Mesh

Mesh — Aspose.3D FOSS for Java

Package: com.aspose.threed (aspose-3d-foss 26.1.0)

Mesh stores polygon geometry as a list of control points (vertex positions) and a list of polygon faces. Each polygon face is a list of zero-based indices into the control points array. Faces may be triangles, quads, or higher-arity polygons. Additional per-vertex data – normals, UV coordinates, vertex colours – is attached as VertexElement layers.

public class Mesh extends Geometry

Inheritance

A3DObject -> SceneObject -> Entity -> Geometry -> Mesh

Examples

Build a single triangle mesh from scratch:

import com.aspose.threed.Scene;
import com.aspose.threed.*;


// Create the mesh and add three vertex positions
Mesh mesh = new Mesh();
mesh.getControlPoints().add(new Vector4(0.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0));   // vertex 0
mesh.getControlPoints().add(new Vector4(1.0, 0.0, 0.0, 1.0));   // vertex 1
mesh.getControlPoints().add(new Vector4(0.5, 1.0, 0.0, 1.0));   // vertex 2

// Define one triangle face using vertex indices
mesh.createPolygon(0, 1, 2);

// Attach to a scene and save
Scene scene = new Scene();
scene.getRootNode().createChildNode("triangle", mesh);
scene.save("triangle.stl");

Build a quad mesh (note: triangulate() is a stub — see warning below):

import com.aspose.threed.Scene;
import com.aspose.threed.*;


Mesh mesh = new Mesh();
// Four corners of a unit square in the XZ plane
mesh.getControlPoints().add(new Vector4(0, 0, 0, 1.0));
mesh.getControlPoints().add(new Vector4(1, 0, 0, 1.0));
mesh.getControlPoints().add(new Vector4(1, 0, 1, 1.0));
mesh.getControlPoints().add(new Vector4(0, 0, 1, 1.0));

// One quad face
mesh.createPolygon(0, 1, 2, 3);
System.out.println("Polygons before triangulate: " + mesh.getPolygonCount());  // 1

// WARNING: triangulate() is a stub — it returns a clone, NOT a triangulated mesh.
// The polygon count will remain 1 (not 2).
Mesh triangulated = mesh.triangulate();
System.out.println("Polygons after triangulate: " + triangulated.getPolygonCount());  // still 1

Scene scene = new Scene();
scene.getRootNode().createChildNode("quad", triangulated);
// When saving to STL, pass triangle-only meshes to avoid vertex loss or malformed output.
scene.save("quad.glb");

Properties

Property	Type	Getter	Setter	Description
`controlPoints`	`List<Vector4>`	`getControlPoints()`	–	Vertex position array. Each entry is a `Vector4(x, y, z, w)` where `w` is `1.0` for position data. Add vertices by calling `add()` on the returned list.
`polygonCount`	`int`	`getPolygonCount()`	–	Number of polygon faces defined on this mesh.
`polygons`	`List<int[]>`	`getPolygons()`	–	All face definitions as a list of index arrays. Each inner array holds the vertex indices (into `controlPoints`) for one face.
`edges`	`List<Integer>`	`getEdges()`	–	Raw edge index data. Primarily for internal use and advanced topology queries.
`vertexElements`	`List<VertexElement>`	`getVertexElements()`	–	All vertex element layers currently attached to this mesh (normals, UVs, colours, etc.).
`visible`	`boolean`	`getVisible()`	`setVisible(boolean)`	When `false`, the mesh is hidden in viewers that respect visibility.
`castShadows`	`boolean`	`getCastShadows()`	`setCastShadows(boolean)`	Whether this mesh casts shadows in renderers that support shadow maps.
`receiveShadows`	`boolean`	`getReceiveShadows()`	`setReceiveShadows(boolean)`	Whether this mesh receives shadows from other shadow-casting geometry.

Methods

`createPolygon(int... indices)`

Define a new polygon face by providing the vertex indices in order. The indices reference positions in getControlPoints(). Accepts three or more indices for triangles, quads, and n-gons.

Parameter	Type	Description
`indices`	`int...`	Vertex index arguments in winding order (typically counter-clockwise when viewed from outside).

Returns: void

Mesh mesh = new Mesh();
// ... populate control points ...
mesh.createPolygon(0, 1, 2);       // triangle
mesh.createPolygon(0, 1, 2, 3);    // quad
System.out.println(mesh.getPolygonCount());   // 2

`triangulate()`

Stub: Returns a clone of the original mesh. Intended to split all polygons into triangles using fan triangulation, but actual triangulation logic is not yet implemented. The original mesh is not modified.

