[bidi]

Hello,

STL files contain facets demonstrating the surface of a 2D or 3D model. Although you might have heard of STL volume mesh files, this file type does not support facets inside a volume; the facets are always indicating the surface of the model.

In ICEM, importing an STL file as a faceted geometry entails creating curves, surfaces, and bodies from the imported geometry before generating the mesh. The ability to import an STL file as the mesh, however, implies the imported file contains the information of cells inside the 3D model, while it does not. In addition, after importing an STL mesh, you will see that the "Existing Mesh" option (as the mesh input parameter) becomes available while, in fact, there is no mesh out there! What is the point of importing an STL mesh to ICEM? In other words; can someone use the imported STL mesh as a mesh??

I can only see a simple difference between the geometry and mesh version of an STL file; the mesh version can separate the boundaries of the model in different parts, but how is it useful?

My point is to write a code to generate a Fluent readable mesh for complex 3D models. In the project I am working on, the creation of curves, surfaces, and bodies from STL files in ICEM is almost impossible as the models are gigantic. So, I spent a long time on writing a code to generate the STL mesh file of the model, but now that I do not see any point in having such files, I am thinking that I might need to write a code to generate the Fluent mesh file straightaway Before starting writing that code, I would like to ask if there is any way that I can use the STL file to generate the mesh without the need for making the geometry from the imported mesh first.

Cheers