# Clipping based on .stl or .obj file

**URL:** https://discourse.paraview.org/t/clipping-based-on-stl-or-obj-file/11735
**Category:** ParaView Support
**Created:** [March 28, 2023, 11:43am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/clipping-based-on-stl-or-obj-file/11735 "2023-03-28T11:43:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![HiAeroCycling](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/67e7ee/32.png) [@HiAeroCycling](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/HiAeroCycling)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2023, 11:43am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/clipping-based-on-stl-or-obj-file/11735/1 "2023-03-28T11:43:43Z")

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Hi,  
Relatively new to ParaView. Looks like a quite simple operation, but cannot get it working.

I have results from openFoam and would like to Clip using a closed (watertight) .obj or .stl file. Is this possible?

Thx, Peter

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### Author: ![mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/mwestphal/32/17_2.png) [@mwestphal](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/mwestphal)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2023, 11:44am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/clipping-based-on-stl-or-obj-file/11735/2 "2023-03-28T11:44:16Z")

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@Charles_Gueunet

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### Author: ![Charles\_Gueunet](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/charles_gueunet/32/40_2.png) [@Charles\_Gueunet](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Charles_Gueunet)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2023, 12:51pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/clipping-based-on-stl-or-obj-file/11735/3 "2023-03-28T12:51:02Z")

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Hello @HiAeroCycling ,

If your meshes are already triangulated, or if you can afford to **Tetrahedarlize** and **Extract Surface** , you may be interested in [the vespa project](https://gitlab.kitware.com/vtk-cgal/vespa), which brings powerful geometry processing filters to ParaView thanks to the [CGAL library](https://www.cgal.org/).  
In your case, you may want to look at the boolean operations as described in [the following blog](https://www.kitware.com/vespa-advanced-mesh-processing-based-on-cgal-for-vtk-and-paraview/)

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### Author: ![HiAeroCycling](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/67e7ee/32.png) [@HiAeroCycling](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/HiAeroCycling)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2023, 1:09pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/clipping-based-on-stl-or-obj-file/11735/4 "2023-03-28T13:09:50Z")

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Dear Charles,

Thanks for shift response. I’ll have a look at those options.

Just to make sure: there is no “simple” Clipping available for this in ParaView? I mean instead of using “box” or “sphere”, using a .stl or .obj?

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### Author: ![Charles\_Gueunet](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/charles_gueunet/32/40_2.png) [@Charles\_Gueunet](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Charles_Gueunet)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2023, 1:27pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/clipping-based-on-stl-or-obj-file/11735/5 "2023-03-28T13:27:36Z")

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Not that I am aware of unfortunatley.

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### Author: ![Kenneth\_Moreland](https://discourse.paraview.org/user_avatar/discourse.paraview.org/kenneth_moreland/32/15033_2.png) [@Kenneth\_Moreland](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Kenneth_Moreland)
#### Post date: [March 28, 2023, 1:39pm UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/clipping-based-on-stl-or-obj-file/11735/6 "2023-03-28T13:39:29Z")

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Here is a trick that might help: [Slice/Clip with a surface](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/slice-clip-with-a-surface/9436)

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### Author: ![HiAeroCycling](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/h/67e7ee/32.png) [@HiAeroCycling](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/HiAeroCycling)
#### Post date: [March 29, 2023, 11:09am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/clipping-based-on-stl-or-obj-file/11735/7 "2023-03-29T11:09:34Z")

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Hi Kenneth,

Thx. Tried many times, but no luck. Result was nothing.

Attached screenshots of Input files and the empty Output

Anny suggestions?

 ![2023-03-29 11_16_02-ParaView 5.11.0-RC1](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/2X/4/4a886a371022fcd24bbe88538fa8f66cdcc0fda4.jpeg)  
 ![2023-03-29 11_16_40-ParaView 5.11.0-RC1](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/2X/0/0747be1c23ae41df9ddde07ddc3dbc50bf60d7d1.jpeg)  
 ![2023-03-29 11_18_21-ParaView 5.11.0-RC1](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/2X/5/598c085a44d91c493f5b820e8b1084e6e0d8ede9.jpeg)  
 ![2023-03-29 11_18_41-ParaView 5.11.0-RC1](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/2X/0/04758f18322fb54a3688969fa2bea2fa55748874.jpeg)  
 ![2023-03-29 13_04_34-ParaView 5.11.0-RC1](https://discourse.paraview.org/uploads/default/original/2X/9/94c9317dab2ecd318da115b4d6a21f22f07fe525.jpeg)

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### Author: ![Jacob12354](https://discourse.paraview.org/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/j/ecccb3/32.png) [@Jacob12354](https://discourse.paraview.org/u/Jacob12354)
#### Post date: [October 25, 2023, 12:10am UTC](https://discourse.paraview.org/t/clipping-based-on-stl-or-obj-file/11735/8 "2023-10-25T00:10:39Z")

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Hi Peter,

I wanted to inquire if you had made it. I also need to use a stl file to clip my data.

Cheers,  
Jacob