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Mesh Context Menu

Commands available when right-clicking a Mesh (triangulated surface) object in the Data Tree. Meshes represent 3D surfaces composed of triangular faces with vertices, typically created from point clouds, photogrammetry, or imported from modelling software.

Navigation & Display​

Menu name: Navigate To Tooltip Navigate to the item in the 3D view.

What it does Centres and zooms the 3D viewport camera to frame the selected mesh. The camera is repositioned to show the entire mesh clearly within the view. See Navigate To for detailed documentation.

When to use it

  • You've selected a mesh but can't see it in the 3D view
  • You want to quickly focus on a specific surface
  • You've lost your position after navigating a complex scene

Notes See Shared Commands for complete details.

Set As Active​

Menu name: Set As Active Tooltip Set this mesh as the active object for operations.

What it does Designates the selected mesh as the "active" mesh. Many operations reference the active mesh as a target surface (attaching polylines, computing intersections, classification operations). See Set As Active for complete documentation.

When to use it

  • Before attaching structural measurements or polylines to this surface
  • When using intersection or classification operations that need a reference surface
  • Before operations that work between meshes

Notes Only one mesh can be active at a time. The active mesh is highlighted in the project tree.

Toggle Visibility​

Menu name: Toggle Visibility Tooltip Show or hide this mesh in the 3D view.

What it does Toggles the mesh's visibility state in the 3D viewport. Hidden meshes remain in the project and database but are not rendered. This is a display-only operation that does not modify mesh data.

When to use it

  • Temporarily hiding meshes to reduce visual clutter
  • Isolating specific surfaces for analysis or interpretation
  • Improving rendering performance by hiding unused meshes

Notes Visibility state is saved with the project. Hidden meshes can still be selected and operated on from the project tree.

Selection​

Isolated Triangles​

Menu name: Isolated Triangles Tooltip Select triangles not connected to other triangles.

What it does Identifies and selects triangles that have one or more free edges (edges not shared with another triangle). These isolated or boundary triangles are typically found at mesh edges, holes, or representing disconnected components. Selected triangles are highlighted for subsequent operations.

When to use it

  • Finding and removing disconnected triangle fragments
  • Identifying mesh boundaries and holes
  • Quality control to detect incomplete mesh connectivity
  • Before patching operations to identify areas needing repair

Notes Selection is based on edge connectivity. A triangle is considered isolated if it has at least one unshared edge. Use "Delete Selected" to remove isolated fragments.

Inside Visible Polylines​

Menu name: Inside Visible Polylines Tooltip Select triangles inside all visible polylines.

What it does Selects all triangles whose centroids fall inside the boundaries of currently visible polylines. Uses 2D or 3D containment testing depending on polyline orientation. Multiple polylines can be used simultaneously - triangles inside any polyline are selected.

When to use it

  • Extracting specific areas of a mesh defined by interpreted boundaries
  • Isolating geological features traced with polylines
  • Creating submeshes for detailed analysis
  • Masking operations to specific regions of interest

Notes Only polylines with visibility enabled are used. Polylines should form closed loops for reliable interior selection. Triangle selection is based on centroid position.

Overlapping Triangles​

Menu name: Overlapping Triangles Tooltip Select triangles that overlap in 3D space.

What it does Detects and selects triangles that intersect or overlap with other triangles in the mesh. This identifies geometry errors where faces occupy the same space, often caused by registration errors, meshing artifacts, or manual editing mistakes.

When to use it

  • Quality control to find mesh topology errors
  • Cleaning up meshes after merging multiple sources
  • Identifying artifacts from meshing operations
  • Before export to applications that don't handle overlapping geometry

Notes Computationally intensive for large meshes. May be slow on meshes with >1M triangles. Often indicates serious mesh topology issues that should be corrected.

Deselect All​

Menu name: Deselect All Tooltip Clear all triangle and vertex selections.

What it does Removes selection state from all triangles and vertices in the mesh, returning them to normal display. This is a quick operation that does not modify mesh geometry.

When to use it

  • Clearing selection before starting a new selection operation
  • Returning to normal view after completing selection-based work
  • Cancelling accidental or incorrect selections

Notes None.

