The STL file, which is de facto standard for the rapid prototyping industries, has too large a file size. This paper proposes an improved interface between CAD and rapid prototyping systems, i.e. a CS (compressed STL) file that has very low data storage redundancies and is completely compatible with the STL file. The CS file is about a quarter of the size of the original binary STL file, without any model information loss. This is very suitable for file transferring via the Internet. Removing coordinate data of duplicate vertices, bit-compression technology, and a comparison of the size and compressed performance of the STL and the CS are also discussed.
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ID="A1"Correspondance and offprint requests to: Dr Li-Chao Zhang, Rapid Prototyping Building, State Key Laboratory of Plastic Forming Simulation and Die and Mould Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, 430074, PR China. E-mail: elegantteac@yahoo.com
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Huang, SH., Zhang, LC. & Han, M. CS File – An Improved Interface Between CAD and Rapid Prototyping Systems. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 21, 15–19 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1007/s001700300002
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s001700300002