# How to import (3D) STL file(s) to define volume boundary mesh?

**URL:** <https://community.freefem.org/t/how-to-import-3d-stl-file-s-to-define-volume-boundary-mesh/1971>\
**Category:** General Discussion\
**Created:** [August 29, 2022, 11:57am UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/how-to-import-3d-stl-file-s-to-define-volume-boundary-mesh/1971 "2022-08-29T11:57:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![JuillenL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e79b87/32.png) [@JuillenL](https://community.freefem.org/u/JuillenL)\
**Post date:** [August 29, 2022, 11:57am UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/how-to-import-3d-stl-file-s-to-define-volume-boundary-mesh/1971/1 "2022-08-29T11:57:35Z")

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Hello  
I am a newcomer to FreeFem++…  
I would like to know if there are existing commands/operators to import directly a 3D STL files that would contain the external boundary of a volume/3D domain ?  
If no, what would be the main steps to do this, with GMSH for example ?  
Thanks for your collaboration  
Regards  
Lionel

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**Author:** ![hoegge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7feea3/32.png) [@hoegge](https://community.freefem.org/u/hoegge)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 1:53am UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/how-to-import-3d-stl-file-s-to-define-volume-boundary-mesh/1971/2 "2023-04-20T01:53:25Z")

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Would also like to know. Not mentioned in docs as far as I can see.

Seems like this forum / community is not really active with no answer in half a year 🙂

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**Author:** ![marchywka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ee59a6/32.png) [@marchywka](https://community.freefem.org/u/marchywka)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 8:24am UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/how-to-import-3d-stl-file-s-to-define-volume-boundary-mesh/1971/3 "2023-04-20T08:24:55Z")

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I don’t know if FF directly supports this but it looks like tetgen does  
and that may be accessible via FF ,

[https://wias-berlin.de/software/tetgen/fformats.stl.html](https://wias-berlin.de/software/tetgen/fformats.stl.html)

see the FF documentation about tetgen.

I don’t know if there are highly active social media groups  
on FEM. The libmesh mailing list for example is very low volume.  
There is an FEA group on linked in for mostly product and seminar  
ads lol. I’m not sure this is the kind of thing people talk a lot about  
in short posts maybe due to the nature of the work…

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**Author:** ![hoegge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/7feea3/32.png) [@hoegge](https://community.freefem.org/u/hoegge)\
**Post date:** [April 20, 2023, 8:45am UTC](https://community.freefem.org/t/how-to-import-3d-stl-file-s-to-define-volume-boundary-mesh/1971/4 "2023-04-20T08:45:20Z")

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Thank you @marchywka