vtk.js: reading gzipped, binary STLs with vtkSTLReader

Support
1

Hi,

I’m using vtk.js to read in and display locally stored STL files in the browser, which so far is working great for binary STLs. It works for reading/displaying remotely stored files as well, but the file size can be quite big.

var read = vtkSTLReader.newInstance();
read.setUrl( stl_url , { binary:true }).then(  update.bind(2, i, map), vdErrHandler.bind(2, i)  ) ;

Gzipping binary STLs gives me files which are ~half the size, so I am curious if such files can be read in with vtk.js? Any sort of hints in how to do so? I’ve looked into the source code, but I don’t have enough of a software background to understand it well enough. The following command yields no console warnings/errors, but also does not load any files. Anyone have any tips/advice? Or is this perhaps not a supported functionality?

read.setUrl( stl_url.gz , { compression:'gz', binary:true }).then(  update.bind(2, i, map), vdErrHandler.bind(2, i)  ) ;
2

Ok, through testing different methods, it seems ASCII STL can be loaded as gzip, by simply specifying compression:‘gz’. Is it a bug that this compression flag doesn’t work for binary files? Or perhaps user error in how I am setting the compression and binary options?

read.setUrl( stl_ascii_url.gz , { compression:'gz' }).then(  update.bind(2, i, map), vdErrHandler.bind(2, i)  ) ;
3

probably the decompression pass may not be implemented for the binary branch.