# Is it possible to write field data with vtkSTLWriter?

**URL:** <https://discourse.vtk.org/t/is-it-possible-to-write-field-data-with-vtkstlwriter/14177>\
**Category:** Development\
**Created:** [July 5, 2024, 10:46pm UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/is-it-possible-to-write-field-data-with-vtkstlwriter/14177 "2024-07-05T22:46:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rafael\_Scatena](https://discourse.vtk.org/user_avatar/discourse.vtk.org/rafael_scatena/32/7820_2.png) [@Rafael\_Scatena](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/Rafael_Scatena)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2024, 10:46pm UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/is-it-possible-to-write-field-data-with-vtkstlwriter/14177/1 "2024-07-05T22:46:47Z")

</div>

Hello,

I saved my triangle mesh to STL format with vtk. But it didn’t contain any cell field information besides normals. Here is a copy of the ASCII file written:

![image](https://discourse.vtk.org/uploads/default/original/2X/6/679d4e92d9ce52df4b5789d682cd527c5bcc73cb.png)

Thank you

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![jaswantp](https://discourse.vtk.org/user_avatar/discourse.vtk.org/jaswantp/32/10046_2.png) [@jaswantp](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/jaswantp)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2024, 10:54pm UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/is-it-possible-to-write-field-data-with-vtkstlwriter/14177/2 "2024-07-05T22:54:17Z")

</div>

Hey, I don’t think the STL file format has support for storing arbitrary data other than the coordinates and topology.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lassoan](https://discourse.vtk.org/user_avatar/discourse.vtk.org/lassoan/32/50_2.png) [@lassoan](https://discourse.vtk.org/u/lassoan)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2024, 12:15pm UTC](https://discourse.vtk.org/t/is-it-possible-to-write-field-data-with-vtkstlwriter/14177/3 "2024-07-07T12:15:28Z")

</div>

You can store a little metadata in the comment field. For example, 3D Slicer stores coordinate system unit (mm) and axis directions (LPS/RAS); MIMICS stores RGB color there.