ply_io

ply_io, an Octave code which reads or writes data describing a 3D polygonal mesh in a PLY file.

A PLY file contains a sophisticated data structure describing a polygonal surface in 3D. A triangulated mesh is a very simply case of such a surface; a PLY file can also describe a mesh surface involving higher order polygons, and it can contain auxilliary information about normal vectors and so on.

A TRI_MESH or triangulated mesh surface, is described by a pair of arrays:

• a node coordinate array containing the coordinates of nodes;
• a triangle node array containing triples of the indices of the nodes used to form each triangle;

Licensing:

The information on this web page is distributed under the MIT license

Languages:

ply_io is available in a C version and a MATLAB version and an Octave version.

Related Data and Programs:

ply_io_test

bezier_surface_display, an Octave code which reads two files defining a Bezier surface and displays it.

fem_basis_t3_display, an Octave code which displays a basis function associated with a linear triangle ("T3") mesh.

fem_basis_t6_display, an Octave code which reads a quadratic triangle mesh and displays any associated basis function.

ply, a data directory which contains a description and examples of PLY files.

polygonal_surface, a data directory which contains examples of polygonal surface files.

stla_display, an Octave code which reads an ASCII stereolithography (STL) file and displays it.

triangulation_display, an Octave code which reads files defining a triangulation and displays an image.

Author:

Original MATLAB version by Pascal Getreuer. This version by John Burkardt.

Source Code:

• i4mat_transpose_print_some.m, prints some of the transpose of an I4MAT.
• ply_read.m reads a PLY file.
• ply_write.m writes a PLY file.
• ply_to_tri_mesh.m converts PLY data to TRI_MESH data.
• r8mat_transpose_print_some.m, prints some of the transpose of an R8MAT.
• s_len_trim.m returns the length of a string to the last nonblank.
• timestamp.m prints the current YMDHMS date as a time stamp.
• tri_mesh_to_ply.m converts TRI_MESH data to PLY data.