tri_surface_to_ply

tri_surface_to_ply, a MATLAB code which reads data describing a triangular mesh of a 3D surface, reformats it into a PLY data structure, and then writes it to a PLY file.

A TRI_SURFACE 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;

A PLY file contains a sophisticated data structure describing a polygonal surface. 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.

Usage:

tri_surface_to_ply ( prefix )

• prefix_nodes.txt contains the node coordinates.
• prefix_elements.txt contains the indices of nodes forming each triangular element.
• prefix.ply is the PLY file created by the command.

Licensing:

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

Languages:

tri_surface_to_ply is available in a MATLAB version and an Octave version.

Related Data and Programs:

tri_surface_to_ply_test

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

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

fem_basis_t6_display, a MATLAB 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.

ply_display, a MATLAB code which displays an image of a 3D graphics file in PLY format;

ply_to_obj, a C code which reads a PLY 3D graphics file and writes an equivalent OBJ graphics file.

ply_to_tri_surface, a MATLAB code which reads a PLY file, extracts the polygonal surface information, and returns a TRI_SURFACE dataset.

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

stla_display, a MATLAB code which reads an ASCII STL file and displays it.

tri_surface, a data directory which contains examples of TRI_SURFACE files.

tri_surface_display, a MATLAB code which displays a TRI_SURFACE.

tri_surface_io, a MATLAB code which reads and writes the 3D graphics information in a TRI_SURFACE file;

tri_surface_to_obj, a MATLAB code which reads a TRI_SURFACE dataset and extracts the surface mesh data as an OBJ file.

tri_surface_to_stla, a MATLAB code which reads a TRI_SURFACE dataset and extracts the surface mesh data as an ASCII STL file.

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

Author:

The functions PLY_WRITE() and TRI_SURFACE_DATA_TO_PLY_DATA() were created by Pascal Getreuer.

Source Code:

• tri_surface_to_ply.m the source code.