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Yep, and one more thought: check the capabilities of your 3D printer. Some printers are more limited and can't take advantage of extreme-resolution files, so it's about finding that sweet spot for your specific setup or your supplier's capability limits.

[Lucas 92]

Hi Ava! What you’re experiencing is a common pain in working with STL files. This format only approximates the surfaces of your models, using a mesh of triangles. If the resolution is too low, these triangles will be larger and more noticeable, making curved surfaces look faceted.

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[Christoph]

Just to add that the key is the tessellation of triangles to make the surface – triangle size defines how nicely the STL file approximates your parts. Your CAD software will have settings for this. If you increase the resolution or decrease the tolerance for deviation, you’ll get a higher-quality outcome made of smaller triangles. This’ll likely solve those nasty-looking surfaces.

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[Ava W.]

I’m so happy it’s just a setting. When I’m adjusting the tessellation settings when I save out of Fusion360, what are the specific parameters I should look for?

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[Lucas 92]

Look for settings referencing “chord height,” “angle tolerance,” or “deviation.” These set how nicely the mesh follows the surfacing of your model. Lowering the chord height and angle tolerance, and reducing deviation will up the number of triangles, giving you the smoother surfaces you want.

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[Christoph]

Packages like Blender, Fusion 360, or SolidWorks have their ways of inputting the same stuff. In Blender, you’d look at the export settings and adjust the resolution there. In Fusion 360, it’s under the “Mesh” workspace. In SolidWorks, you can adjust the linear and angular resolutions under the “Options” when saving.

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[Lucas 92]

Maybe some background might help, to know why this happens. When STL files were first introduced, file size limitations were a big concern. Email and storage media had way less capacity, so the resolutions of STL files had to be kept low to manage file sizes.

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[Christoph]

Back then, manageable file sizes were a big deal, really limited by the tools at the time. Higher resolutions have created files too large to handle effectively. I remember fighting with 10mb email attachment limits. Now file sizes don’t matter, so we can afford to use much higher resolutions and get smoother, more detailed models.

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[Ava W.]

That makes a lot of sense. So, it’s a legacy issue that’s carried over.

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[Lucas 92]

Yes, better software, storage, and comms allow us to increase these settings to achieve better print quality without worries about file size wrecking model detail. But keep in mind that better resolution is great, but it also pushes your hardware during processing.

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[Christoph]

Yep, and one more thought: check the capabilities of your 3D printer. Some printers are more limited and can’t take advantage of extreme-resolution files, so it’s about finding that sweet spot for your specific setup or your supplier’s capability limits.

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