Importing 3D Outcrop Data

VRGS supports a variety of formats for both point clouds and mesh data. The common 3D data formats that VRGS supports include OBJ, PLY, LAS/LAZ and Leica PTS/PTX, along with a variety of ASCII types. Supported 3D File Formats lists every one, with what it brings in and its limits. Other formats may be added as requested (if possible).

There is no single "Import" dialog. Import is a property of the thing you are importing: you right-click the group in the project tree that the data belongs in, and the file dialog that opens offers the formats that group accepts. The method is therefore the same for all 3D model data types:

1. Right + click the group in the Data tree that you'd like to import the data into (e.g. Triangular Meshes).
2. A drop-down menu will appear. Choose Import → From File….
3. Navigate to the file to import.
4. Select the file type that suits the data.

The file-type dropdown is the authoritative list

The tables below cover the formats you are most likely to meet. The dropdown in the import dialog is always current — if you are wondering whether VRGS can read something, right-click the group it would live in and look. The full picture is in Getting Data In and Out.

Initial import of data may be slow, but once saved within VRGS, data loading is much faster.

Below are descriptions of the common 3D model data types that may be imported into VRGS.

1. Point cloud data

VRGS can import several point cloud filetypes via Data tree → Point Clouds → Import → From File…. Import functions support multiple attributes in the input file.

Type	Extension	Description
LAS Lidar Exchange File	.las	The standard uncompressed exchange format for lidar point cloud data.
Compressed LAS	.laz	The compressed form of LAS. Imported directly — no need to unpack it first.
PLY	.ply	The Stanford Triangle Format, or Stanford Polygon File Format (PLY) format stores 3D geometric data and colour information. The points may contain scalar information (e.g. RGB colour).
E57	.e57	The ASTM open exchange format for laser-scan data. Every scan in the file comes in, registered by its pose, as one cloud.
Cyclone PTX / PTS	.ptx, .pts	Leica Cyclone exchange formats for terrestrial scans.
Arcinfo ASCII	.asc	A non-proprietary, non-binary ESRI grid format. A whole folder of .asc grids can also be imported in one pass.
USGS DEM	.dem	Digital Elevation Model from the US Geological Survey.
Band Interleaved by Line	.bil	A format that accepts multi-band raster files.
TIFF elevation	.tif, .tiff	Elevation rasters, including GeoTIFF.
PIF Point Cloud	.pif, .pf	The PIF file is a point cloud that is a PolyWorks-specific file.
VRGS Point Cloud File	.pcl	A point cloud file saved by an earlier VRGS, read only from the project's own data folder. To bring models over from another project's data folder, use Recover from data folder.
ASCII Points (columns)	.txt, .csv, .xyz, .xyzrgb, or any file under All Files	Column-based text data: you say what each column holds in the import dialog.

For example, the steps below are used to import a generic ASCII point cloud.

1. Data is imported via the Import menu from the Point Clouds group, or by dragging a .txt, .csv or .xyz file onto a 3D view.
2. Select ASCII Points (columns) (or All Files) as the format in the File dialog. The Import ASCII Point Cloud dialog opens on a preview of the file's first lines, split into columns.
3. VRGS guesses the delimiter, the lines to skip, whether a header line names the columns, and what each column holds — from the header names (X, Easting, Red, Intensity …) when there are any, otherwise from the number of columns. Check the guess: change the Delimiter (spaces/tabs, comma, tab, semicolon), Skip lines, or Next line names the columns if it is wrong.
4. Click a column in the preview and choose what it holds under Use as: X, Y, Z, Red, Green, Blue, Intensity, Attribute (give it a name) or Ignore. The column headings show the choice, and lines that will not be read as points are greyed out.
5. Tick Scale X Y Z from and choose the unit if the coordinates are not in metres, then click OK. OK to All reads the rest of a multi-file selection the same way, asking again only for a file with a different number of columns.

Clouds too big to hold at once

Every point cloud is read whole into memory. VRGS estimates the memory a file needs first, and asks Load it anyway? when it will not fit. Thin or split a survey too big for memory before importing it, then see Working with Large Models.

2. Meshes

Meshes are imported via Data tree → Triangular Meshes → Import → From File…. The easiest way to import an OBJ or PLY file is to drag and drop it from a directory/folder into the 3D view.

Type	Extension	Description
Wavefront OBJ	.obj	The preferred format. Imported as a mesh only. Textures are supported if an MTL file is present.
PLY	.ply	Can be imported as either a point cloud or a triangulated mesh. If imported as a mesh, textures are supported, and an associated texture is imported automatically.
glTF / GLB	.gltf, .glb	Imported with materials and textures.
FBX	.fbx	Imported with materials and textures.
STL	.stl	Geometry only — STL carries no colour or texture.

The preferred format for meshes is OBJ: it keeps full-precision coordinates, which glTF, GLB, FBX and STL do not. See Supported 3D File Formats for what each format brings in.

Scan Folder (OBJ Files) on the same menu imports every OBJ in a folder, which is how most photogrammetry packages emit a tiled export.

Once a mesh is in, its own Textures → Import submenu takes a texture separately — a texture map, a height map, or a Pix4D OPF project file.

Drag and drop

Dropping a file onto the 3D view or the project tree imports it without any menus. It works for most point-cloud and mesh formats — OBJ, PLY, LAS, LAZ, PTS, PTX, ASC, glTF, GLB, FBX, STL and SLPK among them — and for images dropped onto the 3D view. A file that needs the tree menu instead is named in the messages panel; Supported 3D File Formats lists which is which.

Common Issues

There are a few common problems that occur when importing meshes. Possible solutions are outlined here.

1. ❓ My mesh lacks the resolution I see in my photogrammetric software.

   This is usually because of missing textures. Either you have not exported the model with textures from the photogrammetric software, or you may have moved the file from where you exported it and not moved the additional files as well.

   An OBJ file will have an MTL file and one or more textures associated with it. The MTL and textures MUST be in the same folder as the OBJ file, if not then VRGS will not be able to find the textures and will import the OBJ with vertex colours only.

2. ❓ My mesh doesn't have any colour - it's black and white!

   This usually a problem with PLY 3D models. There is a simple fix that only requires you to open the attributes of the mesh and turn (tick box ☑️) on the Red, Green, and Blue one by one.

3. ❓ My model is in the wrong place, or nowhere near the other data.

   The model and the project are probably in different coordinate systems, or the model was exported with a local origin. Set the project's coordinate system before importing — see Setting the coordinate system.