Returns: Mesh – a clone of the original mesh (stub behaviour).

import com.aspose.threed.*;

Mesh mesh = new Mesh();
mesh.getControlPoints().add(new Vector4(0, 0, 0, 1.0));
mesh.getControlPoints().add(new Vector4(1, 0, 0, 1.0));
mesh.getControlPoints().add(new Vector4(1, 1, 0, 1.0));
mesh.getControlPoints().add(new Vector4(0, 1, 0, 1.0));
mesh.createPolygon(0, 1, 2, 3);   // one quad

Mesh triMesh = mesh.triangulate();
// Note: currently returns a clone, not a triangulated mesh
System.out.println(triMesh.getPolygonCount());

`toMesh()`

Return this Mesh as a Mesh instance. For Mesh objects this is an identity operation (returns this). Defined on the Geometry base class to provide a uniform conversion interface when working with generic Geometry references.

Returns: Mesh

import com.aspose.threed.*;

Mesh ensureMesh(Geometry geom) {
    return geom.toMesh();
}

`createElement(VertexElementType elementType, MappingMode mappingMode, ReferenceMode referenceMode)`

Add a new VertexElement layer of the specified type to the mesh. Use this to attach normals, tangents, binormals, vertex colours, and smoothing groups.

Parameter	Type	Description
`elementType`	`VertexElementType`	The kind of data this layer holds (e.g., `VertexElementType.NORMAL`).
`mappingMode`	`MappingMode`	How the data maps to geometry: `CONTROL_POINT`, `POLYGON_VERTEX`, `POLYGON`, etc.
`referenceMode`	`ReferenceMode`	How indices are used: `DIRECT` or `INDEX_TO_DIRECT`.

Returns: VertexElement

import com.aspose.threed.*;





Mesh mesh = new Mesh();
mesh.getControlPoints().add(new Vector4(0, 0, 0, 1));
mesh.getControlPoints().add(new Vector4(1, 0, 0, 1));
mesh.getControlPoints().add(new Vector4(0.5, 1, 0, 1));
mesh.createPolygon(0, 1, 2);

VertexElement normalElement = mesh.createElement(
    VertexElementType.NORMAL,
    MappingMode.CONTROL_POINT,
    ReferenceMode.DIRECT
);

`createElementUV(TextureMapping uvMapping, MappingMode mappingMode, ReferenceMode referenceMode)`

Add a UV coordinate layer to the mesh. This is the preferred method for attaching texture coordinate data.

Parameter	Type	Description
`uvMapping`	`TextureMapping`	The UV channel purpose: `DIFFUSE`, `SPECULAR`, `NORMAL`, `AMBIENT`, etc.
`mappingMode`	`MappingMode`	How UVs map to geometry elements.
`referenceMode`	`ReferenceMode`	Indexing mode: `DIRECT` or `INDEX_TO_DIRECT`.

Returns: VertexElementUV

import com.aspose.threed.*;




Mesh mesh = new Mesh();
// ... define control points and polygons ...
VertexElementUV uvElement = mesh.createElementUV(
    TextureMapping.DIFFUSE,
    MappingMode.POLYGON_VERTEX,
    ReferenceMode.INDEX_TO_DIRECT
);

Boolean and Optimization Methods (Stubs)

The following methods exist on Mesh but are stubs that return a clone of the original mesh without performing their intended operation.

Important: union, difference, intersect, and doBoolean are static methods, not instance methods. Call them as Mesh.union(a, b), not a.union(b).

Method	Return Type	Description
`static Mesh.union(Mesh a, Mesh b)`	`Mesh`	Stub: returns a clone of `a`. Intended for CSG union.
`static Mesh.difference(Mesh a, Mesh b)`	`Mesh`	Stub: returns a clone of `a`. Intended for CSG subtraction.
`static Mesh.intersect(Mesh a, Mesh b)`	`Mesh`	Stub: returns a clone of `a`. Intended for CSG intersection.
`static Mesh.doBoolean(BooleanOperation op, Mesh a, Matrix4 ma, Mesh b, Matrix4 mb)`	`Mesh`	Stub: returns a clone of `a`. Intended for general CSG with transforms.
`optimize(boolean removeVertices)`	`Mesh`	Stub: returns a clone. Four parameter overloads: `optimize(boolean)`, `optimize(boolean, float)`, `optimize(boolean, float, float)`, `optimize(boolean, float, float, float)`.
`optimize2(boolean removeVertices)`	`Mesh`	Stub: returns a clone. Alternative optimization entry point.

Mesh — Aspose.3D FOSS for Java

Inheritance

Examples

Properties

Methods

createPolygon(int... indices)

triangulate()

toMesh()

createElement(VertexElementType elementType, MappingMode mappingMode, ReferenceMode referenceMode)

createElementUV(TextureMapping uvMapping, MappingMode mappingMode, ReferenceMode referenceMode)