Downloading objects

Publish date: 2024-05-03
Downloading objects

5.5 Downloading objects

To download an object, from a Polar Cloud object detail screen such as shown in Figure 5.4, you may click the “DOWNLOAD button to save the object (.stl file(s) and/or OBJ file(s), as well as subsidiary descriptive files) to your device. (Note that you may download to your device any type of object in the Polar Cloud: private object, shared object, or public object.)

Figure 5.38: Polar Cloud object DOWNLOAD FILES pop-up screen

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If an object consists of only a single .stl file or OBJ file, clicking the “DOWNLOAD” button on the object detail screen will download the object. But if an object comprises multiple .stl or OBJ files, or has subsidiary descriptive files, then clicking the “DOWNLOAD button on the object detail screen will bring up a “DOWNLOAD FILES” screen at which you have the opportunity to specify exactly which of the .stl file(s), OBJ file(s), or subsidiary files to download; see Figure 5.38. For such multiple .stl or OBJ file objects, you will have the option of clicking the DOWNLOAD ALL” button to select all the .stl and OBJ files in the object, or of clicking the checkboxes for only those particular .stl or OBJ files you wish, and then clicking the DOWNLOAD” button (lower right of the “DOWNLOAD FILES screen).

In addition to whichever .stl files, OBJ files, and subsidiary files you have selected, the object download will also include a text file describing the object license, license.txt. However, photos or other images of the object (see the “PHOTOS” pane of the object manage screen) will not be included in the download. The set of files will be downloaded as a ZIP archive file, download.zip.

Note: Object “DOWNLOAD” and browser pop-up blocking

In versions of the Polar Cloud prior to late Fall 2017, browser pop-up blocking could interfere with object “DOWNLOAD”. Object DOWNLOAD” now operates by opening a separate browser tab for the download (which avoids browser pop-up blocking interference).

Figure 5.39: Polar Cloud printer dashboard print job Download STL File tab

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Downloading can also be performed on objects accessible to you from within a print queue using the print queue job modification menu, or from printer history, or from your account history, though the effect is different than saving an object from the object detail screen. When downloading from a print job, you are downloading your particular instantiation of the object: any modifications you made at the build plate screen (moving, re-sizing, or rotating) are incorporated, all .stl files and OBJ files comprising the print job are combined into one download .stl file (instead of remaining distinct, as in download from the object detail screen), and no subsidiary files (no text files, PDF files, etc.) are downloaded – in particular, no license description is included (since any modifications for your print job may have licensing implications). Figure 5.39 shows an example of selecting “Download STL File” from the printer dashboard’s job modification menu.

Because submitting a print job from the build plate creates a single .stl file, regardless of whether the original object files included in the print job were .stl files or OBJ files, submitting a print job and then using the print job “Download STL File” option provides a way to convert an OBJ file into an STL file. (A number of CAD packages and online tools can also perform such conversion – but this happens to be a way to perform OBJ to .stl format conversion via the Polar Cloud.) Such format conversion can be useful when you want to use the object with something that supports .stl files but not OBJ files: e.g., direct printing (not through the Polar Cloud) on a Polar3D printer via the printer local web interface screen (see Section 3.1.1: The Print File tab and the Project Details screen of the Polar3D Printer Guide), or importing an object into BlocksCAD or Makers Empire.

In addition to downloading an object itself, via the print job menu it is also possible to download the print job’s particular slicing configuration by clicking the “Download Config File” tab. See the discussion of slicing profiles and “PRINT SETTINGS” in Section 10.2.2.

Print jobs created by uploading G-code, or print jobs where the object was sliced in the Polar Cloud, also permit downloading the G-code from the print job menu via the “Download G-Code File option.

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