PLY-G(1)

NAME

ply-g - convert a Stanford PLY file to a BRL-CAD database

On this page

SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
OPTIONS
EXAMPLES
SEE ALSO
AUTHOR
COPYRIGHT
BUG REPORTS

SYNOPSIS

ply-g [-s scale_factor] [-d] [-v] input_file.ply output_file.g

ply-g converts the geometry in a Stanford PLY file (ASCII or binary) into a BRL-CAD .g database via the GCV conversion library. The resulting BRL-CAD model contains the triangulated mesh described by input_file.ply.

PLY data is conventionally expressed in meters, so by default the input coordinates are scaled by 1000.0 to produce a model in BRL-CAD’s base unit of millimeters. Use -s to override this factor.

OPTIONS

-s scale_factor: Multiply all input coordinates by scale_factor instead of the default of 1000.0. For example, a value of 1.0 keeps the data in its original units and a value of 500 produces a model half the default size.
-d: Enable the GCV debug flag, producing additional low-level diagnostic output during conversion.
-v: Run verbosely, reporting progress and details about the conversion.

EXAMPLES

Example 1. Convert a binary PLY scan and inspect it

ply-g bunny.ply bunny.g
mged bunny.g 'tops'

Convert the PLY mesh bunny.ply into the database bunny.g, then list the top-level objects with mged(1) to verify the imported geometry.

Example 2. Preserve native units

ply-g -s 1.0 model.ply model.g

Import model.ply without the default meters-to-millimeters scaling, leaving the coordinates exactly as stored in the file.