Meshlab is a special type of program that helps process unstructured 3D models and meshes that come from 3D scanning. 3D models tend to get very large, but the Meshlab Development Team has built a complete set of tools in the software that will help with editing, converting, rendering, inspecting and otherwise do some touching up. If you’ve ever used a 3D program before and had problems with mesh editing, this can really help.
Meshlab is set on the VCG library made at ISTI Computing Lab and relies on it for processing, and it works just fine. It is also packed with a lot of features, a lot of which are comparable to pricier 3D graphics software.
For instance, it has a lot of tools that allow you to select specific parts of a mesh and then delete them, very useful when working on complex models. One of the problems when working with 3D objects is they bloat quickly, so Meshlab’s editing tools really come in handy.
With Meshlab you can paint a mesh after selecting it and you can also smooth it out if necessary. The program supports multiple formats including VRML, STL, OBJ, 3DS, X3DV and many more. It is also capable of exporting to a handful of formats like OBJ, DXF, 3DS, etc, so after working on Meshlab you can export the object in another 3D program for more editing if you like.
Meshlab also lets you take out unreferenced and duplicate meshes, small isolated components and null faces as well. The program also has 3D scanning tools, inspection filters, colorization and more. You probably won’t be using all the features at once, but if you need a heavy duty 3D editor, look no further.
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