# Use a segmentation to create .stl file for 3D printing

**URL:** <https://discourse.slicer.org/t/use-a-segmentation-to-create-stl-file-for-3d-printing/541>\
**Category:** Support\
**Created:** [June 20, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/use-a-segmentation-to-create-stl-file-for-3d-printing/541 "2017-06-20T15:53:01Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Garrett\_Baltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/34f0e0/32.png) [@Garrett\_Baltz](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/Garrett_Baltz)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/use-a-segmentation-to-create-stl-file-for-3d-printing/541/1 "2017-06-20T15:53:01Z")

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Hello,

I have been hitting my head against a wall and can’t figure out how to do  
this. I think there is supposed to be a tutorial on this (  
[Documentation/4.6/Training - Slicer Wiki](https://www.slicer.org/wiki/Documentation/4.6/Training#Segmentation_for_3D_printing))  
but the pdf tutorial file has been deleted.

I have a segment that has been generated by other software that I am  
importing. It shows up in segmentations module:

 ![](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/slicer/original/1X/01047d98c8358cbfedfb7ccd37ba815e961f428b.png)

It is the red “helmet”, “roughbolusdesign” segment.

This segment right now is just air.

Ideally all I want to do is export the red cap volume that is already being  
displayed in the right window as an .stl file.

The only way I can find online is to do this through the editor module, but  
the segmentation does not show up in the editor module.

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks,  
Garrett

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**Author:** ![ihnorton](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/ihnorton/32/9_2.png) [@ihnorton](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/ihnorton)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 4:48pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/use-a-segmentation-to-create-stl-file-for-3d-printing/541/2 "2017-06-20T16:48:43Z")

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Use the Export tool in Segmentations to create a model:

![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/slicer/original/3X/b/4/b474be29b8e6ab44b06011a66f05ece2f20b7e29.png)

Then use File-\>Save and select output type as STL.

I’m not sure what happened to that tutorial, but there are some instructions in the “How To” section of the Segmentations module documentation:

[https://www.slicer.org/wiki/Documentation/Nightly/Modules/Segmentations](https://www.slicer.org/wiki/Documentation/Nightly/Modules/Segmentations)

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**Author:** ![Garrett\_Baltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/34f0e0/32.png) [@Garrett\_Baltz](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/Garrett_Baltz)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 5:15pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/use-a-segmentation-to-create-stl-file-for-3d-printing/541/3 "2017-06-20T17:15:07Z")

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Thanks for the quick reply.

My export tab seems to look different than yours? Is there some setting I  
need to change?

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/uploads/slicer/original/3X/e/9/e969187a19e07f8f5143830f1b149fe00d488ac7.png)

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**Author:** ![ihnorton](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/ihnorton/32/9_2.png) [@ihnorton](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/ihnorton)\
**Post date:** [June 20, 2017, 5:42pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/use-a-segmentation-to-create-stl-file-for-3d-printing/541/4 "2017-06-20T17:42:38Z")

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It looks like that section was called “Copy/move segment (import/export)” in 4.6.2, but I think the functionality is the same. However, a general recommendation is to switch to the nightly slicer build – it has many improvements, and is stable enough for general use.

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**Author:** ![cpinter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/cpinter/32/7995_2.png) [@cpinter](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/cpinter)\
**Post date:** [June 22, 2017, 6:42pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/use-a-segmentation-to-create-stl-file-for-3d-printing/541/5 "2017-06-22T18:42:18Z")

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If I click the tutorial link, the PDF loads correctly. Maybe it was a temporary problem with the wiki file storage?

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**Author:** ![cpinter](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/cpinter/32/7995_2.png) [@cpinter](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/cpinter)\
**Post date:** [June 27, 2017, 1:54pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/use-a-segmentation-to-create-stl-file-for-3d-printing/541/6 "2017-06-27T13:54:37Z")

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In the meantime it turned out that

1. The PDF file was fixed manually, so it was not a temporary issue
2. The STL file was also missing, which I uploaded again  
Maybe there are other files as well that were affected by an issue with the file storage system of the wiki? Can we find them somehow?

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**Author:** ![lassoan](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discourse.slicer.org/lassoan/32/13_2.png) [@lassoan](https://discourse.slicer.org/u/lassoan)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2018, 6:33pm UTC](https://discourse.slicer.org/t/use-a-segmentation-to-create-stl-file-for-3d-printing/541/7 "2018-03-20T18:33:11Z")

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Implemented [direct STL file export from segmentation](https://github.com/Slicer/Slicer/pull/919) - will be available in tomorrow’s nightly build.