stl2ply

This page shows the steps necessary to convert a binary STL file into the Cyberware PLY format. There are two paths, one from Mtool/PlyTool (may require a license) and one using the command-line converter stl2ply:

Mtool/PlyTool

Following is an example of how to use Mtool to open an STL file and save it in the Cyberware PLY file format:

  1. Launch Mtool/PlyTool by double-clicking the icon or by selecting the program from the Start menu ( Start | All Programs | headus | Mtool/PlyTool):

    2. You'll see the PlyTool/Mtool application on your screen.

    Mtool/PlyTool
    Mtool/PlyTool
  2. Click on the white arrow next to Input:
    3. Input Button
    Input Button

    You will now see the file selection dialog boxes; Mesh Input and Input Type.

    Input Dialogs
    Input Button
  3. Select .obj from the Input Type dialog. This will filter the file selection dialog box so that OBJ files are the only files that are displayed.
    4. File Loaded
    File Loaded
  4. In the Mesh Input windows, navigate to the folder that contains the STL file that you would like to convert to PLY.
  5. Click one time on the desired input file, then click the green Input button. The software will process the STL file and load it into the Input area of the main window:
    File Loaded
    File Loaded
  6. Click on the Sort Faces checkbox to activate this option:
    7. Sort Faces
    Sort Faces
  7. Click on the white arrow next to Output.
    8. Open the Mesh Output Dialog
    Open the Mesh Output Dialog

    You should no see the Mesh Output and Output Type dialogs:

    Output Dialogs
    Output Dialogs
  8. In the Mesh Output window, in the text area above the Show, Output and Dismiss buttons, enter the complete file name. In this example, we have used boat.ply:
    9. Select File
    Select the PLY File
  9. Click .ply from the list, if it is not already selected:
    Select the Output Type
    Select the Output Type (.ply)
  10. Click the green Output button in the Mesh Output window to save the file into the same directory as the original PLY file.

    11. If you would like to save the file to some other directory, navigate to that directory in the Mesh Output window, then click the Output button.

    Output PLY
    Output PLY
  11. Click the green Convert button in the Mtool/PlyTool window:
    12. Convert PLY
    Convertut PLY

    After a small time, you should see Conversion Complete in the Console:

    Conversion Complete
    Conversion Complete
  12. Click the red Exit button in the main Mtool/PlyTool window to exit the program.
    13. Exit the Program
    Exit the Program
  13. Confirm that you would like to exit the program by clicking the red Exit button in the Exit? window.
    14. Exit the Program
    Exit the Program

stl2ply

Following are the complete usage instructions for this converter. A typical conversion will look like the following:

stl2ply infile.stl outfile.ply