ply_to_tri_surface

ply_to_tri_surface, a MATLAB code which reads data from a PLY file describing a polygonal mesh of a 3D surface,and converts it to a pair of arrays describing a 3D triangular mesh or TRI_SURFACE.

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.

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;

Usage:

[ node_xyz, triangle_node] = ply_to_tri_surface ( 'ply_file_name' )

• 'ply_file_name' is the name of the PLY file to be read;
• node_xyz is the node coordinate array;
• triangle_node is the triangle node array.

Licensing:

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

Languages:

ply_to_tri_surface is available in a MATLAB version.

Related Data and codes:

ply_to_tri_surface_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.

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

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_io, a C code which reads or writes a PLY file.

ply_io, a MATLAB code which reads or writes a PLY file.

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

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.

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

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_ply, a MATLAB code which converts TRI_SURFACE data to data suitable for storage as a PLY file.

triangulation_display_opengl, a C++ code which reads files defining a triangulation and displays an image using OpenGL.

Author:

Original MATLAB version of ply_read() and ply_to_tri_surface() by Pascal Getreuer. This version by John Burkardt.

Source Code:

• i4mat_transpose_print_some.m, prints some of the transpose of an I4MAT.
• i4mat_write.m, writes an I4MAT file.
• ply_to_tri_surface.m converts PLY data to TRI_SURFACE data.
• r8mat_transpose_print_some.m, prints some of the transpose of an R8MAT.
• r8mat_write.m, writes an R8MAT file.
• s_len_trim.m returns the length of a string to the last nonblank.
• tri_surface_to_ply.m converts TRI_SURFACE data to PLY format.
• tri_surface_write.m writes graphics information to a TRI_SURFACE file.