NAME

       PDL::IO::STL - read/write 3D stereolithography files

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

DESCRIPTION

       Normal-vector information is currently ignored.  The "attribute byte count", used
       sometimes to store colour information, is currently ignored.

       This module is based on CAD::Format::STL, but with "binmode" on opened filehandles and
       little-endian (i.e. network) order forced on the binary format.

FUNCTIONS

   rstl
       Read an STL file (ASCII or binary), returning vertices and face-indices.

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

   wstl
       Simple PDL FITS writer

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

       Passing a file-handle is supported, so multiple parts can be written to an ASCII file with
       several calls.

       "wstl" accepts several options that may be passed in as a hash ref if desired:

       mode (default='binary')
          Whether to write out the file as ASCII or binary.

       name (default='part')
          The part name to use.

AUTHOR

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