Delete Selected​

Menu name: Delete Selected Tooltip Permanently delete selected triangles.

What it does Permanently removes all selected triangles from the mesh. Vertices that become unused after triangle deletion are automatically removed. This operation modifies the mesh geometry and cannot be undone.

When to use it

  • Removing unwanted portions of a mesh
  • Deleting isolated fragments or artifacts
  • Cleaning up mesh boundaries
  • Removing triangles identified by quality checks

Notes

Cannot be undone

This operation permanently removes triangles. Consider duplicating the mesh first if you might need to revert changes.

The operation maintains mesh connectivity. Removing triangles may create holes or additional boundaries.

Decimate Selected​

Menu name: Decimate Selected Tooltip Reduce triangle count in selected region while preserving shape.

What it does Applies mesh decimation (triangle reduction) only to selected triangles, leaving unselected areas unchanged. Reduces triangle density while attempting to preserve the surface shape and features. Uses coplanarity or curvature criteria to determine which triangles can be safely removed or merged.

When to use it

  • Reducing detail in less important areas whilst preserving critical features
  • Optimising mesh complexity for performance
  • Creating variable-resolution meshes with detail where needed
  • Preparing meshes for real-time rendering

Notes Quality depends on selection and coplanarity thresholds. Selected region boundaries are preserved. May require multiple passes for significant reduction.

Quality & Cleanup​

Smooth Surface​

Menu name: Smooth Surface Tooltip Apply Laplacian smoothing to mesh surface.

What it does Opens a dialogue to specify smoothing iterations and strength. Applies Laplacian smoothing algorithm that repositions vertices towards the average position of their neighbours. This reduces surface roughness and small-scale variations whilst preserving overall shape. Can be applied to entire mesh or selected regions.

When to use it

  • Reducing noise in meshes created from noisy point clouds
  • Smoothing surfaces before texture mapping
  • Removing small-scale artifacts from meshing operations
  • Creating smoother surfaces for visualisation

Notes

Shape Alteration

Excessive smoothing can alter mesh shape and reduce feature sharpness. Start with fewer iterations (1-3) and increase if needed. Boundary vertices may be constrained to preserve mesh edges.

Decimate​

Menu name: Decimate Tooltip Reduce mesh triangle count whilst preserving shape.

What it does Opens a dialogue to specify coplanarity threshold for decimation. Analyses mesh geometry to identify nearly coplanar triangle groups that can be simplified without significant shape loss. Requires "Coplanarity" attribute to be calculated first. Creates a new decimated mesh object whilst preserving the original.

When to use it

  • Reducing mesh complexity for faster rendering and processing
  • Creating LOD (Level of Detail) versions
  • Optimising meshes for export to other applications
  • Reducing file sizes for large photogrammetry meshes

Notes

Prerequisites

Requires "Coplanarity" attribute. Calculate using Attributes & Analysis > Geometry > Coplanarity first. Decimation quality depends on coplanarity threshold - lower values preserve more detail but remove fewer triangles.

Creates new mesh object with "_Decimated" suffix. Original mesh is preserved. Seams and feature edges are detected and preserved automatically.

Remove Edges Greater Than Length​

Menu name: Edges Greater Than Length Tooltip Remove triangles with edges exceeding maximum length.

What it does Opens a dialogue to specify maximum edge length threshold. Scans all triangles and removes those with any edge longer than the specified value. This eliminates large "stretched" triangles that often appear at mesh boundaries or in poorly constrained meshing regions.

When to use it

  • Removing long, thin "sliver" triangles
  • Cleaning up mesh boundaries
  • Removing poorly constrained triangles from photogrammetry
  • Quality control after Delaunay triangulation

Notes Edge length in project units (typically metres). Typical thresholds: 1-5m for outcrop meshes, 10-50m for large-scale models. Creates holes where triangles are removed - may need patching afterwards.

Remove Degenerate Triangles​

Menu name: Degenerate Triangles Tooltip Remove triangles with zero or near-zero area.

What it does Scans the mesh for degenerate triangles (zero area, colinear vertices, or duplicate vertices) and removes them. Degenerate triangles cause rendering and analysis errors and should always be removed. Also removes unused vertices created by the deletion.

