stla_to_tri_surface, an Octave code which reads data from an ASCII STLA file describing a triangular mesh of a 3D surface, and converts it to a pair of arrays describing a triangular mesh or TRI_SURFACE.
Especially if you are reading large ASCII STL files, you might want to consider the "fast" version of the program, which uses the routines stla_size_fast and stla_read_fast, provided by Bill Seufzer of NASA Langley.
An ASCII STL file contains a description of the surface of a solid that has been decomposed into triangles. The vertices of the triangles should be listed in counterclockwise order, as viewed from outside the surface. A normal vector for the triangle may also be listed.
A TRI_SURFACE or triangulated mesh surface, is described by a pair of arrays:
The computer code and data files described and made available on this web page are distributed under the MIT license
stla_to_tri_surface is available in a MATLAB version and an Octave version.
obj_to_tri_surface, an Octave code which reads an OBJ file and extracts the surface mesh data as a TRI_SURFACE dataset.
stla, a data directory which contains a description and examples of ASCII STL files.
stla_display, an Octave code which reads an ASCII STL file and displays it.
stla_io, an Octave code which reads or writes a an ASCII STL file.
stla_to_tri_surface_fast, an Octave code which is a faster version of stla_to_tri_surface().
tri_surface, a data directory which contains examples of TRI_SURFACE files.
tri_surface_display, an Octave code which displays a TRI_SURFACE dataset.
tri_surface_to_stla, an Octave code which reads a TRI_SURFACE dataset and extracts the surface mesh data as an ASCII STL file.