File Conversion Tutorial

This tutorial focuses on the basic operations in the PlyTool program. These basic operations are polygon reduction (to reduce the number of points in a dataset) and conversion of the file to another file format. Both of these actions are accessible from the PlyTool program.

Please refer to the PlyTool/Mtool User Guide (Login required) for more specific information on the program.

  1. Use Windows Explorer to navigate to the folder that contains the 'hires.ply' file (saved in the Scan Tutorial). This file should be in the '...\DigiSize\guide\download\hiresWB\' folder.
    2. [Download Folder]
    Download Folder
  2. Launch PlyTool
    3.

    To launch PlyTool, simply right-click the hires.ply file, then select Convert with PlyTool.

    [Launch PlyTool]
    Launch PlyTool

    PlyTool will now open on your desktop and appear similar to the following illustration:

    [PlyTool]
    PlyTool

    The file name should now appear in the Input section of the PlyTool window. The file name hires.ply should be loaded into PlyTool (saved earlier in this tutorial) before continuing with this tutorial.

  3. Continue to the Decimation section to continue this tutorial.

Decimation

There are several parameters that may be set by the user to achieve the best results from any given data set. For more information on the various settings, refer to the Decimation section of the CyDir user guide. For the purposes of this tutorial, only the level of decimation will be discussed.

There are two methods to adjusting the level of decimation. In the Decimate section of the PlyTool window, there are two values; Num (Number of Faces) and % (Percentage of Points).

[PlyTool]
PlyTool
  1. Number of Faces
    2.

    The Number of Faces value is set by default to the number of faces in the model listed in the Input section of the interface. The user can select a level of decimation using this value, by typing in a new number. This number is the target level of faces for the decimation program.

    For example, the number of faces in hires.ply is 700,852. If you would like to create a smaller model of 10,000 faces, you would simply type 10,000 into the Num area, replacing 700,852.

    Users must press the Enter key after making any changes in order for the software to accept the changes. The interface should now look like the example below:

    [PlyTool - Number of Faces Decimation]
    PlyTool - Number of Faces Decimation
  2. Percentage
    3.

    The Percentage value is based upon the number of faces in the selected PLY file. The level of decimation can be controlled using this value by entering a new percentage value. It is important to keep in mind that 100% is the full model (no decimation) while 0% would be a complete decimation.

    To reduce the model using the percentage value, simply enter a new value, the target reduction, and press the Enter key to allow the software to accept the new value.

    As an example, change the current percentage value from 1.4% (set in the previous Decimation tutorial steps) to 25%. This will instruct the software to attempt to reduce the data to ¼ of the original size. The interface should update to look similar to the illustration below:

    [PlyTool - Percentage Decimation]
    PlyTool - Percentage Decimation

File Format Conversion

For the purposes of this tutorial, we will perform a simple file conversion from the PLY file format to the STL file format. This section assumes that the user has already selected an input file in the steps above, and made changes to the decimation parameters.

  1. Sort Faces
    2.

    This selection is very important in any conversion process and should not be skipped if the program CyEat was used at any point in the model creation process. The process of combining data sets using CyEat leaves the model with data points that are not logically ordered.

    The Sort Faces checkbox will instruct PlyTool to reorganize all of the data points into a logically ordered data set. To activate this selection, simply check the Sort Faces checkbox by clicking on it with the left mouse button.

    [PlyTool - Sort Faces]
    PlyTool - Sort Faces
  2. Select the Output Format.
    3.

    To pick the output file name and file format type, click the white arrow to the right of the Output section in the PlyTool window.

    [PlyTool - Output]
    PlyTool - Output

    This action will open up a file dialog box and an additional window listing the available file formats.

    1. Click one time on the file, hires.ply. This will copy the filename into the lower part of window, easing the file naming process.
    2. Choose a file format, in this case .stl, from the Output Type window.
      3. [PlyTool - Output]
      PlyTool - Output
    3. Press the Output button.
      4. [PlyTool - Output]
      PlyTool - Output
  3. Convert the File.
    4.

    The final step is to convert the file and save it to disk. To do this, press the Convert button in the PlyTool window.

    [PlyTool - Convert]
    PlyTool - Convert
  4. Quit PlyTool.
    5.

    When PlyTool completes the file conversion, press the Exit button to leave the program.

    [PlyTool - Exit]
    PlyTool - Exit
  5. Confirm that you would like to exit the software by pressing the Exit button.