STL editor

Introduction

An STL editor can

• repair STL files, e.g. fill holes, repair flipped triangles, bad edges, etc.
• Merge STL files
• Create STL files from other formats
• Do some simple constructions, e.g. subtractive geometry or adding simple parts.

STL files are used in 3D printing.

Read also:

• Slicers and user interfaces for 3D printers

Products

STL specific

• Netfabb Studio (free) and Netfabb Pro (expensive). Netfabb was the first easy to use commercial product.
• Magics from Materialise
• Meshmixer. A free tool from Autodesk for meshmixing, sculpting and support generation. If your slicer cannot produce a good support structure, try this. Also useful to eliminate useless internal structures. I also includes a sculpting tool.

All-in-one tools

• Simplify3D

Other tools that could be useful

• Meshlab (see the Meshlab for RapMan tutorial)