# Unable to export segment with ExportSegmentsClosedSurfaceRepresentationToFiles
**URL:** https://discourse.slicer.org/t/unable-to-export-segment-with-exportsegmentsclosedsurfacerepresentationtofiles/23267
**Category:** Support
**Tags:** python, stl
**Created:** [May 3, 2022, 6:31pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/unable-to-export-segment-with-exportsegmentsclosedsurfacerepresentationtofiles/23267 "2022-05-03T18:31:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Xabierenko](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/Xabierenko)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2022, 6:31pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/unable-to-export-segment-with-exportsegmentsclosedsurfacerepresentationtofiles/23267/1 "2022-05-03T18:31:31Z")
Hi,
I have been using the code snippet below to export large amounts of segmentations to .stl format.
```auto
segmentation = slicer.util.loadSegmentation(seg)
vol = slicer.util.loadVolume(mag)
volumeNode = slicer.util.getNode('*magnitude*') # Get the volume node
segNode = slicer.util.getNode('*Segment*')
slicer.vtkSlicerSegmentationsModuleLogic.ExportSegmentsClosedSurfaceRepresentationToFiles(out, segNode, None, "STL", False, 0.001, False)
slicer.mrmlScene.RemoveNode(volumeNode)
slicer.mrmlScene.RemoveNode(segmentation)
```
I don’t know why when I’m trying the same code to export a new dataset I’m getting the following error.
`TypeError: ExportSegmentsClosedSurfaceRepresentationToFiles argument 2: method requires a vtkMRMLSegmentationNode, a vtkMRMLSegmentationStorageNode was provided.`
Kind regards,
Xabier
---
### Author:  [@cpinter](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/cpinter)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2022, 6:33pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/unable-to-export-segment-with-exportsegmentsclosedsurfacerepresentationtofiles/23267/2 "2022-05-03T18:33:15Z")
> [@Xabierenko](#):
>
> `segNode = slicer.util.getNode('*Segment*')`
It seems that this returns the wrong node (the segmentation storage node instead of the segmentation node itself). I suggest using a more robust way to get the node.
---
### Author:  [@Xabierenko](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/Xabierenko)
#### Post date: [May 3, 2022, 6:38pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/unable-to-export-segment-with-exportsegmentsclosedsurfacerepresentationtofiles/23267/3 "2022-05-03T18:38:41Z")
Is there a way of getting the first segment following the order displayed in the GUI?
---
### Author:  [@wawa](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/wawa)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 3:52am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/unable-to-export-segment-with-exportsegmentsclosedsurfacerepresentationtofiles/23267/4 "2022-05-10T03:52:47Z")
Here is my working code:
```auto
nii_pathname = ...
seg = slicer.util.loadSegmentation(nii_pathname)
segmentationNode = slicer.mrmlScene.GetFirstNodeByClass("vtkMRMLSegmentationNode")
slicer.vtkSlicerSegmentationsModuleLogic.ExportSegmentsClosedSurfaceRepresentationToFiles(out, segmentationNode, None, "STL")
slicer.mrmlScene.RemoveNode(segmentationNode)
slicer.mrmlScene.RemoveNode(seg)
```
I don’t know why using the function “GetFirstNodeByClass” works, but it does meet the need.
---
### Author:  [@lassoan](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/lassoan)
#### Post date: [May 10, 2022, 4:44am UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/unable-to-export-segment-with-exportsegmentsclosedsurfacerepresentationtofiles/23267/5 "2022-05-10T04:44:10Z")
> [@wawa](#):
>
> I don’t know why using the function “GetFirstNodeByClass” works, but it does meet the need.
`slicer.util.getNode('*Segment*')` returns the first node in the scene that contains `Segment` in its name or ID (including all the hidden nodes). There can be many nodes like that in the scene: the segmentation node, the segmentation display node, and segmentation storage node. `getNode` helper function (especially when it is used with wildcards as input) is only recommended for quick testing and troubleshooting.
If you specify the kind of node you are looking for (`vtkMRMLSegmentationNode`) and you only have one node of that type in the scene then the result is always as you expect.