When to use it

  • After mesh editing or manual vertex manipulation
  • Before exporting to applications that don't handle degenerate geometry
  • Quality control for imported meshes
  • After merging multiple meshes

Notes Fast operation that should always be performed after mesh editing. Degenerate triangles contribute nothing to the surface but cause numerous processing issues.

Remove Unused Vertices​

Menu name: Unused Vertices Tooltip Remove vertices not referenced by any triangle.

What it does Scans the vertex array and removes vertices that are not used by any triangle. Unused vertices occur after triangle deletion or from import errors. Removal reduces memory usage and file size whilst improving processing performance.

When to use it

  • After deleting triangles
  • After importing meshes from external sources
  • Before exporting to clean up mesh structure
  • To reduce memory footprint of large meshes

Notes Fast operation with no impact on mesh appearance. Always safe to perform. Significantly reduces memory usage for meshes that have had many triangles deleted.

Optimise Triangle Angles​

Menu name: Optimize Triangle Angles Tooltip Optimise triangle angles for better quality.

What it does Analyses triangle internal angles and attempts to improve them through edge flipping operations. Seeks to maximise minimum angles and avoid very acute or obtuse triangles. Better triangle quality improves interpolation accuracy and numerical stability in analysis operations.

When to use it

  • Improving mesh quality after Delaunay triangulation
  • Before numerical analysis or simulation operations
  • After mesh editing that may have degraded triangle quality
  • Optimising meshes for FEM or other analysis methods

Notes Non-destructive - only modifies triangle connectivity, not vertex positions. May make multiple passes for optimal results. Most effective on meshes with poor initial quality.

Menu name: Relink Connectivity Tooltip Rebuild triangle neighbour connectivity structure.

What it does Rebuilds the internal triangle-to-triangle connectivity data structure. Each triangle tracks its neighbours (triangles sharing edges). This connectivity is required for many operations but can become corrupted during editing. Relinkin g scans all triangles and reconstructs the neighbour relationships.

When to use it

  • After importing meshes without connectivity information
  • When operations report connectivity errors
  • After manual mesh editing
  • Before operations that require neighbour information (smoothing, subdivision, etc.)

Notes Fast operation (seconds for meshes up to 10M triangles). Should be performed if connectivity errors are suspected. Required before most mesh processing operations.

Regenerate Vertex Normals​

Menu name: Regenerate Vertex Normals Tooltip Recalculate vertex normal vectors from geometry.

What it does Recalculates vertex normal vectors based on surrounding triangle orientations. Each vertex normal is computed as the weighted average of adjacent triangle normals. Normal vectors are essential for proper surface shading and rendering. Should be regenerated after any geometry modification.

When to use it

  • After editing mesh geometry
  • When mesh displays with incorrect shading
  • After importing meshes without normals
  • After operations that modify vertex positions

Notes Fast operation. Normals are weighted by triangle area to produce smooth shading. Sharp edges can be preserved using angle thresholds. Required for proper OpenGL rendering.

Transform​

Scale​

Menu name: Scale Tooltip Scale the mesh by specified factors.

What it does Opens the Transform dialogue with scale mode enabled. See Scale in Shared Commands for complete documentation. For meshes specifically: texture coordinates are scaled proportionally, and attribute values based on geometry (area, length) become invalid.

When to use it

  • Converting between unit systems
  • Resising meshes to match reference data
  • Correcting import scale errors

Notes Texture coordinates are scaled automatically. Geometric attributes (area, range, curvature) must be recalculated after non-uniform scaling.

Rotate​

Menu name: Rotate Tooltip Rotate the mesh around specified axes.

What it does Opens the Rotation dialogue to specify rotation angles. See Rotate in Shared Commands for complete documentation. For meshes: vertex normals are automatically rotated, and texture coordinates remain unchanged.

When to use it

  • Aligning mesh to geographic north or project coordinate system
  • Orienting mesh for optimal visualisation
  • Matching orientation between multiple meshes

Notes Vertex normals updated automatically. Texture coordinates unchanged (world-space coordinates). Rotation centre is geometric centroid or scanner origin if defined.

