Render Point Clouds in Blender with Cycles (.ply)

UPDATE - If you are using Blender 3.6.8 or above, color attributes are supported natively in the PLY importer, so you can skip to 01:36 in this tutorial, please note the new native importer is called "Stanford PLY (.ply)". and the checkboxes on the importer dialog are optional.
In this video I show you how to import a .ply file into Blender and render it with colour attributes using cycles.
You can find the import-ply-as-verts repository here:
github.com/Tom...
You can find the pointcloud file used in this tutorial here (click the download link underneath the 3D viewer):
sketchfab.com/...
You can see my previous video on Point Cloud Visualizer here:
• Point Cloud Visualizer...

[@milx675]

Hi! I've exported a .ply with PointCloud Visualizer (done the editing, changing the size of the points and changing colors) Then i've imported it and rendered using cycles as you show here. The thing is I see the points too big now (I think it's like a default size) and I don't know how to change those parameters without Pcv. Also I would like to apply the keyframes to the opacity of the points, so they appear slowly as you show on the other tutorial. Is there any way I can do that without pcv? Thank you :)

[@Nicko16]

Oh yes, if you go into the the geometry nodes nodetree you can set 'Radius' in the 'Mesh to Points' node (02:59), that should change the size. If you set the 'Alpha' value of the 'Principled BSDF' shader (3:34) you can change the opacity. To add a keyframe, hover over the value and press 'I', the value should turn yellow.

[@manuelresch7012]

Im completely new to Blender (worked with c4d so far but more on the experimental side, not to say i goofed around there) and this tutorial was exactly what i tried to achieve for a while. At the beginning i thought this is taking ages to install and set up but man was i wrong worked perfectly for me thank you so much!!

[@zijielim4652]

THANK YOU I HAVE BEEN IN PAIN TRYIN OVER AND OVER, FINALLY A REAL SOLUTION

[@tachikoma099]

Thank you, this was incredibly helpful.

[@giorgimikava1327]

hello , truly great tutorial thanks alot. i have one question, why my color attribute isnt showing the texture, i can see Col attribute but texture isnt still there. is there anything i can do?thanks one more time...

[@SueHui]

Thank you! I'm new to point cloud. This video helped me a lot!

[@cfarr41]

Worked perfectly, thanks so much for this tutorial!

[@borisandreev1694]

Great tutorial, Nicko16. Kinda dumb question, but is it possible to animate those vertex points and make them collide or interact with one another using geometry nodes? I can't seem to find many tutorials covering this.

[@mtscott44]

Awesome channel, top work man. Thanks for sharing!

[@muhammadzia7191]

Thank you so much Nicko16! you made my day 😇

[@crypto-nerd7031]

thats Greaaaattttt , i wanted to do it since long time, finally it´s work ,,, thanksssssssssssssss👍👍👍👍👍

[@boop3260]

This is so helpful, thank you so much!

[@williamscoott]

Everything works except applying the color, does anyone know why?

[@17ndrei]

man i love u for real

[@philippwohner-drawingandan5705]

big crazy thanks!!!! works also in 3.4 🙂

[@gertduvenhage2822]

Very good tutorial Thanks Nicko16

[@floppy12k]

This is so good. thank you!!

[@johnrogers3315]

Fabulous, thanks very much

[@eddiepersa1752]

thanks Nicko! I have a problem. When I import a .ply file with this method, the color attribute is not present with the file. what could be happening ? I'm using KIRI engine to scan with my android Phone. Thanks again !

[@eejj4387]

When I use other instance to replace default(I do not know what instance), the color info can not render

[@solovastrudenis6243]

I have blender 4.0 , It s the only one that appears when i go to the blender foundation - “ blender 4.0 “ and i don t Find the import mash PLY Maybe u know Why ?

[@elianaranti]

same problem here. did you find a solution?

[@hallohallo7846]

HI! I have problems importing the script in mac! I read that I can't just import them as an add on but can't seem to find the right location in blender library. Anyone has a tip or a link to a good tutorial? thanks!

[@dawei886]

I have the same problem, it seems nobody use Mac here 😅

[@dawei886]

/Users/YOUR ACCOUNT/Library/Application Support/Blender/3.4/scripts/addons/import-ply-as-verts-main

[@fashionbreakertv]

@@dawei886 Did this work for you? On my addons folder I don't find the import-ply-as-verts-main folder...

[@jippee1]

How to convert point cloud to mesh?? And not just instance points on verts

[@Nicko16]

You might be interested in point cloud visualiser, which has the capability to remesh a point cloud: blendermarket.com/products/pcv

[@geoproces]

Hi nice work !! can you Import that into the Babylon.js ?

[@Marcelmikael]

Sensei, can a scene be save as ply in blender and if that's possible, then can the scene be imported into blender with the point cloud addons to have the effect? 🙏

[@andreimariuteac]

I'm pretty new to blender, is this still the best way to use .ply in blender today, or are they natively supported now?

[@Nicko16]

Hi! Blender now has native support for colours in .ply (at least since 3.6.8). So you don't need to do the first part of this tutorial. You can skip to about 01:36

[@andreimariuteac]

@@Nicko16 Thanks for the reply! Your content has been really helpful so far and made learning 3D really fun for me! Cheers

[@Marcelmikael]

After the importation the computer went wild with them exhaust

[@Milan23_]

Is there any fix for this? i dont see VertexColors Only when importing. Neither in blender 4.0, 3.6.1 or 3.1.2 please help

[@selikutame7132]

how do i replace the ply files on mac :(

[@oaklandulfeldt]

I have this same question!

[@eejj4387]

Close this blender file and open it second time, the node mesh to point is invalid！ why？

[@johanneszwilling]

Doesn't work in Eevee! Why would that be?

[@Nicko16]

Currently rendering the points object isn't supported for Eevee, though it might be at some point in the future.

[@mipe7755]

Maybe Eevee Next will be capable of that, hopefully!

[@ol_OwO_lo]

Hi! I followed the steps to import my .ply. But there is no Color Attributes option, only Attributes🥲 Does anyone know why?

[@Nicko16]

Just a guess, but you might be using an older version of Blender that doesn't yet support the 'Color Attributes' panel, this tutorial is made in version 3.2.0

[@penelopesaladfingers426]

me too, also dont have the verts to colors only option on the import

[@ZephyrinSkies]

Thank you, this was incredibly helpful.