Exporting Meshes

You can export meshes from Dragonfly to a number of different file formats. The format in which you choose to export a mesh should depend on the availability of software and on how you plan to further analyze the data. The safest option to guarantee long-term access is to convert data to standard formats that most applications are capable of interpreting and that are suitable for data interchange and transformation. You should also note that prescribed formats can also be determined by discipline-specific standards and customs.

If you choose to export a mesh in the STL or PLY file format, you can choose to encode the file in either ASCII or binary. The main difference between these formats is that in a binary file numerical data is stored exactly as it is represented internally, which makes it much faster to read, and also more compact. In an ASCII file, each digit of the value is stored as a byte, and the bytes must be converted to a number before being stored. For example, a number like 1.247292 will occupy 8 bytes in ASCII, one byte for each digit, plus one for the decimal point. In binary it is stored as a native float value, which occupies only 4 bytes.

Mesh export options

How to Export a Mesh

1. Right-click the required mesh in the Data Properties and Settings panel and then choose Export Mesh to File in the pop-up menu.
2. Select a File name and Save as type in the Save As dialog.

   NOTE See Supported File Formats for information about the mesh file formats supported by Dragonfly.

3. Check the Center at origin box, if required.
4. Do the following if you are exporting the mesh in the STL file format:
   • Select a scale unit in the Scale to unit drop-down list, if required.
   • Select the Export as ASCII or Export as binary option. You should note that although ASCII files tend to be larger than the equivalent binary file, they may be a more suitable format for long-term archiving and reliable sharing.
5. Do the following if you are exporting the mesh in the PLY file format:
   • Select the Export as ASCII or Export as binary option. You should note that although ASCII files tend to be larger than the equivalent binary file, they may be a more suitable format for long-term archiving and reliable sharing.
6. Do the following if you are exporting the mesh in one of the VTK file formats:
   • Select the Export vertex colors or Export scalar values option, as required.
7. Click Save.