Remove Dip​

Menu name: Remove Dip Tooltip Rotate mesh to remove regional dip/tilt.

What it does Opens a dialogue to define regional dip direction and angle. Calculates and applies a rotation that removes the specified dip, effectively "levelling" the surface. Common in structural geology workflows for palinspastic restoration.

When to use it

  • Restoring structural measurements to pre-deformation orientation
  • Levelling tilted outcrop surfaces for analysis
  • Removing regional dip before measuring local structures
  • Creating horizontal datum for sedimentary analysis

Notes Dip direction follows geological convention (0-360° azimuth). Dip angle from horizontal (0-90°). Rotation centre is mesh centroid.

Attributes & Analysis​

Geometry - Tensor Analysis​

Menu name: Tensor Analysis Tooltip Calculate fabric tensor from local surface geometry.

What it does Opens the Tensor Analysis dialogue to specify neighbourhood radius. For each vertex, analyses the local geometric fabric within the radius by computing the covariance tensor of neighbouring vertex positions. Creates three attributes: linearity, planarity, and sphericity, representing local surface geometry character.

When to use it

  • Identifying planar surfaces (bedding, fractures) via high planarity
  • Detecting linear features (ridges, edges) via high linearity
  • Characterising surface roughness and texture
  • Pre-processing for automatic feature classification

Notes Computationally intensive for large meshes. Radius selection critical: too small captures noise, too large smooths features. Typical radius: 0.2-1.0m for outcrop meshes. Results stored as vertex attributes.

Geometry - Coplanarity​

Menu name: Coplanarity Tooltip Calculate coplanarity for each triangle.

What it does For each triangle, analyses its neighbours to compute a coplanarity metric representing how flat the local surface is. High coplanarity indicates planar regions; low values indicate curved or rough areas. The metric is stored as a triangle attribute and is required for mesh decimation operations.

When to use it

  • Before decimation to identify simplifiable regions
  • Identifying planar geological surfaces
  • Surface roughness analysis
  • Quality control for meshing operations

Notes

Required for Decimation

Must be calculated before using the "Decimate" command. Coplanarity threshold in decimation determines simplification aggressiveness.

Fast operation. Values typically range 0-1, with 1.0 being perfectly coplanar neighbours.

Geometry - Dip Angle​

Menu name: Dip Angle Tooltip Calculate dip angle for each triangle.

What it does Computes the dip angle (angle from horizontal) for each triangle's orientation. Values range from 0° (horizontal) to 90° (vertical). Stored as a triangle attribute that can be visualised with false colour or used for filtering and analysis.

When to use it

  • Identifying steep slopes or cliffs
  • Mapping structural dips across surfaces
  • Slope stability analysis
  • Creating dip-azimuth maps for geological interpretation

Notes Dip follows geological convention: angle from horizontal plane. Requires triangles to have valid normal vectors. Fast operation suitable for very large meshes.

Geometry - Azimuth​

Menu name: Azimuth Tooltip Calculate azimuth (strike direction) for each triangle.

What it does Computes the azimuth (compass bearing) of the dip direction for each triangle. Values range 0-360° clockwise from north. Combined with dip angle, provides complete orientation information for each facet. Stored as a triangle attribute.

When to use it

  • Mapping structural trends across surfaces
  • Identifying fold axes and orientations
  • Aspect analysis for geological or environmental studies
  • Creating rose diagrams of surface orientations

Notes Azimuth follows geological convention: bearing of dip direction (0=north, 90=east, 180=south, 270=west). Requires valid triangle normals and project coordinate system with defined north.

Triangle Properties - Area​

Menu name: Area Tooltip Calculate area for each triangle.

What it does Computes the surface area of each triangle using vertex coordinates. Stores result as a triangle attribute in project units squared (typically m²). Useful for identifying very large or very small triangles that may indicate quality issues.

When to use it

  • Quality control to find degenerate or oversized triangles
  • Filtering triangles by size
  • Statistical analysis of triangle size distribution
  • Identifying poorly constrained meshing regions

Notes Fast operation. Very small areas (less than 1e-9) may indicate degenerate triangles. Very large areas may indicate missing data or poor triangulation.

