Windows plugin STL viewer

[ssayer]

When you figure how large some .stl files can be, unless whatever program creates and stores a thumbnail someplace, it would drag explorer's response time way down. Also, the first time it hits a folder with a couple hundred .stl files, you better be ready to go get a cup of coffee (or maybe dinner) while you wait...

[Marm]

Yeah, I figured as much.

And SAP has made work a living hell for the past 2 years ever since the parent company in Italy made us Switch over. I'd much rather switch over to 100% metric (which I'm actually for) than SAP. Maybe it was them skimping on programmers for implementing it correctly, or just poor execution, or SAP is as bad as every outside source has ever told me, but I'm not a fan, and I don't even use it that much.

[LambdaFF]

I know it's not really your question, but : why store STLs ?

I don't store STLs, I store the CATPART (or whatever your design file type is in your software) which has the build steps, parameters and dimensions stored and modifiable. Then if I need the STL again I just regenerate it : 4 minutes.

CATPART files do have a small preview image and on top of that they are minimum 15 times smaller than the STLs. All better in my opinion.

[Wolfie]

A lot of us obtain STLs from outside sources. Not everything we print is something we designed.

[Marm]

Wolfie is partially right. My converter is Sketchup, so that takes a moment to boot up and then convert, I'd prefer to just dump the STL straight into my slicer and go from there. I have even saved sliced files if the slicer took a long time to slice, that way I can load and print if I want.