Re: DXF vs. STL file size

From: C. Brock Rooney (brock@mich.com)
Date: Sat Oct 09 1999 - 20:20:21 EEST


At 04:24 PM 10/7/99 -0700, Siemer, Michael wrote
>
> I was posed a question by a work colleague that I wasn't able to
> answer:
>
> For the same part, how does the STL format file size compare to the
> DXF format file size? (I would guess it's a function of
> resolution...but holding all things equal.)

  Using our STL to DXF converter, the DXF file, all 3 or 4-sided 3D Faces,
is about 2 to 2.5 times the size of the STL file. But the zipped DXF file
size is 88% to 110% of the zipped STL file size.
  Facets generated by AutoCad from a solid would generally be stored more
compactly as Meshes. 3D Faces are 3 or 4-sided facets. There are also
rectangular meshes. Also, there are PFace meshes, which consist of a set of
points and a set of connections. So, if these entities are present, the
DXF file could be smaller than the 3D Face case.

C. Brock Rooney, Pres., Brock Rooney & Associates Inc. (Brockware)
        915 Westwood Birmingham MIchigan 48009 USA
(248) 645-0236 fax/bbs (248) 645-9020 email brock@mich.com

For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 22:52:59 EEST