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Exporting a Polycam Scan for Rhino
So let's start here in the Polycam app. Here we can see the model with all the details showing, and up here I'm going to the export function, and you can filter here the options for Rhino. It shows us that we can use OBJ, but also I found that FBX works really well as well. Since I am on a Windows machine, I'm using my favorite cloud app to upload, but if you are on Rhino for Mac, you can of course AirDrop the file directly to your Mac machine.
Check out our Polycam to Rhino YouTube Tutorial
Importing the Scan Into Rhino
So now I'm opening a new file. Let's find our downloaded Polycam export, and in the file you will find a OBJ file, an MTL file, and all the required textures. So let's just take the OBJ file and drag and drop that here into Rhino.
I will import the file, and I'm making sure that Map OBJ Y to Rhino Z is selected.
Scaling the Imported Mesh
So it is imported, but it's quite small, so we have to scale it to size. To do this, let's keep it selected and go up to the Transform tab and find the Scale 3D option. So click that, press Enter once for the base point, and then I will type in one thousand so we have the correct size.
In order to check if we indeed have the right size, I came down here to the dimensions.com website and found the controller, and it says that we have a width of one hundred one point nine. So I'm going here in the side view, and let's go to the drafting. I'll select the linear dimension. Make sure that Object Snap or OSnap is on as well as the vertex option. So one of these vertices on the left and then one on the right. It doesn't need to be perfect.
We're gonna just check if that's in the right dimension. So one oh seven point four. It's a bit bigger, but we can scale it down later on. So that's quite okay for now.
Improving Mesh Visibility and Display
Let's check the perspective view here. I'm zooming out, and you can see that it's, uh, a wide mesh or wire frame, and this doesn't give me a really good view to work in. So now make sure that the panel properties as well as display are selected and showing, and with the mesh selected, I'm going here to the Properties menu, and then I'm changing the display color from white to ByLayer.
And this means that it's now black and showing me a better preview of the model. We also can right-click here on the perspective view and go down to the Render option. And you will see that Rhino already imported all the necessary textures from the Polycam scan and applied it to our model.
Cleaning Up the Mesh
So here you can see the model quite well, but also we have some environment still showing from the scan. So in the first step, let's try and get rid of that.
So I'm going back to one of the side views and come here to the Mesh Tool tab, and I'm selecting a mesh box and just draw a generic box around the parts of the model that I don't need. Let's size that up. And if you don't have the gumball showing that I'm using here to scale this mesh box up and down, you make sure that the Gumball setting here is selected. So I'm moving that to the right position and see if all the parts that I want to delete are inside this box. Now I'm going to the perspective view again, select my mesh, and come here to the Mesh Boolean tools, and I will select the Mesh Boolean Different. So select that, and then select the box, and then press Enter in order to subtract that from the mesh.
So now we have a much cleaner model. We have a flat surface, and we can work with that much, much better.
Reducing Polygon Count With Quad Remesh
So depending on how you wanna use the model in Rhino, you might want to change or reduce the polygon count. So I'll highlight here the mesh and go up here to the polygon count. You can see it's about seventy thousand triangles that we have here, so it's quite a dense mesh. This gives us the greatest details of course, but as an underlay, we might want to reduce the file size.
So Rhino 7 comes with a really nice feature called Quad Remesh. So let's select the mesh and go up here to the Quad Remesh tool. For the options, I'm going to choose a target quad count of a thousand, and we are going to the adaptive size percentage. Put it at a hundred for now, and make sure that adaptive quad count is selected. Select Okay. And now we have a new mesh. It is overlapping the old mesh. I am going to move that back so you can see the differences. Since I am now in the rendered mode, I have to check the Mesh Wire option here under my Display tab in order to show you the difference. So the Quad Remesh tool really works well.
The adaptive polygon count now has recognized where it needs more polygons to show the details. So we still have detail showing but with a much reduced file size. So as you can see, we can use Polycam scans super easily here in Rhino using it as an underlay, as a starting point of our new creations, creating new shapes, adding details, and much more. Thanks for watching and take care.