Volume​

Menu name: Volume Tooltip Calculate enclosed volume beneath the mesh.

What it does Calculates the volume enclosed between the mesh surface and a reference plane (typically Z=0 or project base). Requires mesh to form a closed surface or to be truncated at boundaries. Result is reported in project units cubed (typically m³) and displayed in a dialogue.

When to use it

  • Calculating cut/fill volumes for earthworks
  • Estimating geological unit volumes
  • Stockpile volume calculations
  • Comparing surfaces before and after modifications

Notes

Requirements

Mesh should form a watertight surface or be properly bounded. Open meshes or meshes with holes may produce incorrect results. Consider the reference plane carefully - volumes are calculated relative to Z=0 by default.

Connected Components​

Menu name: Connected Components Tooltip Identify separate connected regions in the mesh.

What it does Analyses mesh connectivity to identify separate connected components (groups of triangles that can be reached through shared edges). Each component is assigned a unique integer ID stored as a triangle attribute. Useful for identifying disconnected mesh fragments or separate objects merged into one mesh.

When to use it

  • Identifying disconnected mesh fragments
  • Separating multiple objects accidentally merged
  • Quality control for mesh connectivity
  • Before splitting operations to understand mesh structure

Notes Fast operation using connectivity traversal. Component IDs can be visualised with false colour. Use with "Split" operations to separate components into individual meshes.

Split & Merge​

Split Along X / Y / Z​

Menu name: Along X, Along Y, Along Z Tooltip Split mesh along specified axis plane.

What it does Opens a dialogue to specify a position along the chosen axis. Divides the mesh into two separate mesh objects at the specified plane. Triangles intersecting the plane are split, creating new vertices along the cut line. Both resulting meshes are added to the project tree.

When to use it

  • Dividing large meshes into manageable sections
  • Extracting specific spatial regions
  • Creating cross-sections at known coordinates
  • Preparing meshes for tiled processing

Notes Creates two new mesh objects with "_A" and "_B" suffixes. Original mesh can be deleted if desired. Splitting plane is perpendicular to the chosen axis at the specified coordinate.

Merge​

Menu name: Merge Tooltip Combine multiple meshes into a single object.

What it does Combines all selected meshes into a single mesh object. Vertices and triangles from all meshes are merged into unified arrays. Duplicate vertices at boundaries can optionally be welded together. Attributes from source meshes are preserved where possible.

When to use it

  • Combining multiple mesh tiles into a single surface
  • Merging overlapping meshes from different sources
  • Creating unified models from separate components
  • Reducing project complexity by consolidating objects

Notes All selected meshes must share compatible coordinate systems. Vertex welding tolerance can be specified to merge nearby vertices. Large merged meshes may have performance implications. Consider keeping tiles separate if the combined mesh would be >10M triangles.

Refinement​

Tessellate Inner / Outer / Both​

Menu name: Tessellate Inner, Tessellate Outer, Tessellate Both Tooltip Subdivide triangles to increase mesh resolution.

What it does Subdivides triangles by adding new vertices and splitting edges. "Inner" adds vertices at triangle centres, "Outer" adds vertices at edge midpoints, "Both" does both operations. This increases mesh resolution whilst preserving the original surface shape. New vertices lie on the original surface.

When to use it

  • Increasing mesh resolution for smoother appearance
  • Adding detail before deformation operations
  • Preparing meshes for texture mapping
  • Upsampling low-resolution meshes

Notes Each tessellation operation quadruples triangle count approximately. Multiple applications grow mesh size exponentially. Use cautiously on large meshes - consider processing small regions or using selective tessellation.

Extract​

Free Edge Vertices​

Menu name: Free Edge Vertices Tooltip Extract vertices on mesh boundaries as points.

What it does Identifies all vertices that lie on free edges (edges not shared between two triangles) and exports them as a new point cloud object. This creates a point representation of mesh boundaries, holes, and gaps.

