PLY viewer: open a PLY file online
Drop a .ply file and it opens in your browser under studio lighting, ready to turn and zoom. PLY is the format many 3D scanners and photogrammetry tools export, so it is a quick way to check a scan of a ring before it goes into CAD. The viewer shows PLY files that contain faces. Nothing is installed and the file is not uploaded.
3D Jewelry Designer1 min read
Open a PLY file
Where PLY files come from
PLY, the Polygon File Format from Stanford, is what many structured-light scanners and photogrammetry tools write. For jewellery it usually means a scan of a real piece: useful for checking the capture, a starting point for CAD, rarely the final model.
From a scan to a product image
A clean scan can be rendered as it is. For a product page, a remodelled CAD file gives separate metal and stones, so each can take its own material.
Questions
Why does my PLY scan not show a surface?
Some scans are saved as points only, with no faces joining them, so there is no surface to render. Mesh the scan in your scanning software and export it again.
Is a scan accurate enough to weigh?
It depends on the scanner. A scan is a surface with no separate stones, so a weight from it counts the stones as metal. A CAD file is the better source for a weight.
Related
- 3DM viewer: open a Rhino file online
Open a Rhino .3dm file in your browser, rendered as jewellery, with every part, its layer and whether it is metal or stone listed. No Rhino needed.
- DAE viewer: open a Collada file online
Open a Collada .dae file from SketchUp and other tools in your browser, rendered with jewellery materials and its parts listed. Nothing uploaded.
- FBX viewer: open an FBX file online
Open an .fbx file from Maya, 3ds Max or Blender in your browser, rendered with jewellery materials and its parts listed. Nothing to install.