STL Import for SolidWorks is a Stereolithography (.stl) file import add-in for SolidWorks®. This add-in gives SolidWorks the ability to import geometric data from ASCII and Binary STL files.

STL Import for SolidWorks reads polygon mesh data stored in STL files and imports it into SolidWorks. A polygon mesh in a STL file is comprised of a set of triangular faces. STL Import for SolidWorks creates trimmed planar surfaces for each triangle and knits them together to create a body. If the polygon mesh is closed (i.e. it does not contain boundary edges) then STL Import for SolidWorks will create a closed body feature, otherwise an open surface will be created.

STL Import for SolidWorks is very easy to use as it adds new commands to SolidWorks. It also adds a submenu to the SolidWorks menu called "STLImport".

The 'STLImport' submenu consists of the following commands:
# Import - Import a STL file
# Help - Display the STL Import for SolidWorks help file
# Register - Register your copy of STL Import for SolidWorks
# About - Display the STL Import for SolidWorks About box

STL Import for SolidWorks comes with detailed documentation for each command as well as a tutorial to get you started in the shortest possible time.


The STL File Format

The STL file format is the Rapid Prototyping industry's standard data transmission format and is the format required to interact with stereolithography machines. Stereolithography files contain solids which are made up of 3 sided facets. STL files may be ASCII or binary data, although binary is far more common due to the resulting size of the CAD data when saved to the ASCII format. A STL file describes a raw unstructured triangulated surface by the unit normal and vertices (ordered by the right-hand rule) of the triangles using a three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system. Many CAD systems are able to output the STL file format among their other formats, but very few have the ability to import STL files.