MeshlabAuto

Automation of Meshlab

MeshLab is an open source, portable, and extensible system for the processing and editing of unstructured 3D triangular meshes.

An MLX file is a Meshlab Filter Script. Using an MLX we can drastically reduce the amount of time we spend on a mesh because we only have to run one script and not go through the process of a editing the whole file.

There are many great tutorials that introduce this and one can be included here:

http://www.andrewhazelden.com/blog/2012/04/automate-your-meshlab-workflow-with-mlx-filter-scripts/

This goes into greater depth on how to create a MLX script. I will be working on something a little different that doesn't focus on that but focuses on using meshlabserver and how to implement differently.

I've just created a batch file with necessary loops and calls the .mlx file that will run the meshlabserver command. However one should know that the resulting files will be saved in the same directory where meshlabserver.exe is. You can find this file in the "Scripts" folder

Windows (If you're not MeshLab Server friendly) Pics Uploaded Soon

Step 1:

Put the obj files you want to process into a folder with nothing else inside

Step 2 (create a mlx file containing the operations you want to apply)

• open meshlab
• import a mesh
• apply your filter(s)
• now under 'Filters' menu you have 'Show current filter script'
• click on "SaveScript" at the bottom and save your mlx file (not in the obj folder !)
• you can close meshlab (no need to save the scene)\

Step 3 (editing a simple vbs file and launch batch process)

• Download the vbs script
• Edit the vbs file with notepad and replace with your folders where it's needed ( lines 5 / 6 )
• Save and double click on the vbs file.....et voila...!

Each .OBJ should have been processed with the filters you choose in step 2 and the output obj files are prefixed with "OUT_" and saved in the same folder

PS: this is a 64 bit version, if you're using a 32 bit windows, just replace %ProgramFiles(x86)% (line 19) with %ProgramFiles%

Windows (Using cmd prompt)

Step 1:

Open up cmd prompt

Step 2:

Type "C:\Program Files\VCG\MeshLab\meshlabserver.exe" to open up meshlabserver You will notice certain flags -i is where you put in your input -o is where you put your output

"C:\Program Files\VCG\MeshLab\meshlabserver.exe"-i C:\Users\File Location\example.obj -o C:/Users/File Destination/example.obj -s examplefilter.mlx -om (using the flags indicated from "C:\Program Files\VCG\MeshLab\meshlabserver.exe" select what you want)

This basically indicates where to get the file that you want the scripts to be applied to and the output indicates where you want the initial file to end up

Problems

I had some initial problems with this because I had taken the OBJ and imported it into Blender for more edits, but I noticed that the file size was drastically reduced(almost half!), majority of the materials were gone, and there was no additional MTL file.

There is a simple fix to this solution and that is by adding all the flags at the end of the -om

So in the end the line that you write is such:

"C:\Program Files\VCG\MeshLab\meshlabserver.exe"-i C:\Users\File Location\example.obj -o C:/Users/File Destination/example.obj -om vc vf vq vn vt fc ff fq fn wc wn wt

Basically what that line does is open the file and then export it back out to the desination indicated with the necessary files associated with it. Of course this is great if you just want to import a file and then export it back out, which is exactly what I wanted ;)

Depending on the size of the file, this process can take from less than 10 secs to 20 minutes. So far it hasn't crashed yet, even after a 1GB file. Proceed large files with caution!

VERY IMPORTANT UPDATE

Maybe we don't want to repeatedly type "C:\Program Files\VCG\MeshLab\meshlabserver.exe" because we are all lazy. (Only if you need MeshLab regularly) Also this simplifies the need for us to be in the certain directory of the file that we are processing.

Now here is a simple way to activate "meshlabserver.exe"

We will be accessing the "path" folder because this will allow us to access .exe files from our cmd prompt

See this site for more details http://superuser.com/questions/77624/run-exe-from-command-prompt

Go to "System" -> "Advanced System Settings" -> "Envirnment Variables" -> In "System Variables" scroll down to PATH variable, and click edit -> In "Variable Value" place ";C:\Program Files\VCG\MeshLab"

Now in the cmd prompt we can just type "meshlabserver.exe" or "meshlabserver" and BAM it starts

Make sure you are in the correct directory as well, accessing that can be done by using "chdir"

Troubleshooting

Type "echo %path%" to make sure MeshLab was added, if not just refresh the console.

Mac

Step 1:

Change the working directory to the meshlab frameworks folder to fix the Mac based QT framework issue

Step 2:

On MAC OSX run meshlabserver from the current working directory

cd /Applications/meshlab.app/Contents/Frameworks/Applications/meshlab.app/Contents/MacOS/meshlabserver -i ~/example.obj -o ~/example.obj -s ~/examplefilter.mlx -om vn

Replace example.obj with object file and examplefilter.mlx with the Necessary Filter