Common mesh file formats and their differences
In computer-aided design and modeling, a mesh is a collection of vertices and edges that defines the shape of an object. If we are dealing with a 2D design, we end up with a collection of lines. If we are 3D-modeling an object, we can represent a shape using polygons made up of vertices and edges. The simplest form of a polygon is a triangle. A triangle represents a face, and when we have multiple faces coming together with common edges, we can model any geometry. Whenever a model is represented using a collection of polygons, it is referred to as a mesh model. At its core, a mesh model can be represented with the coordinates of all the vertices and an identifier for each vertex. You also need a list of edges that connect two vertices. Finally, you need a list of faces that are made up of three or more edges. Because of the simplicity of the definition of a mesh file, there are tens of mesh file formats out there.
STL format
The...