PLY Files
an ASCII Polygon format

These are some examples of PLY files. PLY files are a simple format for the description of objects that are a collection of polygons.

PLY files are:

• ASCII or binary
• 3D
• No compression
• 1 image

Example:

        ply
        format ascii 1.0           { ascii/binary, format version number }
        comment made by anonymous  { comments are keyword specified }
        comment this file is a cube
        element vertex 8           { define "vertex" element, 8 in file }
        property float32 x         { vertex contains float "x" coordinate }
        property float32 y         { y coordinate is also a vertex property }
        property float32 z         { z coordinate, too }
        element face 6             { there are 6 "face" elements in the file }
        property list uint8 int32 vertex_index 
                                   { "vertex_indices" is a list of ints }
        end_header                 { delimits the end of the header }
        0 0 0                      { start of vertex list }
        0 0 1
        0 1 1
        0 1 0
        1 0 0
        1 0 1
        1 1 1
        1 1 0
        4 0 1 2 3                  { start of face list }
        4 7 6 5 4
        4 0 4 5 1
        4 1 5 6 2
        4 2 6 7 3
        4 3 7 4 0
      

Reference:

1. Greg Turk,
   The PLY Polygon File Format,
   ply.txt.

Programs to read a PLY file:

• ply_io is a C library which contains routines to read a PLY file.
• ply_io is a MATLAB library which contains routines to read a PLY file.

Programs to create a PLY file:

• plato_ply creates a Platonic solid and writes it to a PLY file.

Programs to write a PLY file:

• ply_io is a C library which contains routines to write a PLY file.
• ply_io is a MATLAB library which contains routines to write a PLY file.

Programs to convert a PLY file to another format:

• ply_2_iv converts a PLY file to INVENTOR format.
• PLY_TO_OBJ is a C program which reads a PLY 3D graphics file and writes an equivalent OBJ graphics file.
• PLY_TO_TRI_MESH is a MATLAB program which reads a PLY 3D graphics file and writes an equivalent triangular mesh graphics file.

Programs to convert a file to PLY format:

• obj_2_ply converts a Wavefront OBJ file to PLY format.
• tri_mesh_to_ply an executable MATLAB program which converts a triangle mesh file to PLY format.

Sample PLY files:

• cow.ply, a BINARY PLY file;
• cube.ply, a cube, stored as an ASCII PLY file, created by plato_ply;
• dodecahedron.ply, a dodecahedron, stored as an ASCII PLY file, created by plato_ply;
• icosahedron.ply, an icosahedron, stored as an ASCII PLY file, created by plato_ply;
• octahedron.ply, an octahedron, stored as an ASCII PLY file, created by plato_ply;
• pyramid.ply, a pyramid, stored as an ASCII PLY file;
• shark.ply, a shark, stored as an ASCII PLY file;
• sphere.ply, a sphere, stored as an ASCII PLY file;
• tetrahedron.ply, a tetrahedron, stored as an ASCII PLY file, created by plato_ply;

You can go up one level to the DATA page.