STL (Stereolithography) is a file format widely used in 3D printing, Rapid prototyping, and computer-aided design (CAD) for representing 3D models. It’s a triangular mesh format that stores information about a 3D model’s surface geometry, including its vertices, edges, and normal vectors.
3DVieweronline is an online STL viewer that allows you to easily visualise STL 3D models directly on the browser, letting you perform all the actions that you would normally do to inspect a STL 3D model such as rotate, zoom in/out, measure, section and more.
Other than just viewing a 3D model, with the online STL viewer you will be able to do the following:
All these functions are available on the online STL viewer toolbar located on the top left part of the screen and do not require any previous knowledge of a 3D software.
Here below a few examples of the most popular and useful actions you can perform on STL 3D models.
The measuring functions of the online STL viewer allow you to measure the distance between two points, the overall size of a 3D model and the diameter of a circular feature. Measuring and verifying the thickness of a wall for instance, becomes extremely important when the STL 3D model has to be 3D printed. In the picture below an example of a measurement between two points is presented.
STL 3D models do not store information about the 3D model dimensions unit, such as mm or inches. The measurement result therefore is presented without any dimension unit, unlike STEP or IGES 3D models which are presented with the correct dimension units.
The sectioning function of the online STL viewer lets you discover the inner parts of the STL 3D model by using different sectioning planes as showed below. The X section plane for instance, is the plane normal to the X direction (also referred as Y-Z plane). The same applies for the Y and Z section planes.
The wireframe visualisation, available on the 3D model settings page, allows you to inspect the triangular mesh that defines your STL 3D model geometry. This can be particularly useful to identify possible ways to increase or reduce the accuracy of your STL 3D model.
Start using the online STL viewer now by registering a FREE account.
