# Tetrahedral Mesh file format in TETGEN

Ply file formats is used to represent mesh structures in the TETGEN freeware package. All the examples I've seen of 'ply' meshes were used for triangular meshes.

Can we use ply formats to represent tetrahedral meshes as well ?

Any examples would be helpful ?

PS : I am new in this field so any pointers for further understanding of the concepts would be really helpful. I am trying to simulate tissue deformation using FEM.

• I came to know about tetgen tool but it generates multiple files to represent the mesh structure. Dec 16 '14 at 13:58
• I don't think that PLY files natively handle tetrahedrons. Although you can define new elements according to [this]( paulbourke.net/dataformats/ply) Dec 16 '14 at 16:26
• @nicoguaro Could you suggest any method for generating a tetrahedral mesh file for an object ? Dec 16 '14 at 17:46
• It would depend on how is your object define. But, I can suggest you to use Tetgen or [gmsh]( geuz.org/gmsh) Dec 16 '14 at 18:04
• @nicoguaro multiple file formats are generated in Tetgen. So we need to parse all the files to collect mesh structure info. Any standard file format for this representation ? Dec 17 '14 at 10:46