Example: Mesh part = scimesh::stl_io::read_stl("bracket.stl");

// STL has no colors — set a uniform color for rendering

part.default_color = Color(0.5f, 0.5f, 0.5f);

scimesh::stl_io::read_stl
Mesh read_stl(const std::string &path)
Load a mesh from an STL file (ASCII or binary).
Definition stl_io.h:45

scimesh::Color
An RGBA color with floating-point components.
Definition types.h:88

scimesh::Mesh
A 3D triangle mesh using an indexed face set representation.
Definition mesh.h:76

scimesh::Mesh::default_color
Color default_color
Fallback color when no per-vertex or per-face color is set.
Definition mesh.h:160

Note on colors: STL files are geometry-only. After loading, set mesh.default_color or populate mesh.colors manually for rendering.

See also: write_stl(), read_obj(), read_ply()

Definition at line 45 of file stl_io.h.

◆ write_stl()

void scimesh::stl_io::write_stl	(	const std::string &	path,
		const Mesh &	mesh,
		const std::string &	format
	)

inline

Write a mesh to an STL file, choosing the format.

Parameters

path	Output file path.
mesh	The mesh to write.
format	Either `"binary"` (compact, recommended) or `"ascii"` (human-readable but large).

Exceptions

std::runtime_error if the file cannot be created.

Example: scimesh::stl_io::write_stl("output.stl", mesh, "binary");

scimesh::stl_io::write_stl("output_ascii.stl", mesh, "ascii");

scimesh::stl_io::write_stl
void write_stl(const std::string &path, const Mesh &mesh, const std::string &format)
Write a mesh to an STL file, choosing the format.
Definition stl_io.h:179

See also: write_stl_binary(), write_stl_ascii(), read_stl()

Definition at line 179 of file stl_io.h.

◆ write_stl_ascii()

void scimesh::stl_io::write_stl_ascii	(	const std::string &	path,
		const Mesh &	mesh
	)

inline

Write a mesh to an ASCII STL file.

ASCII STL is human-readable (you can open it in a text editor) but much larger than binary STL.

Parameters

path	Output file path.
mesh	The mesh to write.

Exceptions

std::runtime_error if the file cannot be created.

See also: write_stl_binary(), write_stl()

Definition at line 140 of file stl_io.h.

◆ write_stl_binary()

void scimesh::stl_io::write_stl_binary	(	const std::string &	path,
		const Mesh &	mesh
	)

inline

Write a mesh to a binary STL file.

Binary STL is more compact than ASCII. The file begins with an 80-byte header followed by a triangle count and per-triangle data.

Parameters

path	Output file path.
mesh	The mesh to write.

Exceptions

std::runtime_error if the file cannot be created.

See also: write_stl_ascii(), write_stl()

Definition at line 90 of file stl_io.h.