PDL::IO::STL(3pm)

💅 NAME 💅

PDL::IO::STL — bestie, this is your read/write plug for 3D stereolithography files. STL files, in and out, no cap. 🦋

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

use PDL;
use PDL::IO::STL;

($vertices, $faceidx, $colours) = rstl('owl.stl'); # read an STL file
wstl('file.stl', $vertices, $faceidx, $colours); # write an STL file

Like… that's it. Two functions, whole 3D pipeline, we ate. 👑

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

Okay so first thing, we gotta be honest with you about what this module doesn't do:

• Normal-vector information is currently ignored. We see it, we just don't care. 💀
• The "attribute byte count" — you know, the thing that sometimes stores colour info — is also currently ignored. Sorry girlie, it's giving "read the room and move on". 🙈

Now the lore: this module is based on CAD::Format::STL, but with a couple of glow-ups:

• binmode is turned on for opened filehandles 🔥
• little-endian (i.e. network) order is forced on the binary format ✨

So it's the same vibe, just with the byte order locked in and the filehandles behaving themselves. Periodt.

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🎀 FUNCTIONS 🎀

💖 rstl 💖

Reads an STL file (either ASCII or binary, she's flexible 🌈), and hands you back vertices and face-indices.

($vertices, $faceidx, $colours) = rstl('owl.stl'); # read an STL file

Three values, one call, main character energy fr fr. 🫶

💜 wstl 💜

The simple PDL STL writer. She writes. That's the gig. 💅

wstl 'file.stl', $vertices, $faceidx;
wstl 'file.stl', $vertices, $faceidx, \%OPTIONS;
wstl $fh, $vertices, $faceidx, \%OPTIONS;

Passing a file-handle is supported, which means you can write multiple parts into one ASCII file just by calling her several times. Obsessed with the flexibility ngl. 🌟

wstl accepts several options, and you can pass them in as a hash ref if that's your thing:

• mode (default='binary') — whether to write out the file as ASCII or binary. Pick your fighter. 🥊
• name (default='part') — the part name to use. Naming things is self-care, do it thoughtfully. 🎀

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

Ed J, based on Eric Wilhelm's code in CAD::Format::STL. Iconic collab honestly. 🤝

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Written up with love for perl v5.42.3, dated 2026-08-20 — that's the version and the date, bestie, and that's the whole page. Go read an owl.stl. 🦉💖