A Free 3D meshes processing system
Meshlab is a free, open-source system for processing and editing 3D triangular meshes. Its tools are perfect to edit, clean, inspect, render, texture, and convert triangular meshes. It's also a powerful tool to prepare your raw data for 3D printing. Meshlab offers all the necessary features to prepare your 3D model, from colour mapping and texturing to cleaning 3D models and re-meshing.
This open-source software offers measurement and analysis tools to make your model perfect. You can also use raster layers to integrate images and generate a 3D-from-image acquisition procedure. Another program that works with meshes is EWDraw CAD Component.
Meshlab has all the features a 3D artist working with triangular meshes could wish for.
Features
Meshlab's common reference system can handle large sets of range maps to align your model. It works in two steps to align your model. It has a one-to-one alignment step and a global bundle adjustment error-distribution step. You can adjust model alignment on meshes and point clouds from multiple sources, such as active scanners and 3D-from-image tools.
For the colouring process, MeshLab can alter the vertex and colours using a series of filters similar to what you can find on Photoshop. It gives you control over saturation, gamma, brightness, levels, contrast, smoothing and sharpening. Its automatic filters can calculate Ambient Occlusion and Volumetric Obscurance.
MeshLab offers many automatic, semi-manual, and interactive filters. These filters remove geometric elements considered 'wrong' by the majority of softwares. You can also isolate and remove unwanted areas of your meshes and point clouds with Meshlab's automatic and manual selection methods.
One of the most significant needs in 3D modelling is reducing geometric complexity. Meshlab can simplify triangular meshes while preserving geometrical detail and texture mapping. It can also optimally increase the complexity if needed and optimise point distribution and triangulation quality.
Render and polish your 3D models for free
Meshlab is one of the most complete free software for people who want to polish their 3D models. It's ideal for 3D printing, animation purposes, or video game integration. The system is open-source and its developers regularly update and improve it.
Meshlab is available on Windows without system requirements. However, you need a decent graphics card to take full advantage of the program.
