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The left toolbar has many other tools as well.Ĥ. You can get more tools available by changing the difficulty level in the upper toolbar from Novice tools to Intermediate or Pro Tools.ĥ. It will bring the list of the options to manipulate and edit your object.ģ. Select your part or the whole object using mouse and either right-click on the selected parts or on the rectangle in the lower-right corner of the program. But if you have a mouse available, using it would be faster and more comfortable.Ģ. You can also use the Orbit button in the toolbar above the model view. Press the wheel of your mouse and move the mouse to change the view. Go to File > Import > StereoLithography (stl) and choose the object you want to import.ġ. The main shortcoming is the lack of the native ability to export STL in the free version, but you can get the Pro one rather cheaply or save files in other formats. The built-in tools make 3D Crafter a good choice for easy editing. The program supports importing and exporting a wide variety of file formats, including STL. The intuitive interface and simple controls are worth mentioning, as well as extensive animation abilities. These are excellent for editing STL files, because they're developed for working with modeling and objects represented by 2D surfaces that have no filling (these objects can't be printed, although there’s quite a few ways they can be solidified).ģD Crafter (formerly known as 3D Canvas) is a free 3D editing and animation software available only for Windows. This article will cover some CAD programs, such as Blender, FreeCAD, SketchUp. They are not the best choice for fully fledged STL editing due to some differences in the way they represent some shapes. They weren't originally developed with 3D printing in mind, although they are pretty useful for this workflow. These programs aim for covering engineering and construction modeling purposes, providing precise measurements and solid modeling tools. There are two types of programs that allow users to edit STL files: There are STL editors that help users with that. In other cases, you would need to edit or repair it. Sometimes, the pre-downloaded STL file or your own model is good enough.
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At some point any 3D printing hobbyist will wonder how to edit STL files.
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