VMD-L Mailing List

From: John Stone (johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu)
Date: Thu Dec 19 2002 - 15:34:41 CST

Hi,
  The STL file export option can only export geometry consisting of
triangles. For some VMD objects we have some translator routines that
tessellate geometry down into triangle meshes, but there are still a few
things that aren't handled. In general, the best option would be to
use the Surf or MSMS representations for a number of reasons. Beyond
the simple fact of getting geometry boiled down to triangles, the Surf
and MSMS reps are much more "manufacturable" than most of the other things
that VMD draws. In particular, there are some fairly strict geometric
properties that you have to satisfy in order for a scene to be printable
on a 3-D printer (which is what STL files are for for those that may not
know already), and the Surf and MSMS surfaces match those geometric
constraints much better than any of the other representations.

If you really want to print one of the other reps, another option would
be to use VRML2, as some of the newest color 3-D printers require a VRML2
scene description in order to get the color information. This is how we
recently printed some solid models with color. The VRML2 file format
has real spheres and other primitives, so its a much higher level file
format. If you need help getting this done, let me know. Worst case, if
you really need an STL file and are willing to take your chances with
printing things like the Cartoon representations, I can probably give you
a modified version of VMD that exports all of the geometry as triangles
in STL mode with a few days of work.

Thanks,
  John Stone
  vmd_at_ks.uiuc.edu

On Thu, Dec 19, 2002 at 05:39:20PM -0200, alarcon_at_lncc.br wrote:
> Dear All
>
> I red some e-mail from this list asking for help in creating/rendering STL
> format files (I think an april e-mail).
> Actually, the version I have installed and running (1.8) is able to create STL
> files when surface (surf) mode is chosen. But thatīs all.
> If I select cartoon mode or other one (most of them) the STL is generated not
> completely (I mean, in the cartoon, just helices and strands are generated -
> not coils/turns) or even worse, in the VDW mode, nothing is created. The shell
> indicates that only triangles are going to be interpreted (are not all of them
> triangles ?)
>
> Iīd like to ask if there is some manner to bypass this, if this is normal (or
> known), or if there is some other software/script (meanwhile) that I can use
> while this feature is solved or something like.
>
> Any help will be very welcome.
> Thanks in advance
>
> Frank Alarcon
> www.lncc.br
>
>
>
>
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-- 
NIH Resource for Macromolecular Modeling and Bioinformatics
Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology
University of Illinois, 405 N. Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
Email: johns_at_ks.uiuc.edu                 Phone: 217-244-3349              
  WWW: http://www.ks.uiuc.edu/~johns/      Fax: 217-244-6078