Exporting to STL with proper units

[Jesse Rosen]

I have an architectural model that I need to import into another program. The other program is fairly limited in its file format support, and can import stl files created with inches units only. When I export an stl file from VectorWorks 2020 - even when the model is created with its units in inches - the stl is exported with mm units and imports into my other program 25.4 times the proper size. Is there a workaround for this?

[Kevin McAllister]

I'm pretty sure that STL files don't contain units. For most applications I think its assumed to be mm and software usually does the conversion during import/export. I use them a lot for 3d printing and I've never had any issues with scale from Vectorworks. Can you set the unit system of your other software temporarily to mm, do the import and then switch back? You could shrink everything before exporting from Vectorworks, but this may not be possible if your model uses architectural PIOs.

 

There was a wishlist item to give more control the STL export function in VW, including scaling, but its never been implemented.

 

Kevin

 

[Jesse Rosen]

Unfortunately the importing app can’t be configured to accept different units - I will try to convince the developer to add a switch to select the units when importing an STL. In the mean time I guess I’ll scale the STL in another program.