When to use it

  • Visualising mesh boundaries and holes
  • Exporting boundary geometry for analysis
  • Identifying gaps in mesh coverage
  • Creating polylines from mesh edges (combine with polyline fitting)

Notes Resulting point cloud contains only boundary vertices. Interior vertices are not included. Useful for quality control and boundary analysis.

Free Edge Polylines​

Menu name: Free Edge Polylines Tooltip Extract mesh boundaries as polylines.

What it does Traces free edges (boundary edges) and creates polyline objects following the mesh boundary. Each connected boundary loop becomes a separate polyline. Polylines follow the exact mesh edge geometry.

When to use it

  • Extracting mesh outlines for digitisation
  • Creating boundary polylines for clipping operations
  • Identifying and analysing mesh holes
  • Exporting mesh extents

Notes Creates one polyline per connected boundary loop. Internal holes create separate polylines. Polylines are 3D, following mesh surface elevation.

Contour Lines​

Menu name: Contour Lines Tooltip Generate contour lines at specified intervals.

What it does Opens a dialogue to specify contour interval and attribute. Generates polylines representing iso-value contours of the specified attribute across the mesh surface. Commonly used with elevation to create topographic contours. Contours are calculated by interpolating attribute values across triangle faces.

When to use it

  • Creating topographic contour maps
  • Visualising attribute distributions
  • Extracting specific values (e.g., all locations with thickness = 5m)
  • Generating contours for drafting or GIS export

Notes Contour interval in attribute units. Smaller intervals produce more contours and take longer to compute. Contours may be discontinuous if the mesh has holes or disconnected regions.

Convert To​

Point Cloud​

Menu name: Point Cloud Tooltip Convert mesh vertices to point cloud.

What it does Extracts all mesh vertices and creates a new point cloud object. Each vertex becomes a point with its position, colour (if present), and optionally vertex attributes. The triangle connectivity information is discarded.

When to use it

  • Converting meshes to point clouds for point cloud operations
  • Extracting vertex positions for analysis
  • Simplifying data representation
  • Preparing data for point cloud-based algorithms

Notes Resulting point cloud contains only vertices - triangle information is lost. Vertex attributes can optionally be transferred. Fast operation regardless of mesh size.

Signed Distance Field (SDF)​

Menu name: Signed Distance Field (SDF) Tooltip Convert mesh to volumetric signed distance field.

What it does Creates a 3D voxel grid where each voxel contains the signed distance to the nearest mesh surface. Negative values are inside the mesh, positive values outside. This volumetric representation is useful for advanced operations like mesh smoothing, offsetting, or boolean operations.

When to use it

  • Preparing for volumetric boolean operations
  • Creating offset surfaces
  • Advanced smoothing and filtering
  • Collision detection preparation
  • 3D printing preparation

Notes

Computational Cost

Very computationally intensive. Grid resolution determines memory usage and computation time. Start with coarse grids (0.1m) and refine as needed. A 1m³ volume at 0.01m resolution requires 100³ = 1M voxels.

Textures​

Bake to Vertices​

Menu name: Bake to Vertices Tooltip Sample texture colours to vertex colours.

What it does Samples colours from texture maps (if present) at each vertex's texture coordinate and stores them as vertex RGB colours. This "bakes" the texture into the geometry, allowing the mesh to display correctly without texture files. Useful for export to applications that don't support textures.

When to use it

  • Exporting meshes to applications without texture support
  • Simplifying mesh data (removing texture dependencies)
  • Creating vertex-coloured meshes for game engines
  • Preparing meshes for further processing

Notes Requires mesh to have texture maps and valid texture coordinates. Resulting vertex colours are approximations - texture detail between vertices is lost. File size may increase due to storing colours per vertex.

Import Texture Map​

Menu name: Texture Map... Tooltip Import and apply a texture image to the mesh.

What it does Opens a file dialogue to select an image file (PNG, JPG, TIFF). Imports the image and assigns it as a texture map for the mesh. Requires mesh to have texture coordinates (UV mapping). The texture is displayed when the mesh is rendered.

