<html> <head> <title> TRI_SURFACE_TO_PLY - Convert data from TRI_SURFACE to PLY format </title> </head> <body bgcolor="#EEEEEE" link="#CC0000" alink="#FF3300" vlink="#000055"> <h1 align = "center"> TRI_SURFACE_TO_PLY <br> Convert data from TRI_SURFACE to PLY format </h1> <hr> <p> <b>TRI_SURFACE_TO_PLY</b> is a MATLAB program 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. </p> <p> A <b>TRI_SURFACE</b> or triangulated mesh surface, is described by a pair of arrays: <ul> <li> a <b>node coordinate</b> array containing the coordinates of nodes; </li> <li> a <b>triangle node</b> array containing triples of the indices of the nodes used to form each triangle; </li> </ul> </p> <p> A <b>PLY</b> file contains a sophisticated data structure describing a polygonal surface. A triangulated mesh is a very simply case of such a surface; a <b>PLY</b> file can also describe a mesh surface involving higher order polygons, and it can contain auxilliary information about normal vectors and so on. </p> <h3 align = "center"> Usage: </h3> <p> <blockquote> <b>tri_surface_to_ply</b> ( <i>prefix</i> ) </blockquote> where <ul> <li> <i>prefix</i><b>_nodes.txt</b> contains the node coordinates. </li> <li> <i>prefix</i><b>_elements.txt</b> contains the indices of nodes forming each triangular element. </li> <li> <i>prefix</i><b>.ply</b> is the PLY file created by the command. </li> </ul> </p> <h3 align = "center"> Licensing: </h3> <p> The computer code and data files described and made available on this web page are distributed under <a href = "../../txt/gnu_lgpl.txt">the GNU LGPL license.</a> </p> <h3 align = "center"> Related Data and Programs: </h3> <p> <a href = "../../m_src/bezier_surface_display/bezier_surface_display.html"> BEZIER_SURFACE_DISPLAY</a>, a MATLAB program which reads two files defining a Bezier surface and displays it. </p> <p> <a href = "../../m_src/fem_basis_t3_display/fem_basis_t3_display.html"> FEM_BASIS_T3_DISPLAY</a>, a MATLAB program which displays a basis function associated with a linear triangle ("T3") mesh. </p> <p> <a href = "../../m_src/fem_basis_t6_display/fem_basis_t6_display.html"> FEM_BASIS_T6_DISPLAY</a>, a MATLAB program which reads a quadratic triangle mesh and displays any associated basis function. </p> <p> <a href = "../../data/ply/ply.html"> PLY</a>, a data directory which contains a description and examples of PLY files. </p> <p> <a href = "../../m_src/ply_display/ply_display.html"> PLY_DISPLAY</a>, a MATLAB program which displays an image of a 3D graphics file in PLY format; </p> <p> <a href = "../../c_src/ply_to_obj/ply_to_obj.html"> PLY_TO_OBJ</a>, a C program which reads a PLY 3D graphics file and writes an equivalent OBJ graphics file. </p> <p> <a href = "../../m_src/ply_to_tri_surface/ply_to_tri_surface.html"> PLY_TO_TRI_SURFACE</a>, a MATLAB program which can read a <b>PLY</b> file, extract the polygonal surface information, and return it as a TRI_SURFACE dataset. </p> <p> <a href = "../../data/polygonal_surface/polygonal_surface.html"> POLYGONAL_SURFACE</a>, a data directory which contains examples of polygonal surface files. </p> <p> <a href = "../../m_src/stla_display/stla_display.html"> STLA_DISPLAY</a>, a MATLAB program which reads an ASCII <b>STL</b> file and displays it. </p> <p> <a href = "../../data/tri_surface/tri_surface.html"> TRI_SURFACE</a>, a data directory which contains examples of TRI_SURFACE files. </p> <p> <a href = "../../m_src/tri_surface_display/tri_surface_display.html"> TRI_SURFACE_DISPLAY</a>, a MATLAB program which can display a TRI_SURFACE. </p> <p> <a href = "../../m_src/tri_surface_io/tri_surface_io.html"> TRI_SURFACE_IO</a>, a MATLAB library which reads and writes the 3D graphics information in a TRI_SURFACE file; </p> <p> <a href = "../../m_src/tri_surface_to_obj/tri_surface_to_obj.html"> TRI_SURFACE_TO_OBJ</a>, a MATLAB program which reads a TRI_SURFACE dataset and extracts the surface mesh data as an OBJ file. </p> <p> <a href = "../../m_src/tri_surface_to_stla/tri_surface_to_stla.html"> TRI_SURFACE_TO_STLA</a>, a MATLAB program which reads a TRI_SURFACE dataset and extracts the surface mesh data as an ASCII STL file. </p> <p> <a href = "../../cpp_src/triangulation_display_opengl/triangulation_display_opengl.html"> TRIANGULATION_DISPLAY_OPENGL</a>, a C++ program which reads files defining a triangulation and displays an image using Open GL. </p> <h3 align = "center"> Author: </h3> <p> The functions <b>PLY_WRITE.M</b> and <b>TRI_SURFACE_DATA_TO_PLY_DATA</b> were created by Pascal Getreuer. </p> <h3 align = "center"> Source Code: </h3> <p> <ul> <li> <a href = "tri_surface_to_ply.m">tri_surface_to_ply.m</a> the program. </li> </ul> </p> <h3 align = "center"> Examples and Tests: </h3> <p> <b>DART</b> is a simple dart shape, involving 5 nodes and 6 triangular faces. <ul> <li> <a href = "../../data/tri_surface/dart_nodes.txt"> dart_nodes.txt</a>, the node file; </li> <li> <a href = "../../data/tri_surface/dart_elements.txt"> dart_elements.txt</a>, the triangle file; </li> <li> <a href = "../../data/ply/dart.ply"> dart.ply</a>, the PLY file; </li> <li> <a href = "../../data/tri_surface/dart.png"> dart.png</a>, a PNG image. </li> </ul> </p> <p> You can go up one level to <a href = "../m_src.html"> the MATLAB source codes</a>. </p> <hr> <i> Last revised on 25 May 2012. </i> <!-- John Burkardt --> </body> <!-- Initial HTML skeleton created by HTMLINDEX. --> </html>