The Complete STL to PLY Conversion Guide
Table of Contents
- General Information
- Converting and Optimizing STL Files to PLY
- What are STL and PLY files commonly used for?
- Comparison of Features Supported by STL and PLY
- Limitations of STL Files to PLY Conversion Workflow
- What's the best way to get STL files into my 3D applications, and are there alternatives to using PLY?
General Information
This guide is part of the RapidPipeline 3D Formats Knowledge Database. It shows how to convert STL to PLY, if you'd like to know more about the formats, please check out the following links:
Converting and Optimizing STL Files to PLY
There are various ways to convert between STL and PLY. With RapidPipeline, you can easily convert and and optimize STL files, at scale. It supports PLY, as well as many other file formats (examples: 3dsMax, CATIA, FBX, glTF, OBJ, STEP, USD, USDZ, VRM), at high quality.
Below you can find a video explaining how to convert your files:
Comparison of Features Supported by STL and PLY
| Feature | Supported by STL | Supported by PLY |
|---|---|---|
| Morph Targets | No | No |
| Rigid Animations | No | No |
| Skinned Animations | No | No |
| Animations | No | No |
| Free-Form Surfaces | No | No |
| Geometry Compression | No | No |
| Quad Meshes | No | Yes |
| Basic 3D Geometry | Yes | Yes |
| PBR Materials | No | No |
| Transparent Materials | No | No |
| Vertex Colors | No | Yes |
| Materials | No | Partial |
| Scene Composition | No | No |
| Hierarchical Scene Graph | No | No |
| Scene Nodes | No | No |
| Standardized Format | Yes | No0 |
| Embedded Textures | No | No |
| Multiple UV Channels | No | No |
| Normal Mapping | No | No |
| Procedural Textures | No | No |
| Texture Compression | No | No |
| Texture Transforms | No | No |
| Texturing | No | Partial |
Limitations of STL Files to PLY Conversion Workflow
The following limitations should be taken into account when converting STL files to PLY format:
| STL Feature (not supported by PLY) | Limitation Details |
|---|---|
| Standardized Format |   Standardized Format: supported in STL, but not in PLY. Standardization plays a huge role in 3D model formats. With a format being standardized, every application will have a clear way of how to load or store data using this format. This makes it easier to re-use the 3D model across different applications, but also to make sure it will still be accessible and usable after a couple of years. |
What's the best way to get STL files into my 3D applications, and are there alternatives to using PLY?
Doing 3D conversion right, especially at scale, can be tricky, as 3D data is in general a rather complex (yet very powerful!) medium. This also applies to STL and PLY files - the conversion guide above provides a rough first idea about that. Once you know what you would like to do, tools like RapidPipeline can help you perform the necessary steps, and to even automate the process for thousands or even millions of files.
Especially when introducing pipelines and workflows at scale in an enterprise context, it is usually good to rely on dedicated tools and expertise, making sure you do not introduce any steps into your 3D workflow that are detrimental to the final output's quality, or that take your team too much time (and money).
If you're interested to hire dedicated expertise from the best in the field to help your company reach your goals fast and reliably, please do not hestitate to contact DGG. Being the creators of RapidPipeline, and ambassadors for open 3D standards for more than a decade, we have been building some of the world's most advanced 3D pipelines, having processed many millions of 3D assets.
Therefore, our expertise will help you to reach your goals faster, at scale, and with the least possible friction, since we are focused on maximum interoperability.
To get started with 3D data conversion and optimization today, sign up for a free account!
If you have any questions, feel free to chat with our human team.
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