When to use it

  • Adding photographic textures to photogrammetry meshes
  • Applying synthetic textures for visualisation
  • Replacing or updating existing textures
  • Importing texture maps from external editing

Notes Requires valid texture coordinates. Image formats: PNG, JPG, TIFF, BMP. Large images (>4K resolution) may impact rendering performance. Texture files are referenced, not embedded - keep source files accessible.

Optimisation​

Level of Detail (LOD) - Generate​

Menu name: Generate Tooltip Generate Level of Detail versions for faster rendering.

What it does Creates multiple simplified versions of the mesh at different triangle counts. LOD system automatically switches between versions based on view distance, improving rendering performance for large meshes. Typically creates 3-5 LOD levels with progressively fewer triangles.

When to use it

  • Optimising rendering performance for large meshes (>1M triangles)
  • Preparing meshes for real-time visualisation
  • Improving frame rates in complex scenes
  • Before VR or interactive flythrough operations

Notes LOD generation can take several minutes for very large meshes. Each LOD level reduces triangle count by approximately 50%. Storage space increases due to multiple versions. Performance improvement is most noticeable when viewing multiple large meshes.

Load Into Memory​

Menu name: Load Into Memory Tooltip Load mesh data into RAM for faster operations.

What it does Loads the complete mesh dataset from disk into system RAM. While loaded, all operations are significantly faster. Memory usage depends on mesh size: approximately 50-100 bytes per vertex.

When to use it

  • Before performing multiple operations on a large mesh
  • When working interactively and speed is important
  • Prior to operations requiring full dataset access

Notes

Memory Usage

A 1M triangle mesh requires approximately 100-200MB RAM. Ensure sufficient free memory before loading. Multiple loaded meshes can exhaust system memory.

Object Operations​

Duplicate​

Menu name: Duplicate Tooltip Create an independent copy of this mesh.

What it does Creates a complete independent copy of the selected mesh. See Duplicate for complete documentation. For meshes: all attributes, textures, and connectivity are duplicated.

When to use it

  • Testing operations without risking original data
  • Creating multiple processing variants
  • Preserving originals before irreversible operations

Notes Meshes with textures duplicate texture references but not texture files. Large meshes consume significant disk space when duplicated.

Export​

Menu name: Export Tooltip Export mesh to external file format.

What it does Opens export dialogue to save mesh to external formats: OBJ, PLY, STL, COLLADA, etc. Options include coordinate conversion, texture export, attribute export, and format-specific settings.

When to use it

  • Sharing data with external applications
  • Exporting for 3D printing (STL format)
  • GIS integration (COLLADA, KML)
  • Creating backups or archives

Notes Format capabilities vary: OBJ supports textures, STL is geometry-only, PLY supports vertex colours and attributes. Choose format based on target application requirements.

Reload Original​

Menu name: Reload Original Tooltip Discard changes and reload mesh from original file.

What it does Discards all modifications to the mesh and reloads the original imported data from the source file. All edits, calculated attributes, and modifications are lost. The mesh returns to its state immediately after import.

When to use it

  • Undoing multiple operations when individual undo isn't practical
  • Reverting unsuccessful modifications
  • Restarting processing from clean data

Notes

Data Loss

All modifications since import are discarded. Cannot be undone. Ensure you don't need any calculated attributes or modifications before reloading.

Delete​

Menu name: Delete Tooltip Permanently remove this mesh from the project.

What it does Permanently removes the selected mesh from the project database and deletes all associated files. See Delete for complete documentation.

When to use it

  • Removing unwanted or erroneous meshes
  • Freeing disk space
  • Simplifying project structure

Notes Cannot be undone. Deletes mesh geometry, attributes, and texture references. Backup important data before deleting.

Cancel Operation​

Menu name: Cancel Operation Tooltip Cancel currently running background operation.

What it does Attempts to cancel the currently running background operation on this mesh (decimation, smoothing, tessellation, etc.). The mesh may be in a partially processed state after cancellation. Cancellation is not always immediate - some operations cannot be safely interrupted.

When to use it

  • Stopping long-running operations that are taking too long
  • Freeing system resources for other tasks
  • Correcting operations started with incorrect parameters

Notes Not all operations can be cancelled. Some operations complete current stage before cancelling. Mesh may require "Reload Original" if left in inconsistent state.