User's Manual

Introducing the Connex 3-D Printing System
3–4 DOC-13000 Rev. E
Source Files
Connex3‐Dprintingsystemsproducethree‐dimensionalmodelsdesigned
withmost3‐DCADtoolsandwithotherjob‐specific3‐Dapplications.
Connexsystemsaccept:
• STLFiles
• SLCFiles
Connexsystemsfeaturethecapabilityofproducingboth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to
lerance(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Connexsystemutilizesthese
filesforbuildingmodels(rapidprototyping),andalsofordirectlymaking
moldsformass‐producingite
ms.
STLfilesareASCII(text)files.Thecontentofeach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aw
ayfro
m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di
splayedfrom
STLfiles.