PLY to STEP: convert scanned meshes into CAD solids
Last updated by the stl2step team
stl2step converts PLY meshes to STEP by fitting real CAD surfaces (planes, cylinders, cones, spheres, tori and B-splines) to the triangles and sewing them into one closed solid. The PLY needs faces, not only points, and must be closed; meshes up to 150,000 triangles convert in minutes.
PLY files from scanners and photogrammetry
- The PLY must contain faces. A PLY with only points (a point cloud) can't be converted directly; mesh it first, for example with screened Poisson reconstruction in MeshLab or CloudCompare.
- Vertex colors are ignored. Only the geometry is converted.
- Close the mesh. Scans usually have holes where the scanner couldn't see. Fill them before converting so a solid can be built.
- Decimate dense scans. The limit is 150,000 triangles and 50 MB; scans often have millions of triangles.
What to expect from a scanned part
Noise and missing data hide the exact shape, so flat and cylindrical regions of a scan are recovered as analytic faces where the data supports it and as smooth B-splines elsewhere. The cleaner the scan, the more planes and cylinders you get back.
Questions
Can stl2step convert a point cloud?
Not directly. The PLY needs faces (a mesh). Reconstruct a mesh from the points first, then convert it.
Can I convert PLY to STEP for free?
Yes. New accounts get 3 free conversions with the STEP download.